I don’t believe it’s a stretch to say that we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Italian food in Rhode Island. Furthermore, we have as many styles of pizza as we do favorite beaches. There’s bakery pizza, stuffed pizza, thick crust, thin crust, grilled, wood-fired and coal-fired. Nevermind all the variations using pizza dough: calzones, breadsticks, garlic knots, dessert pizza.
So when there’s a new restaurant that focuses on pizza, it’s got to be different and it’s got to be special. This is where Pasquale’s Pizzeria Napoletana comes in. Owner and chef Pasquale Illiano was born and raised in Naples and wanted to bring a taste of home to Rhode Island. Having lived in America for 20 years and spending the last 14 of them making NY-style pizza at Vetrano’s in Westerly, Pasquale decided it was time to return to his roots. So, on his 20th anniversary of living in America, he opened Pasquale’s Pizzeria Napoletana in South County Commons, and considers himself to be the culinary ambassador of Naples. “I wanted to bring something 100% Naples when it comes to pizza,” explains Pasquale. “When people travel to Naples, what you find there is what you will find at Pasquale’s.”
Aside from a few secret ingredients that Pasquale will be taking with him to the grave, he shared some very basic, and very delicious staples: natural yeast for his dough, Sicilian natural sea salt, organic tomatoes from the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius, buffalo mozzarella imported from Naples, pasta imported from Gragnano – a small village in the Naples region that has been making spaghetti for centuries – and Neapolitan salami, to name a few.
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