Naples Italy Hotel

Naples, Italy - I stood at the epicenter of the pizza’s restaurant world.That’s not such articles if you consider a set of widely held truths. If Italy has the best pizza in the world and Naples has the best pizza in Italy, then the pinprick on planet Earth representing its pizza heaven is the corner of Via Cesare Sersale and Via P. Colletta in Naples.On my 2004 list of the five best pizzas restaurant in the world, the restaurant on Via Colletta, Trianon, was No. 1. Trianon is an 83-year-old Naples institution(make your reservations) that boasts a prosciutto pizza that tasted like tomatoes off a vine with a rich, doughy crust that could be considered a dessert if it wasn’t connected to such luscious, lean prosciutto.With my travel guide I only went to Trianon that night five years ago beside my itineraries because I could not get into Da Michele, widely considered Naples’ best pizzeria on the next corner.The line out of Da Michele that night was halfway up the Amalfi Coast. After trying it on my recent vacation package stopover from the lovely Italian isle of Ischia, I could see why.It shouldn’t be surprising, however, finding this slice of pizza heaven here. Naples is a vibrant city (travel reviews said)with great markets and beautiful seascapes, get your travel map but it has always been more famous for three things: drivers who view traffic lights as mere street decorations trips, a vicious organized crime family called the Camorra known for the lovely practice of “kneecapping,” and the birthplace of pizza.I didn’t make any car rentals and I passed on Camorra’s high-grade heroin, but I did have lunch. Da Michele is located 10 minutes from the den of chaos also known as the Naples train station(nice station you can book your trips. I walked through Piazza Risorgimento, lined with immigrant street merchants selling every kind of articles from sunglasses to embarrassingly bad costume jewelry discounts.I walked up teeming Corso Umberto where people spoke in the Neapolitan dialect: conversational screaming. Neapolitans discuss everything from a fender bender to Dante’s “Inferno” at the same volume usually accompanying the escape from a burning building.But I saw Neapolitans stand in rapt silence when I passed Trianon hotel and found Da Michele. Standing outside were 30 people from all walks of Neapolitan society - lovers, blogs, businessmen, families - waiting with numbers in their hands.It’s an odd setting for the world’s best pizza. Da Michele restaurant is represented by a simple white and red sign over a single glass door. After only a 10-minute wait, I walked into, if not the best pizza parlor in the world, certainly the most unassuming. Make reservations at Da Michele has only 16 tables in two rooms, all jammed together for a complete lack of privacy. On the wall were various sizes of brass pizza tins and black and white photos of old Naples.I joined a table with an elderly man and a womanfrom New York. I could nearly feel the fire burning from the wood stove where a heavily muscled, long-haired Italian with a Fu Manchu was shoveling pizzas with a big wooden slab. The tiny room smelled of fresh tomatoes and oregano. I suddenly craved pizza like a junkie.The interior is as fancy as the menu, on which every item could be listed on the fringe of a Vatican postage stamp. At Da Michele restaurant, you have two choices of pizza: marinara, consisting of tomato sauce, garlic and oregano, or margherita, also known as Neapolitan, which is mozzarella and tomato sauce.That’s it. The whole ball game. No California-designer tofu special. No four-meat conglomeration at 1,000 calories a slice. It’s marinara or margherita or hop back on the plane to a Domino’s near you. Pizza with no meat and no choice? What’s up with that?A hand-painted placard on the wall explained it in the Neapolitan dialect, which the elderly man at my table translated into Italian for me. He said his father had gone here as a child. Presumably so did his father’s father and his father before that. Da Michele restaurant has occupied this little space since 1870.The story of Da Michele’s menu goes back way before World War I. As the man explained, Da Michele wants to keep pizza affordable for all people and simple enough to appreciate what pizza was meant to be when it was invented in Naples in the 19th century.After all, pizza has remained one of Naples’ four major food groups along with wine, mozzarella and gelato. Why mess with perfection?As a mandolin player buzzed our table, my normale-sized marinara pizza, priced at 3.50 euros (about $4.25), arrived. The foot-wide pizza glistened in a sea of fresh tomato sauce with specks of oregano floating like little spice ships.The pizza was surprisingly wonderful in its simplicity. The sauce reminded me of the tomatoes I ate like apples from my public market in Rome. The crust was classically Neapolitan, slightly doughy with just a hint of burnt around the edges.I tried a slice of margherita and the mozzarella tasted nearly as sweet as the special balls Naples ships every morning to mozzarella bars in Rome, Milan and London. I didn’t miss the meat. My soon-empty pie pan had no grease on it.Did it crack my top five, a list more exclusive than Baseball’s Hall of Fame? Yeah. Did it top my prosciutto pizza at Trianon as No. 1 in the world? Without starting another street war in Naples, I’d say no. I’m a hopeless carnivore.But a return to Naples is a return to pizza’s roots. Da Michele restaurant is as far from Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust super supreme meat-inhaler’s pile-it-on artery-exploding combo pizza as you can get. And well worth the trips.Staff writer John Henderson covers sports and writes about the food he eats on the road. He can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.

Address: 3 Via Cesare Sersale, angolo Via P. Colletta, Naples, 80100

Phone: +39 81 553 9204

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Steak Lover?

 If you are one of those who really enjoy a delicious steak, Sullivan’s Steakhouse is the place to go.  There are 17 locations throughout the U.S, but it certainly does not feel like a chain restaurant, I have been to the one in Austin and Houston, they are both great. 

From the minute you walk in the door you will feel the atmosphere is cozy and wonderful.  We started the evening in the bar, with a couple sexy martinis and nice light jazz piano music, if the bar is crowded is usually skip the bar and have the martini at my table.

We found the staff attentive and professional.  For appetizer we ordered escargots, which were to die for, fantastic’s.  After that we had the house salad, a very fresh lettuce wedge with excellent crumbled blue cheese and tomatoes, it was great.  The New York steak was very succulent and tasty, I have also tried the prime rib and the Cajun rib eye which are also very good.  For the dessert, we recommend the chocolate soufflé, I think I a weakness for the scent of baked chocolate.

These restaurants have an incredible wine selection. Sullivan’s Steakhouse is a great place for a special occasion or just for dinner out, we are sure you will enjoy it. Read more restaurant reviews here… TravelerMinds.com

Please feel free to post any comment or experience of this restaurant.

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Tour to Sushi japanese restaurant Uchi!!

This unbiased restaurant serves contemporary American and Japanese cuisine. Like many sushi bars in Japan, Uchi is located in a refurbished old home.The concept of Uchi, is getting people introduce to Japanese food, in using fresh ingredients that are already familiar with, and combining them with unfamiliar to create a delightful taste.  We found it accessible on the customer side where you can eat a sushi roll for $20 dlls or you can spend $800 dlls in a complete meal, the service is first rate, and it also has great drink and wine selection.If you don’t want to order from the menu you can ask the waitress for some suggestions.  I would recommend you to try the “Maguro with Goat cheese” this popular dish made of Slices of tuna combined with chunks of goat cheese and slices of fuji apples with pumpkinseed oil will beat your expectations. For dessert I tried the dark chocolate-almond nougatine, it was delicious.Uchi japanese restaurant usually gets full in a short time, we recommend you to make a reservation in advance, and since Uchi doesn’t do reservations past 7:000 pm you might have to chill out a while at bar or outside lounge area.Tyson Cole the owner executive chef will use all his knowledge and techniques to make your dinner at Uchi an amazing experience with great food and artfully presented dishes.

For more reviews, go to Traveler Minds.com
 

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