Francesca's Pizzeria Napoletana

Welcome back, Mega Biters. I apologize for my hiatus. There was a lot going on over the holidays... The holidays themselves, a slew of engagements -- even a marriage!

All of this was cause for celebration -- and therefore, food. The time has come to get back to documenting it all.

The best part of the holidays is getting together with family and friends to share delicious meals and treats. Anyone who knows me knows that the girls I grew up with are like an extension of my family -- and like any close family, we make sure to get together as much as possible around the holidays.

For one of our get-togethers, Kate suggested a pizza place I'd been dying to try: Nella's Pizzeria Napoletana. Only she called it Francesca's Pizzeria Napoletana. And that's because the name has been changed... but the pizzas are still fabulous!

If you like Neopolitan-style pizzas, get yourself over to this little gem of a restaurant. Speaking of gems... Annie O'Connor took this dinner as the opportunity to tell us that she got engaged while on vacation the week before! Clearly, this was cause for celebration.

We kicked off the meal with a bottle of bubbly and after a lot of squealing, congratulations and even some squawking, we got down to the business of ordering our food. Turns out that they have an awesome special on Tuesdays: salad, pizza and dessert for $19.

Yes, for under $20, you get a sizable salad of your choosing, an entire pizza of your choice and a giant and delicious dessert. It's way too much food, but it's all very tasty -- so you really have to go for it.

I chose the insalata mista, the Bufalina pizza and the profiteroles. A.ma.zing. Everything was simple and delicious. I love mozarella di Bufala, so when they told me that they import that business from Italy and it's the real deal -- I knew which pizza I was ordering. The Bufalina pizza features fresh mozarella di Bufala, basil and olive oil on a perfectly chewy crust. Apart from that, the salad was fresh and tasty.

By the time it was time for my profiteroles, which are one of my all-time favorite deserts, I was a very happy camper. But those profiteroles made me even happier. For those of you who've never had the pleasure of experiencing this dessert, it's a cream puff that's been split in half, stuffed with vanilla gelato and then toppped with oodles of hot fudge. Highly recommend.

Also not to be missed on the dessert front is the mighty Calzone Lina, which is a phenomenal dessert calzone filled with sliced bananas and nutella, served hot and topped with a heaping scoop of cool, creamy vanilla gelato. It's not a looker, but it's their specialty dessert for a reason. It is delicious.
The group also tried the torta bacio, which is a chocolate-hazelnut mousse with a white chocolate center and roasted cocoa beans. This was my third favorite of the three desserts, but it was still tasty. I just prefer a pastry + gelato combo to mousse.

All in all: Food was awesome, service was friendly and good, value = great!

Francesca's Pizzeria Napoletana is located at 2423 N. Clark Street and wants you to come in and eat delicious pizza immediately. Highly recommend the Tuesday deal.