Bella Napoli Review: Bella Napoli and my quest for chicken parm
Lunching out has become a regular activity now. It’s odd that now the economy is in a hole, I eat out for lunch more. This is mostly the result of not sleeping enough and that is the result of too much xbox 360. No time to sleep = no time to pack lunch. Scientists have shown it’s possible to spend an unreasonable amount of time discussing how to create a NBA 2k9 dynasty. Seriously, last night we got the Knicks to trim like 70 million in payroll in the game, in one year. How awesome would that be if it could be possible in real life?! Anyway, so I’ve been taking a liking to eating my sandwiches with gravy. Wait, that’s not gravy, those are tears shed over my dwindling retirement savings. Epic, epic fail. Obviously if I’m going to stuff myself, might as well do it right. And when I walked by the Bella Napoli last week, it was a good time to stuff my face.
Chicken parm is getting expensive these days. On Bella Napoli’s menu, it lists chicken parmagiana hero at $8.50, but that day it was on sale for $7.50. Maybe their business has gone down since the troubles on Wall St. and especially at the former Lehman Brothers (which is across the street). Business seemed ok when I went, there was a fast moving line filled mostly with guys sporting a tie.
The chicken parm at Bella Napoli is meatier than the one at Lazzara. You can actually see the chicken when you look at the sandwich. Pretty amazing yea? The chicken was pre-fried and for $7.50 it probably would be too much to ask for freshly fried chicken parm. The downfall of this method is that no matter how you heat it up, the chicken parm will never be crisp again. Despite the lack of softened crust, the sandwich was hearty and filling. There was no dryness in the pre-fried chicken and the sauce was mild as not to overpower your taste buds.
The slice of plain at $2.75 represents an average price for a slice these days. Thin crust with no visible char on the bottom, this slice looked like many other average slices in the city. The sauce was a tad too sweet and dominated each bite.
While I enjoyed my chicken parm hero, I could not say the same about the plain slice. It wasn’t bad per se but I was just ambivalent about most of it and thought the sauce could have been more mellow. If you visit Bella Napoli I would say stick to the sub and you can leave feeling full.
Let’s play t-shirt give-away round two. I’m going to give out another t-shirt this week. Rules are simple. If you already have one, you can’t play. There’s a few of you out there… you know who you are. For everyone else, to enter the content, just comment with your favorite Fall food. I will pick a winner randomly Sunday night (10/19). Only one winner and please live in NY because I don’t want to pay shipping 🙁 And last time your odds were good, one out of five. I suspect the odds will be just as good this time.
Bella Napoli150 W 49th St.New York, NY 10020212-719-2819
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