On August 13, I combined Great Pizza Search (GPS) #18 with a 5 new Post Office, Great Post Office Search (GPO) #3 as a 44 mile, hilly loop from Naples, NY.
Naples was chosen for two reasons: 1. the following day was the final 2020 Durty Bikes Gravel Race, and 2. the last pizza that I had in Naples (No, not Napoli!) was MEH (pronounced = ok or not too good), and I wanted to give Naples another chance for it’s namesake, the real Napoli!
GPO #3
The GPO route started at the Naples Village Park and wound its way to Post Offices in Wayland, Dansville, Perkinsville, Cohocton, and Atlanta (not Georgia!).
The Dansville PO is a definite B! The remainder of the PO’s are C or D Rating.
As with most rides in the middle of the Finger Lakes, it was hilly with nearly 3000’ of climbing over the 44 miles! Starting in Naples didn’t help since Naples is in a valley, and it’s necessary to climb in any direction out. STRAVA LINK
To add insult to injury, once at the top of the hill at mile 15 after Wayland, there was a 2 mile screaming downhill into Dansville for that PO. I then had to take a u-turn and go back up that 2 mile hill to Perkinsville!
Luckily, the Dansville, NY PO was worth it!
The Dansville PO was built as part of the New Deal in the 1930’s with James Wetmore as the Chief Architect. He definitely liked his verde marble! It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
GPS #19 – Neapolitan Pizzeria
The Neapolitan Pizzeria is located on Main Street in Naples, NY. It is across the street from Luigis which was reviewed in GPS #3. We had been at Neapolitan Pizzeria in the past and liked it, so I had high expectations.
The Ambiance and Presentation
- The Pizzeria is an old house. It was busy, but they did a great job of moving tables out to the lawn under trees keeping social distancing
- I didn’t go in because C ordered the pizza from the road while I rode. The pictures on Google show that it has the makings of a joint!
- The downside was the poor quality box that was provided; simple pressed paper versus good quality cardboard
The dough and crust
- The dough was light and airy!
- The crust was soft with no crunch. I’m not sure if it was because it sat in the box for 20 minutes before we had a chance to eat it. It also had a nice char on the bottom but not burnt. I noticed a very large pile of wood outside the restaurant. So, I’ll assume that they had a “real” wood fired Neapolitan oven!
- The only downside that was there was little “crust taste”
- All in all, crust was good
The sauce
- There was a nice tangy sauce taste
- I wish there was more sauce. This lack of sauce seems typical around here 😦
- Also, the sauce was salty. When you can taste salt, it’s usually due to the salt not the cheese (epecially in this case since there was no parmagian)
- Sauce rating = good
The Cheese
- Nice amount of moozedell with a very good taste!
Value – MEH (not good). Almost $9 for a 9” pizzas that is barely larger than a large slice that we’ve received for $2 – $2.50 at other places.
Rating = Good, not great…too many “misses” to be considered great
Would I Go Back? YES! Been here before, likely will go back again!
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