Chicago Eats - Spacca Napoli

Pizza is everywhere these days. GOOD pizza is hard to find. Put Spacca Napoli up in Ravenswood on the short list of good Chicago pizza joints. That's not to say that it's perfect; this neopolitan-style pizza has some shortcomings too. But at the end of the day, it's still tasty and worth going to.

Insalata di Mare - Seafood Salad

At $10, this was a pretty good deal. Nothing too special about the bread itself, but the seafood (poached calamari, cuttlefish, and shrimp) was pretty fresh and wasn't ruined by dumping a bunch of batter all over everything and frying the whole lot. I think they can afford to put in a couple more olives, though.

 Funghi e Salsiccia - Mushroom, Sausage, Basil, and Fresh Mozzarella

Our server recommended that we get both a red and a white pizza to give both a try. Done. We opted to go for the mushroom and sausage pizza, and it did not disappoint, especially the housemade sausage. So good, not overseasoned with a salt-mine's worth of sodium, and it wasn't greasy. We were told that the crust is the star at Spacca Napoli (more on that later), but I don't think that's a free pass for a bland red sauce. Maybe it's subdued on purpose to let the fresh ingredients shine through more, maybe they don't think it's bland. But it could stand to be more seasoned. I had two problems with the crust; one, it was too salty, both by itself (when eating the crust) and in combination with the toppings. Two, the high moisture content of the fresh mozzarella soaks through the paper thin crust at the center and makes the pizza pretty soggy. For some reason, it still works, albeit it is a little unsettling. This was supposed to have basil on it and I'm sure you can see the pathetic attempt at it...but it was disappointing that they only included what amounted to one basil leaf. More basil = more balance. Oh well.

Bianca con Bufala e Rucola - Buffalo Mozzarella, Basil, Arugula

Pizza numero dos (wrong language?) was a white pizza made with buffalo mozzarella and topped with fresh and crispy arugula. Olive oil played the red sauce's normal role here. Buffalo mozz is a lot creamier than regular mozzarella, but retains the same high moisture content, so the same issues with the crust that I mentioned about are the same here. The extra creaminess of the cheese is definitely noticeable for a obviously heavier pizza here. Still, great flavor, and I love all of that arugula on top. But again, where's the basil? The generous heap of other greens helped with the balance issue cited above, but still...more basil please!

Spumoni Ice Cream

Pistachio, rum, strawberry and chocolate ice cream with some candied fruits. Very good! I was extremely happy with the spumoni, but I can't really say that it's any better than what you could get at the store or ice cream shops.

 Nutella Focaccia

THIS WAS INCREDIBLE. They use the same dough that they use for the pizza and bake it til it bubble up. They cut the bubble down the middle and slather on the Nutella goodness, and it was amazing. I loved this dessert, and the salty dough went so well with the sweet and creamy Nutella. This is genius. This is a must have.


And just for fun, Spacca Napoli's custom built oven: