It seems like just yesterday we were announcing the debut of Napoli III at The Streets of St. Charles development. (In fact, it’s been two years.) Asked about the status of the three Café Napoli restaurants, co-owner Kye Pietoso replied, “Busy—and about to get a lot busier.” The reference is to Napoli Sea, the fourth restaurant in the family's arsenal.
The Background
Courtesy of Napoli III
Tony Pietoso and his sons Ande and Kye have been talking about opening a seafood-based restaurant for several years. The decision was relatively easy, says Kye, given the general lack of seafood restaurants in metro St. Louis, the success of Napoli III, and the availability of a 2,200-square-foot space next door. (The existing Yoga Six studio is moving within the complex.)
“We managed to tap an untouched market out here [with Napoli III], so we’re doing it again in our own backyard but in a smaller space, with seafood as the theme,” Kye says. "The amount of oysters and shrimp, lobster, and crab cocktail that we sell at Napoli III is insane, so we already know that seafood sells there. We have been toying with the idea of doing another Napoli or expanding to another city, but managing a restaurant next door is a lot easier than running something out of town or out of state.”
Kye Pietoso currently works at Napoli III; Ande runs Café Napoli; Chris Holmes, a cousin, is at Napoli 2; and Tony oversees all three restaurants, as does executive chef Jon Berger, who’s been traveling to Florida for research and development.
The Atmosphere
The partners couldn’t decide whether to do an oyster bar or a seafood restaurant. Napoli Sea will be a little bit of each. An 18-seat, U-shaped “showstopper” bar will anchor the 70-seat room, with high-top, standard, and booth seating surrounding it. Outdoor seating will be limited to a narrow strip of tables.
The logo includes a diver’s helmet, an homage to Kye's grandfather, who was a Navy SEAL. The draft beer system will also be housed in a diver's helmet, "so the restaurant is a partial tribute to him,” Kye says. The bar program will focus on white and sparkling wines, “as well as oyster shooters in mermaid glasses, which will be fun.” Other themed design elements include “possible LED lighting that will mimic the ocean flowing from the ceiling down to the bar,” Kye says, “and porthole windows along one hallway.”
Kye says that a lot of the look and vibe came from the Seafood Bar at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach. At the suggestion of SBG, the general contractor for the project, the Pietosos have enlisted the services of Philadelphia-based Raymond Haldeman, who not only has designed a number of seafood restaurants along the Eastern Seaboard but also knows what materials are readily available, so construction and buildout can proceed without interruption.
“We want to open this year,” Kye says, “so long lead times are out of the question. We hope to open in mid-November, in time to catch the holiday rush.”
The Menu
Despite St. Louis’ landlocked status, Kye says, “the Napoli restaurants go through fresh fish so fast that the quality remains super-high, as good or better than some restaurants in Florida.”
The tentative menu includes raw and cooked oysters, mussels, clams, and “a limited amount of finfish, so we can run specials and not be burdened with something that might not be selling that week,” Kye says. “You might see clam chowder, a specialty of the former Noah’s Ark, or some other tribute, since we’re on that same property.”
There will be some meat and vegetarian options as well. Knowing the pitfalls of menu writing, Kye knows that “you can’t risk losing that group of six because one of them doesn’t like seafood.”
“The only nod to Italian cuisine may be something like squid ink pasta,” he adds. “After all, Napoli III is right next door. At Napoli Sea, we’ll be creating new classics from scratch.”
