Just when all eyes were focused on the opening of a Napoli-branded pizza and pasta concept in Chesterfield, the Pietoso family is planning a new, fine-casual restaurant in Kirkwood as well.
Late last week, Napoli Bros. Pizza and Pasta, the only local eatery to boast a coal fired pizza oven, opened at The District in Chesterfield. This week, the family announced that a sixth restaurant—tentatively named Napoli Kirkwood—is slated to open in September on the ground floor of The James, the new five-story luxury apartment building at 416 N. Kirkwood Road. Here’s what we know about both projects.
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
Napoli Bros. Pizza and Pasta
There are no sure bets in the restaurant industry, but when SLM broke the news that accomplished restaurant owners (the Café Napoli team) were going to combine coal-fired pizza (a first in the region) with an established pasta program and locate the upstart concept in one of the hottest areas in town (The District in Chesterfield), well, let’s just say we were all in.
Napoli Bros. Pizza and Pasta (17084 N. Outer Road, Suite 205) is located in a 4,800-square-foot space that edges The Hub, an aptly named central outdoor area with a pavilion, LED screen, stage, and turf-viewing field. Spearheaded by brothers Ande and Kye Pietoso, the 125-seater represents a shift to a more casual, affordably priced format for the Pietoso family.
“As a company, we’re veering away from what people refer to as fine dining,” says Kye. “The food quality is still there, but the vibe is more easy going, a more ‘come as you are and bring the family’ kind of thing.”
General manager Anthony Gitto (son of restaurateur Charlie Jr.) describes the black, white, and gold-trimmed interior as “approachable sophistication,” where a focal point will be a thematic yet-to-be installed mural by Zack Smithey. A living, green wall is planned for the dining area, comprised of standard tables and booths (including a large one that’s S-shaped). “The dining room will be a bit bare bones for a minute, ” Kye admits, “but we were anxious to open the doors.”
In the open kitchen, the showstopper is a huge, 1,000-degree pizza oven fueled by fist-size pieces of lump charcoal that cranks out New Haven–style Neapolitan pies, similar to those found along the Eastern seaboard. (Aficionados will tell you that wood-fired pizzas have a smokier taste, while coal ovens produce a crispness and charred flavor, similar to an amped-up charcoal grill.)
“My family feels that the best pizza in the world comes from Napoli, Italy,” Kye says. “Knowing the all around appeal of pizza, we knew that’s the style we should and would be making.” Equipped with a revolving deck capable of producing a dozen 11-inch pizzas every two minutes, the oven also turns out coal-fired meatballs, ciabatta, and maybe even some coal-influenced desserts.
Also on the menu are Napoli’s signature house salad (with hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, red onion, and grated parm) and a grilled Caesar salad, as well as fresh and dried pastas (including Café Napoli classics), and cacio e pepe made with gnocchi. In the next few weeks, guests can expect to see fettuccine alfredo being prepared tableside in a hollowed-out, half-wheel of Parmesan (the same dish that’s a runaway hit at Napoli Sea).
The streamlined concept includes the same, modest-size menu for lunch and dinner, as well as offerings for kids, who can kick a ball around outside while parents observe from the 50-seat covered patio.
Casino industry veteran Tim Shea, who’s now president of operations for the Napoli group, sums up the vibe: “A few nights ago, there was a band playing on the stage, a Cardinals game on the big screen behind them, people eating dinner on the restaurant patios or relaxing in Adirondack [chairs] on the turf, all surrounded by kids playing games. That’s about as perfect as it gets on a beautiful spring night in St. Louis.”
Napoli Kirkwood
The restaurant in Kirkwood will be the sixth under the Napoli umbrella, after the flagship Café Napoli (in Clayton, adjacent to Bar Napoli), Napoli II (in Town & Country), Napoli III and Napoli Sea (located next to each other at The Streets of St. Charles), and Napoli Bros Pizza and Pasta (in Chesterfield). It will occupy a 4,500-square-foot space on the ground floor of The James.
The restaurant will seat 120 inside and an additional 45 on a patio festooned with large planter boxes. Thirty of the inside seats will be inside a private room with sliding glass doors. Although the design is in the preliminary stages, Kye describes the vibe as “casual sophistication without the stigma of fine dining. If Napoli III and Napoli Brothers got married, this would be their baby.”
The décor will be “modern and loungy but casual,” Kye says, with standard tables, several banquettes. One focal point will be a mid-room, upholstered couch that accommodates multiple tables, banquette style. The design team includes Kathy Pietoso, the brothers’ mother, who helped design several other Napoli restaurants. Kye admits that the details are limited at this point and that more will emerge after contractor and designer meetings next week.
The Pietosos believe the Kirkwood location will appeal to multiple audiences. “It’ll be a place where adults can have a prime steak, fresh seafood, some appetizers, and a nice glass of wine,” Kye says. “And the kids, if they bring them, can have pasta or pizza. That’s the right formula for Kirkwood. Let’s just say that we hope to attract date night business, ‘business’ business, and family business. That’s the goal, with both the design and the menu.”
For the past year or so, the family had been pursuing two opportunities—one in Chesterfield across from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and the other in Kirkwood, the location that ended up winning out. “Chesterfield would have been really expensive to do, and Kirkwood was manageable,” Kye says. “We’ve always wanted a presence in Kirkwood, and we know and appreciate that Kirkwoodians support their restaurants. There are some great restaurants in the Kirkwood area already: Twisted Tree, Citizen Kane’s, Provencal, Peacemaker is coming… We feel we’ll fit right in and complement what’s already going on there.”
Looking to the future, Kye envisions opening additional Napoli Bros. restaurants (they’re looking in metro Kansas City) and/or more restaurants in the finer-casual realm (similar to Kirkwood), concepts that offer similar, high-quality menus but in different surroundings.
“It’s too early to make that call,” Kye says, “but it’s what we’ve been evolving into. It’s what we do best.”
