January 25th, 2013 by Brian Schwartz – Comments (8)
I’ve been reading the chapter called “First Love” in D.H. Lawrence’s grand novel “The Rainbow” so maybe I’ve set the bar too high. When you dine at Naples Flatbread you won’t experience the surging passion that overwhelmed Ursula Brangwen when she first saw her glamorous army officer. You won’t rush star struck into the night to be swept away by a moonlit epiphany. (Well, maybe that pork shank might…) Still, you will have a fine hearty meal, way above average for that part of town. It’s a nice cozy setting too.
Though in some ways it evokes memories of sunny Napoli, Naples Flatbread hails not from Italy but from Naples, Florida. This is the first and so far only branch of this restaurant to open outside that southwest Florida town (which incidentally is right near the fictional town where novelist John Updike’s famous hero Rabbit Angstrom drops dead). Here’s what sets it apart from any other restaurant around.
That gas-fired oven features a hot stone floor on which the restaurant’s namesake flatbreads, their pizzas, and many other entrees are baked to perfection. (Though I love gluten, I should add that most of the flatbreads and pizzas are available gluten-free.) We ordered just about the only entree which is not baked in the oven, and when it came to the table we were glad we did.
Yes, if any dish here could inspire first love, this would be it. It’s a pork shank ossobuco ($20). Like the traditional Milanese veal dish, this one is first seared, infused with pork demi-glace, then braised for hours. It’s served on a bed of farro with melted Asiago cheese and portobello mushroom chunks. The meat, and there was a lot of it, was impossibly tender, and delicious too. We were sharing the dish but I grabbed as much of it as I could get away with.
There’s a huge menu selection devoted to incredibly creative flatbreads. Most are between $13 and $16 and could serve two people. They are basically pizzas with a very thin crunchy crust. You can get one with figs, duck confit, cheese and caramelized pecans. Or one with chicken tikka, mozzarella and coconut. Or one with lobster, bacon and portobello mushrooms. Or… well, there are lots of others. We settled on one which might insult the waiters if you shout it out: Hey Jerk!
According to the menu this big boy is topped with “pulled pork, mozzarella, applewood smoked bacon, pineapple, coconut, caramelized onion, roasted peppers, Caribbean jerk sauce, balsamic reduction.” I was eating the ossobuco and reached for a slice as an afterthought and it woke me up. It was surprisingly good. The cheese had melted over everything and the whole mess blended together and it was rich and full of flavor. Good enough so that a few days later I said, hey let’s go again.
On our second visit we decided each to order one of the “Hearth Baked Pastas” ($11 each). Each of those is baked in the big oven. While we waited we had nice salads ($2 extra with any entree). Then the pastas came.
All three looked exactly the same until you cut into them. The one above is mine, Penne a la Vodka. It was rich and gooey and cheesy and I liked it. It didn’t have the distinctive flavor of the Penne a la Vodka I’m used to (it’s a popular dish in Brooklyn and there it comes with a rich pink creamy sauce) but still I liked it. Bette got Three Cheese Alfredo. (She cut the side to show the interior.)
This was creamy too, and I liked it even better. Here’s Cathe’s lasagna.
Not bad, but a bit dry and I liked the others more. I definitely preferred the pork shank ossobuco to any of them. Still, it was a fine hearty meal.
Naples Flatbread and Wine Bar
4929 E. 71 St. (northeast corner of Yale)
918-794-1600
Open daily from 11 AM to around 10 PM (Lunch specials available before 4 PM, including $8 flatbreads)
http://www.naplesflatbread.com/
Brian Schwartz: Author
Born in NYC, age 0, on my birthday. College in Oxford at age 16. Law School in New Haven, Conn. 6 years travel in Africa and Asia. Haven’t done much lately. Still, I’m the only Tulsa member of the little-known Omega Society. www.theomegasociety.com
I speak enough Chinese to order food not on any English menu. Spanish French Italian too (not fluently but food-ently) My favorite restaurant is Jean-Georges in New York. But those NYC chefs would sell their soul to get the produce available from the farms around Inola.
“A writer writes alone. His words tumble forth from a magical inner void that is mysterious even to himself, and that no one else can enter.” And yet, the most important thing to me the writer is YOU. Without you to hear them, my words are worth less than silence.
Tags: South Tulsa · Wine Bar
8 responses so far ↓
Cathie Jan 25, 2013 at 1:04 pm
We ate here for a late lunch Sunday and were disappointed. We tried the bruschetta martini, classic macaroni and cheese and the chicken tikka flatbread.
The tomatoes in the bruschetta were mushy, watery and nearly tasteless so they were very overpowered by the balsamic. The naan served with it did not hold up well under the watery mixture and was not a good match for the bruschetta. I realize tomatoes are not in season here, but I’d rather be told something is off the menu because the can’t get quality ingredients than pay for subpar food. (I will mention we ate it because I was dining with a 10 yr old and we were starving.)
The macaroni and cheese was good(though there are other places in town with really good mac and cheese for less than $10). The flatbread was not crispy at all and the pieces just folded and did not hold up well under the heavy toppings. The tikka sauce had a nice flavor, but the ‘carmelized’ onions were overpowering and I had to pick most off to taste the other ingredients (not an easy task since they were on the bottom). The balsamic reduction was also a strange choice with the tikka sauce – not my favorite (though that’s probably a personal preference).
Ther were only 2 or 3 tables (counting ours) at the time, and I’m not sure we were checked on more than once (if that) and had to wait a while for a bill.
I will say the atmosphere is nice, but for mushy bruschetta and soggy flatbreads, I’m not sure it was worth the price tag.
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NaplesFlatbread Reply:
January 29th, 2013 at 11:49 am
We are sorry your experience wasn’t perfect! I’ve let the manager know and ask that you please try us again! Thank you.
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Cj Jan 26, 2013 at 4:36 pm
Thanks Cathie! I appreciate your honest interpretation. I only take these web reviews with a grain of salt because there’s a complete lacking in negative reviews. Every restaurant review begins with a cliched story followed by overwhelming(and often unjustified) praise. I come here to be informed of new restaurants; but to the average onlooker, the website itself lacks any credibility in giving an honest interpretation of most dishes.
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Cathie Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 9:29 am
I have the same thoughts CJ! I want to promote local businesses, but get tired of never hearing a bad review! Not every place is great and when I’m budgeting where to spend my money I want it to be good!
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Colin Reply:
February 12th, 2013 at 1:27 pm
Thank you CJ! I’ve been saying this about these reviews for a few years now. The main reviewer on this website rarely finds a meal or restaurant he doesn’t like. And although he likes to think he has serious credibility, I have a feeling most of his credibility left many years ago. I too, only come to this site for new restaurants and also a little laugh when reading the reviews. I wish Tulsa food could get some people who actually want to give legitimate critiques of Tulsa restaurants, but maybe that’s hard to find.
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Scott Feb 7, 2013 at 1:39 am
I’ve been a few times, and have had the hummus trio, standard side salad and a couple of different flatbreads. The hummus trio was excellent, especially the thin crisps that came with it. It’s enough to share. Side salad was a basic, forgettable innocuous salad that neither impressed nor offended. I liked the flavor of the tikka flatbread (I didn’t notice any offensive onion tastes on mine). The Mediterranean one was good too.
I found the flavors likable enough that I’ve been back. However as the other reviewer noted, the topping layer is heavy enough that the crust gets soggy before you can finish the meal. The few inches around the outside are the best…that’s where the crust is crisp underneath and the toppings were a bit thinner. The flavor of the crust was excellent in this area where it had been browned and turned somewhat crispy. If you look at the oval-shaped size of the flatbread versus the price, they need to add that heavy dose of toppings to justify this price.
Here’s what I would like to see: Spread the crust a bit thinner and wider, and apply the same amount of topping over a wider surface area. Then cook the flatbread a bit longer to give more crispness and browning. A wider but thinner flatbread with more crisping, with the interesting flavor choices at Naples, would be something I’d go back for more often. As a side note, the wine list was decent (but pricey), several of the cocktails were interesting (and a decent value for the money) but the beer list was what caught my attention. A couple I’ve not seen many other places, and the prices were better than I’d expect.
I also noticed all three times I’ve been, there have not been many other diners (Wed night…that’s understandable. Fri night, was a bit surprising). That’s unfortunate. With the minor and easily fixable points noted above made to the flatbreads, these would be some of the finer offerings of this type of food in Tulsa. The interior is nicely appointed, and since it wasn’t very busy it made for a great atmosphere for a quieter date night. Interestingly, I noticed the “Wine Bar” portion of the restaurant name, but other than having wine on the menu it seems to be mostly an upscale pizza restaurant. People who have no interest in wine shouldn’t let the “Wine Bar” part of the name scare them off.
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Brian Schwartz Feb 18, 2013 at 11:20 pm
I just interviewed the owner and manager for an upcoming article and I was really impressed! I wish I’d written more favorably. You’ll just have to check out that article.
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Kent Siegrist Mar 28, 2013 at 10:43 pm
Failed to impress…..
Atmosphere has been upgraded from previous tenant in this space, but not up to the standard of being a “go to” wine bar or restaurant. Atmosphere… adequate for a mid-price chain restaurant. Insufficient for the marketing concept offered.
Food: Ordered the ossobuco, but after a considerable delay was told that the normal side was not available. Would I like a substitute? Changed order to Hey Jerk flatbread, mac & cheese, and what the hell, let’s try the chicken wings.
Hey Jerk was disappointing. Pork was overcooked to the point of being mushy; nothing about the flavor profile reached out to me as spectacular.
Mac & cheese was a similar disappointment. Lots of places sell better mac & cheese, and do not charge $10 for just a pasta side.
Chicken wings were slightly burned. Medium heat was remarkably bland. But they did have some flavor, and were the best item ordered.
All told, there has to be a problem when you go to a flatbread and wine bar and the best thing served was the chicken wings.
Value rating: below average. They want to sell $13 to $20 entrees, but are providing $8 food, with no particular draw for atmosphere.
While I did not hate it, I will not be returning. There are far better mid-level restaurants in Tulsa that are better value.
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