Napoli Pizza & Pasta
33-02 35th Avenue • Astoria, NY • 718.472.1146
By Teresa Barile

You can hardly get more authentic Neapolitan  Italian cooking than at Napoli Pizza & Pasta. Located in the basement of a house on the corner of 35th Avenue and 33rd Street in Astoria, owner Antonio Petito literally opens his house and his kitchen to you, preparing the tastiest of home style dishes prepared from decades-old family recipes from Avellino, near Naples, Italy. Best of all, the prices are so low, it doesn't pay to cook at home.

It starts with homemade sauce for the pizza, with a delicate and crispy crust. This pizza is so good, that the simple Margarita, with tomato, basil and mozzarella, is the most popular. The Casalinga pizza with fresh eggplant, mozzarella and tomato is also a good seller. Pies literally fly out the door as Napoli does a brisk take out and delivery business.

The small, "family kitchen" style dining room seats just a few lucky diners at a time, but serves up big portions of delicious pasta, chicken, meat and fresh fish and seafood. Appetizers include platters of crispy calamari rings which are tender and delicious, as well as homemade fried zucchini sticks. Their garlic bread is irresistible, topped with a sprinkling of fresh parsley and served straight from the oven. The antipasto salad, Caesar and house salads are full of fresh vegetables and offer plenty to share.

There are about a dozen pasta dishes to choose among, from the simplest dish of spaghetti with house made tomato sauce to rich and meaty Bolognese sauce. Choose your pasta, such as linguine, spaghetti, bow ties, ziti or rigatoni and top it with aromatic vodka sauce, puttanesca sauce with anchovies, black olives and capers or juicy clam sauce. Pasta dishes run from $5.95 to $8. Classic fettuccine Alfredo is creamy and decadent, while the carbonara sauce gets extra flavor from smoky pancetta ($6.25). One of the house favorites is pasta ala Napoli, tossed with chunks of tender chicken breast, thinly sliced mushrooms, plum tomatoes, basil, wine, garlic and parsley, all for the incredible price of just $8. Oven baked manicotti and stuffed shells are filled with fluffy ricotta, while the lasagna is full of savory meat and cheeses ($6.50). The special pasta of the night was fettuccine Napoli with chunks of chicken in tomato sauce with a touch of cream.

Fresh plates of the day include the freshest fish and seafood. I enjoyed flaky fillet of sole Francese style with a light lemon, butter and white wine sauce. Salmon Dijon or simply grilled was also on the catch of the day. The frutti di mare platter includes shrimp, clams, mussels and calamari over linguine with your choice of red or white sauce. Chicken Francese or Marsala continue to be house favorites, and few can do without chicken or veal parmigiana, served on a platter or folded into a hero.

Finish off your meal with a delicious cup of espresso or cappuccino and a cool tartufo ice cream treat or homemade Italian cheesecake made with fluffy ricotta. Fresh hot zeppole sprinkled with powdered sugar are sold by the dozen and keep the crowd coming back for more.

Napoli Pizza & Pasta is open seven days a week for lunch or dinner. Lunch time is popular for their fabulous pizza, calzones, rolls and juicy hamburgers, though their dinner plates are also available at lunch time. Petito does off-premises catering so let them do the work for you and dazzle your guests with delicious Neapolitan cuisine. If you never had an Italian grandmother, you can taste what it's like at Napoli Pizza & Pasta. Buon appetito!