WELCOME SPRINGTIME!

Spring at Spacca Napoli brings with it new lighter fare such as a minestra di zucchini and Maccu di San Giuseppe. Arthur Schwartz, The Food Maven, describes the latter soup as combining “two foods that are preserved for winter — dried beans and dried chestnuts — with the greens that are just emerging from the cold winter earth.” We have introduced a pizza made with a varietal of mozzarella called burrata, a creamy, light and spectacularly flavorful cheese renowned for its freshness and soft texture. Red pepper, onion and zucchini trifoliate along with porcini and a touch of bufala mozzarella make this a white pizza dream! We look forward to the re-opening of the outdoor café as the weather permits. This coming June, Spacca Napoli will extend its hours to include Tuesday evenings so we can celebrate more of the good summer weather and longer hours of daylight we have all been waiting for.

We are very excited about our upcoming involvement with the Provincial Councils of Avellino, Caserta and Napoli. We have been asked to team up with them to promote the food of Campania and the Mediterranean Diet as “something unique and upscale that can be interpreted in modern ways as well as traditional.” The week prior to the Global Food and Style Expo in Chicago which is April 27-29, 2008, Spacca Napoli will be offering a tasting of Pasta e Fagioli con Le Cozze, Fusilli alla Napoletana and Paccheri al Ragu.

In closing we bid a fond farewell to Adrian Landin, one of our wait staff who has been with the pizzeria since the early days, as he ventures on to Central and South America. We wish him good luck in his journeys and will miss his energy!

GREETINGS AND BUON ANNO!

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I would like to thank all of our customers and friends for making 2007 a wonderful year. As our 2nd anniversary approaches on February 14 and we begin our third year there is so much to celebrate and look forward to. We are grateful for being embraced by the local and larger food community, as we strive to continue to bring you the best from the true food culture of Italy. We cherish the relationships that have formed with all of our customers and want to express how much these are valued! Our hope is that Spacca Napoli continues to evolve into what my aunt and chef Joyce Goldstein (of Square One Restaurant and Mediterranean Kitchen fame) has written of as the need in our lives for a 'third place' — along with home and work — a place where friends can meet, dine, talk and enjoy life and feel in relationship to others, neighborhood, and a kind of authenticity.

In 2008 look for us to introduce more pizzas and some new appetizers.... We are planning some special food treats for our anniversary, so please stop in and help us celebrate! The entire week of February 14th we will celebrate and invite you to join us!

Auguri