Naples restaurants: Frankie's Italian Deli takes me to church | JLB review
With pizza dough and fresh bread shipped from up north, Frankie's Italian Deli teaches us a lesson in authenticity.
It's all in the water, they say.
Transplants from up north argue there's something about New York's "champagne of drinking water" — unfiltered and calcium-rich — that adds a chewy bite to the world-famous bagels, bread, pastries and pizza.
Frank Rose is one of those water purists.
A New Jersey native, Rose opened Frankie's Italian Deli in April near Collier Boulevard and U.S. 41 East, where pizza dough is shipped from the Bronx and bread comes from a supplier with bakeries in New Jersey and on Staten Island.
And Rose is teaching us a lesson in authenticity.
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The menu at Frankie's Italian Deli covers Rose's Italian and Sicilian roots, with authentic, house-made broccoli rabe, meatballs and thinly pressed fried chicken cutlets. It's a magical place where they make fresh mozzarella and lasagna, all of it displayed in front counters and priced by the pound for customers to take home.
I like to linger along those counters, admiring the showcase of olives and cheeses and Italian desserts and pastries. I find layered sfogliatella and decadent squares of toasted almond cake. On some days I find cannolis and tiramisu.
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Most days there are stuffed pepper shooters with folds of buttery prosciutto crammed inside. The hollowed out cherry peppers are pickled and zesty, the skins providing a crunchy bite.
Pasta fagioli can be purchased by the quart. Prepared with cannellini beans, carrots, celery and tiny, tube-shaped ditalini pasta, the soup is brothy and warm reheated at home in the comfort of my own pajamas (pronounced "pa-jah-mas" in this case).
I paired my soup with a grapefruit-sized arancini. Tucked inside the giant rice ball were sweet sausage crumbles, onions and melted mozzarella cheese. On the outside, a crisp, deep-fried bread crumb crust.
Frankie's lets you take your time as you wander among the counters and the selection of imported specialty goods from Italy: red and white wines, olive oil, vinegar, jars of sauce and sun-dried tomatoes. Employees don't rush you, don't move on to the next customer before you've made up your mind. They even let you keep your order open if you're dining in and taking out at the same time.
Because you should definitely dine in to enjoy the results of all those shipments from up north.
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Take the pizza crust.
Underneath, the crust is blackened in spots and flour-y in others, with a chewy tug in a each bite. The slices flop a little in the center under the weight of its toppings and a spread of tangy red sauce — the perfect opportunity for a good fold, if you're into that sort of thing.
I was a fan of Frankie's pizza. It was cheesy. It was meaty (capicola, pepperoni and more shavings of that salty-buttery prosciutto). And it was vegetable-y (roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and black olives). My favorite part, though, were the flecks of fresh garlic.
Frankie's uses that same Bronx dough in the calzones, folding it around ricotta and mozzarella cheese and any other toppings of your choosing. In the oven that crust blisters and busts in spots, exposing its cheesy insides. It's paired with a side of bright, robust marinara sauce for dipping.
Here, calzones are the size of your foot. A big foot.
"What, you couldn't finish that little thing?" joked an employee when I fetched a box for the rest of it.
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The pizza is good. But Frankie's personality shines brightest with the specialty subs.
Rose brings his New Jersey roots to the menu of cold and hot sandwiches, including the Jersey dogs — hot dogs topped with a mountain of fried onions and peppers marked with char and with thinly sliced rounds of potato. Grease from the veggies made the bread go soggy in the best possible way. My only disappointment were the hot dogs — wrinkled and bland, like they might have come from any other hot dog stand.
Frankie's Fat Boy, though, is like a religious experience. The Fat Sandwich originated from a food truck on the campus of New Jersey's Rutgers University. It's known for being excessively stuffed with fatty, fried ingredients like chicken strips, fries, mozzarella sticks and gyro meat.
Frankie's take is like a cheesesteak and Canadian poutine combined: thinly shaved ribeye steak, onions, peppers, mushrooms and fries, all smothered with savory brown gravy. You can bet I said a few prayers before digging into this one.
But it's that chewy-soft bread from up north that made these subs crave-worthy, no matter if they were stuffed with eggplant Parm, with fried shrimp or with corned beef. Think of it like this — if you're going to serve authentic dishes, then it's all or nothing.
And now I'm starting to wonder if I'm becoming one of those water purists, too.
Jean Le Boeuf is the pseudonym used by a local food lover who dines at restaurants anonymously and without warning, with meals paid for by The News-Press or Naples Daily News. Follow the critic at facebook.com/jeanleboeufswfl or @JeanLeBoeuf on Twitter and Instagram.
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• Food: ★★☆☆
• Atmosphere: ★★☆☆
• Service: ★★☆☆
• Price: $$$
• Call: 239-304-9033
• Web: Find it on Facebook
• Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
• Noise level: Low
• Etc.: Delivery available; coffee bar and small selection of beer and wine
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Sample Menu
Subs
• The Fifth Ave., $12.95
• Chicken Parm, $11.95
• Surf & Turf, $13.95
Specialty pizzas
• Five meat, $19.95
• Frankie's stuffed pie, $21.95
• Large plain, $16.95
What the symbols mean
★ - Fair
★★ - Good
★★★ - Excellent
★★★★ - Exceptional
$ - Average entree is under $10
$$ - $10-$15
$$$ - $15-$20
$$$$ - $20-$25
$$$$$ - $25 and up