Thursday, May 14, 2015

Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria e Bar opens at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda (Photos)

Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria e Bar opened yesterday in the Dining Terrace at Westfield Montgomery Mall. The New York City import's Dining Terrace-side pizzeria is open for both lunch and dinner. A separate dining room will offer just dinner service for now, Monday through Sunday. Eventually the dining room will serve lunch, as well.

Pizza fans may be interested to know that the restaurant's exterior entrance means that it can be open even when the mall is closed.

The new dining addition is helmed by Executive Chef Riccardo Simeone, who, born and raised only 50 miles from Naples, helps put the capstone on the restaurant's pursuit of authenticity. Even the spring water used in the pizza dough has a mineral composition and PH matching that of Naples' water.

Simeone's menu includes authentic La Vera Pizzeria Napoletana, which will soon be officially recognized by the authority on such in Italy. But it also features other Neapolitan favorites like Acqua Pazza and Zeppole.
Nick Fasciano's "Gesture Wall"
Nineteen-foot-high ceilings, a wall of windows and Tuscan Carrara marble floor provide an ample theater for artistic touches like the Gesture Wall sculpture by Nick Fasciano, which displays a variety of Italian hand gestures.

Decorative volcano faces adorn the open kitchen's 3 pizza ovens, named for the 3 active volcanoes of Italy, Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and Mount Stromboli.

Diners can choose from 70 Italian wines or a selection of cocktails, including the Al Capone.

There is free valet parking available right outside the restaurant, as a bonus.
Don't Supersize Me: one opening day
diner found cup sizes to be smaller
than standard; Small (L) and
Medium (R) Coke Zero
Reader and blogger Mike McClelland was there on opening day, and kindly sent a couple of pictures. He reports the pizza and service were good, but that drink sizes were unconventional. A $2.50 medium Coke Zero was about the size of a small, and not much bigger than the actual $1.50 small drink size.

Maybe the sizes reflect having to deal with tinfoil dictator and anti-soda zealot Michael Bloomberg at their New York location? I'm only partially joking, as the pizzeria menu does not even offer a large soda option.

Photos:
Top, bottom: Mike McClelland
Center: Patina Restaurant Group

15 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:49 AM

    The Unelected Tinfoil Wannabe Dictator of Westbard does not need to disparage the three-term mayor of America's largest city.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 11:49: Ladies and gentlemen, we've actually found someone in America who supports Michael Bloomberg! Hans "Wall $treet" Riemer would be proud. #DeclassifyTheText

      Delete
  2. Anonymous12:22 PM

    11:49AM needs to use better grammar.
    Why disparage people involved in the Bethesda community like Robert?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:46 PM

    Any idea was 11:49am is babbling about now?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:26 PM

    12:22 PM does not seem to understand what the word "grammar" actually means.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous2:28 PM

    Any idea what 1:26 is babbling about now?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous3:29 PM

    America's largest city, the people of which elected Bloomberg three times, is not in America? Only Dyer could say something that stupid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 3:29: Hans Riemer admires your passion for Wall $treet tycoons like Bloomberg. He also wants you to bring him another coffee.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous6:55 PM

    Just buy another soda, you cheap, lazy bum.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 3:29 America's most educated city re-elected:

    -an import from Oakland with a B.A. from U.C. Santa Cruz;

    -whose big sell was that he is Progressive (though strangely, he never sought to meet any of the established Progressives once transplanted here, the nutweed);

    -who shamelessly emblazoned his credentials with having been appointed Obama's National Youth Vote Director during that critical 2008 Presidential Campaign (let's take a walk down Memory Lane -- it's not that far, as Riemer never grew up here.):   Let's face it.  That sounded impressive, when he was new, trying to find his way in.  It helped you want to vote  him in.  But where was Hans in March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November 2008?  He relinquished the job he had shamelessly used as a high selling point when campaigning here. Leigh Arsenault was the National Youth Vote Director for Obama during ALL those months.  THE GUY IS A MASTER OF EMBELLISHMENT.

    -who fought Elrich on the raising of the minimum wage, tried to delay its implementation and lower the amount; and only voted after it was obvious that the majority were already voting to pass it. After which time, he bragged to the Press as if he, not Elrich, had been the driving force behind it;

    -After an opponent mentioned being sympathetic to the Tea Party, Hans addressed the audience, stating, "You've just heard something quite significant.  I'd like to remind you all that the Tea Party has been associated with racism."  The article is in The Post.  Forget the opponent's name, but he was quick to ask Riemer if Riemer was trying to suggest that he (whose wife is half Latino, half African American) was racist?!  Riemer stood like an idiot, saying, Of course not, no...  (Really.);

    -I recently read one of Han's updates on a Council meeting.  It went pretty much like this: "I am happy to report great success at our recent, important meeting.  There were important decisions that had to be made, and we made them! You know that I am all about progress, and that means being here for you!"

    What the bleep did the man say?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  What was the meeting about?  What decisions were made, over which issues?

    Who. Knows.  Hans won't tell.  That would require a specific stand on public record, and he changes those, depending on which audience he is addressing.

    Hans was an unknown import from Oakland.  His need is to be popular (why else do his positions shift like Jello on a trampoline), and I predict: If ever he gets an offer granting him more prestige, he will dump his newly beloved Montgomery County time and upgrade his ego at Anywhere, USA.  Meanwhile, this county will be living with the legacy of whatever he consistently failed to strengthen in this county.

    If any of this is new to you, then congratulations -- for belonging to the most educated town/city in the nation, yet voting in ignorance.  Intelligence, as you know, is not wisdom.

    I will never understand why intellectuals of this county would not rather cut losses when it comes to transportation issues, and let a tenacious, methodical, fearless, strategic, practical citizen like Robert Dyer have a go on Council.  

    But yay for bike paths, and for walking a mile to transport during squall seasons. As if most folks can be pressured by traffic to give up owning a car.

    Let's all raise a backyard chicken in thanks to Hans.  

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6:16 AM

    @ 9:35 PM -

    "RIEEEEEEEMMMMEEEEEERRRRR!!!"

    "I will never understand why intellectuals of this county would not rather cut losses when it comes to transportation issues, and let a tenacious, methodical, fearless, strategic, practical citizen like Robert Dyer have a go on Council."

    This just has to be satire. Er, isn't it, Ellis?

    "I recently read one of Han's updates on a Council meeting. It went pretty much like this: 'I am happy to report great success at our recent, important meeting. There were important decisions that had to be made, and we made them! You know that I am all about progress, and that means being here for you!'

    "What the bleep did the man say? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What was the meeting about? What decisions were made, over which issues?"

    Gotta love the anecdote. If that's your idea of reporting, no wonder you think that Dyer is a "journalist".

    ReplyDelete
  10. NIH Bear7:28 AM

    6:16 AM is right. Until Dyer gets his super secret journalist badge and starts writing positive stuff about everything in MoCo, he's no journalist.

    AND he needs to be published in print dead tree hard copy format before he's accepted into the secret journalist club.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous4:02 PM

    Hans Riemer is a Californian carpet bag socialist riding the coat tails of his CBC wife and kids who could be Obama. Dyer knows of what he speaks. The crack on gun grabbing, let me tell you what to eat Bloomberg was polite, compared to what he deserves.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Visited there last weekend with a group of friends, and had all the fun we could handle. I really like the ambiance at this place for live music nyc. There's a decent draft beer selection at a reasonable price and the bartenders are good at what they do.

    ReplyDelete