Dinner at Napoli's With the Salas

We had dinner last night at Napoli's at 61st and Memorial.  We have a new favorite Italian restaurant.

We arrived a few minutes early.  The young lady serving as hostess was warm, friendly, outgoing and completely knowledgeable about the menu.  She was happy to discuss it and even introduced us to the chef, her brother, while we waited.

The Napoli's organization is neither a franchise nor a chain.  Instead, it is loosely knit organization of relatives who all use the same name for their operations in various locations.  Our exotic and charming young hostess explained that they are first generation Albanian/Sicilians.  Her father is the ower/manager of this location, her brother is the chef and she is the maitre' de when she is not away studying International Business at OSU.

I take my Italian food seriously since I love it so much and (by doctor's warning) am not allowed to have it very often.  This dinner was the real deal. My chicken piccata was served over a bed of perfectly cooked al dente spaghetti. The sauce was buttery and tart garnished with a roasted lemon and capers.

Mike had one of the combo specials that consists of chicken, ham, Italian sausage and  olives cooked in a creamy red sauce.  It looked and smelled wonderful.  Sheila had the Chicken Scarpariello.  Their version of this Italian classic is chicken cooked in a creamy white sauce with mushrooms and peppers served over (I believe at least) spaghettini.  They use pure whipping cream as the base for all of their white sauces. It was sinfully good with just the right amount of pepper heat.  Jodi had the lasagna which she pronounced to be excellent.

This place is another neighborhood gem that Tulsans could easily overlook in favor of more expensive and more often reviewed establishments.  The food is authentic and as Sheila put it "sinfully good."  The staff are outgoing and exceptionally friendly.  The atmosphere is what you would expect from a place in a shopping mall but that kind of lends to the overall experience.  There is no pretense here.  Just really good, authentic, Italian food offered by friendly, caring people who know what they are doing. 

Napoli's has one more thing going for it for us.  It is just a few blocks away from Mike and Jodi's home.  We lingered so long over our empty plates that they had to ask us to leave to make room for a large party that had arrived.  But, they did it graciously and we had waited too long anyway.  So, we paid our check and adjourned to Mike and Jodi's where we spent a while looking at their vacation photos and then finished the evening in the pool.  The only thing missing was our Rat Pack friends the Harmons.