Napolitano’s Brooklyn Lounge
Being a chef and a drummer, Jacob Kamborian is passionate about two things; pizza and percussion.
“I love working with my hands, I like making food. I feel like I'm good at it and I'm confident about it.
I like creating new dishes, or coming up with different pizzas.
And with music, you know, it takes me to my happy space. So I'm not thinking about anything else besides what I'm doing at that moment in time.”
And you’ll find delicious beats AND eats are served nightly at Napolitano’s Lounge.
Set in the back corner of an unassuming strip mall in Smithfield, Rhode Island, Napolitano’s Lounge and Brooklyn Pizza is the sister restaurant to two fast casual pizza parlors in Providence and Cranston. And while the menu is the same, the concept itself is anything but.
“Napolitano's Lounge in Brooklyn Pizzeria is an offshoot of Napolitano's Brooklyn Pizza. We make authentic Brooklyn style pizza so everything's made scratch. We sell big 18 inch pizzas, hand stretched dough, and we found this space here in Smithfield as a place to offer our delicious food and also a full stage so we can have live music and entertainment seven days a week.”
And when he’s not drumming, he’s backstage in the kitchen cranking out all of your favorite Italian comfort food dishes.
“I love the fact that we're kind of a dinner in a show, because we have a little open window in the kitchen where people can see us hand stretching the pizza and making it for them, right in front of them.”
The reason to come to Napolitano’s Lounge is for their hand stretched New York style pie.
“It's a light, flaky crust, foldable slices and the pizza holds up well. And typically there are very large pizzas, 18 inch pizzas. It's delicious.”
There’s the so called “Skinny Malink” topped with house made hickory smoked bacon and candied jalapeños.
“The smokiness of the bacon complements the heat, sweet flavor of the candied jalapenos. People love it."
Or the Prospect Park, an olive oil based pie with goat cheese, prosciutto, arugula, fig jam and balsamic onions.
“The fig jam kind of brings in the sweetness of it, and the balsamic onions kind of have a little bit of a bittery taste…So they kind of bring in the flavors together. It's absolutely delicious.”
It doesn’t have to be Taco Tuesday to order the Taco Pizza topped with mozzarella, queso fresco, steak, tomatoes, onions, jalapeño and lettuce.
“I mean, literally tastes like you're chomping into a taco. Typically, I recommend to the guests to get it a little more well done. So it has a crunchiness to it, because there's a lot of toppings on the pizza you want it to hold up.”
If you’re more into Sicilian slices, Napolitano’s offers that too… even in a personal pie size so you can have it all to yourself.
“You have to open your mouth a little wider to get the bite in, because it's, we're using two whole pizza doughs…..The dough we have is light and fluffy....and then you get a nice layer of the cheese and the sauce on the top.
It’s delicious.”
That same dough is used in an over the top deep friend calzone; stuffed with prosciutto and lots and lots of cheese.
“It is a calzone on steroids. You cut it open, and a cheese just kind of melts out, and then you add the flavor of the prosciutto. It's a high caloric food, but it's so worth it.”
Before you get to the pizza, you may want to whet your appetite with some apps…and at Napolitano’s Lounge, they range from traditional Italian starters like sausage and broccoli rabe… mouthwatering meatballs and garlicky handcut fries.
“They're fresh, so you really taste the potato. And the inside is light and flaky, and the outside gets a nice coating, crispiness on it. We take the chopped garlic with some salt, some pepper and some parsley, and after the fries come out, we mix that in a bowl and it adds another flavor to the fries.”
An iconic Rhode Island staple even makes its way onto the menu.
“So a hot wiener is definitely a Rhode Island's favorite. It is put in a bun with homemade meat sauce…yellow mustard, chopped onion, and, of course, celery salt. You can get them individually in the bar and they just, they just kind of go down too quickly.”
For something more substantial, you can opt for a plate of chicken parm served over pasta with garlic bread. Or their meticulously made eggplant parm sub. But the Speedwagon burger is truly a sight, stacked with crispy onion rings, banana peppers a sriracha aioli.
“It's a head turning burger. It's a big fat stack burger.”
“You get the juicy beef burger and then you have the onion rings and then we add that layer of heat with the pepper rings and then the aioli, so it makes a delicious burger. And the presentation is beautiful.”
And for a sweet ending to the night, nothing is quite like the Nutella Stuffed Fried Dough Sticks.
“We literally inject the little pillow of fried dough with the Nutella. And then we put cinnamon sugar on top and a little powdered sugar. They’re hot. Nice flavor of the nutella mixed with the cinnamon and sugar, and yet, the crispiness of the, you know, the fried dough on the outside. It's delicious.”
And for Jacob, whether he’s behind the line or a drum kit, he brings passion to every performance.
“In all the years I've been doing it, it's still a labor of love, and I still work on getting better and better at it and delivering good quality food at a decent price. And we want to be make it a happy destination that people want to come back to.”
