Man Edition
By Kenadi Waymire
As an ordinary American from the Midwest, pizza to me has always been the go-to meal for when my parents didn’t feel like cooking. I spent my childhood only ever enjoying the Neapolitan delights from Pizza Hut and Papa John’s; to be honest, these are still the pies I prefer. Gastronomes with palettes much more refined than mine debate the merits of the various styles of pizza as if they were on opposing sides of a gruesome civil war; some espouse Chicago deep dish as “Mama’s true creation” (okay, no they don’t, I made this up), whereas New Yorkers defend their long, flat slices as the only good way to enjoy this particular combination of bread, cheese, and tomato sauce.
I do not understand this debate, nor do I really understand the true cultural intricacies of pizza. However, I do understand that pizza is pizza, and pizza is good, so when Tom invited me out to try Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana on Lake, I of course said yes. Arriving at the restaurant, my first impression was that the place had to be expensive. Settebello is decorated in a very hipster-like industrial manner with hints of modernism. Every wall is lined with exposed brick, and ductwork peeks through the open ceiling, which, in the year 2024, are signs that this place is meant for twenty-seven year old software engineers on a date night. In the center of the restaurant stands a bar with a large marble countertop, but I cannot speak to the quality of their drinks.
The booth we were seated at was notably comfortable for a restaurant, and the table was large enough to fit the large amount of food we would soon consume. At this point, I noticed that Settebello was a little loud—not outrageously so, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to have any super intimate conversations here. The service was completely fine, although it took a little while to get our food ordered and water to come out.
The first dish served was called involtini, arugula and goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto with a balsamic glaze. The involtini was very herby, and while I enjoyed the freshness of the greens, especially with the balsamic glaze, I wish there had been a higher meat and cheese to arugula ratio. I’d call this food fine, but not something I’d order again. Next, I tried the focaccia, which had some herbs rubbed on it (or something like that). Honestly, the focaccia was just that: focaccia. It was completely unnoteworthy, just bread. Unfortunately, I fear that this sentiment towards Settebello’s food continued with the large majority of what I ate; while the food here is not bad, it’s also not anything to write home about. One dish that was quite good, however, was the arancini, fried risotto balls with mozzarella stuffed inside. The arancini was hearty and tasted very comforting, by far my favorite food I ate at Settebello. I followed up the arancini with the caprese, although I won’t cast any judgment on this because I hate tomatoes and don’t feel like my assessment would be fair. The last appetizer I tried was the polpette (meatballs). While the meatballs were cooked quite nicely and were incredibly juicy, they lacked seasoning, and I was disappointed with the all-too-sweet tomato sauce they were served with.
Of course, the pizza was the main attraction here at Settebello, so I made sure to give every pie a try. I first tasted the margherita pizza, and, to be honest, was a little disappointed. While this is a perfectly serviceable pizza, and I would eat this if served to me gladly, it, again, was just fine. The sauce was a little too sweet, and the dough was incredibly oily. In fact, with every pizza, the dough was far too slippery, and all of the toppings would just slide off as though they were children on a waterslide. Simply trying to take a piece of pizza was a Herculean task; the slices weren’t cut very well and had no structural integrity whatsoever, so each piece I grabbed fell apart like gravel in my hands. After the margherita, I set my sights on the Settebello, which had crushed tomatoes, pancetta, sausage, mushrooms, pine nuts, mozzarella, basil, and olio. This was my favorite pizza, although the same issues with the dough still stood. I enjoyed the toppings on this pie, though again, I don’t know if it’s something I’d go out of my way to eat again. The last slice I tried was from the vico pizza, with sausage, roasted fennel, red onions, mascarpone, mozzarella, basil, and olio. I will say that I did not enjoy this pizza; I found the mascarpone overwhelmed the rest of the toppings in a negative way.
Overall, Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana was just okay. I didn’t find anything to be notably awful, but with so many amazing Italian offerings in the LA area, I can’t think of many reasons to choose to go here. Settebello has a nice atmosphere, and its price point is actually quite reasonable, but I would probably not dine here again, simply because there are better options available.
Mannion Edition
By Tom Mannion
Searching for Naples at Settebello
Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana is located at 60 North Lake Avenue approximately 1 mile from Caltech. A few years back, I led a trip to celebrate the food of Naples and the Amalfi Coast for the Caltech Alumni Association. I chose this restaurant because I wanted to see if their food transported me back to some fantastic memories of Naples, as well as to see if this was a restaurant that students could escape to for a quick break from their academic rigors. As you will see below, the verdict was split.
Settebello has moved from its original location on Colorado; I did prefer the old location. The version on Colorado was more quiet - you could see the ingredients, like 00 flour from Italy. There was outside seating where you could at least pretend you were sitting on Via Partenope, eating Neopolitan pizza while looking at Castel dell’Ovo.
The new location is very much American. High ceilings, bright lights, very loud. The good news for the owners is that the place was packed. There was a counter with hanging lights over it in front of the food prep area. Unfortunately, not only was the counter too high to see any of the action, there was also clutter everywhere – piles of to go containers, boxes of straws, empty pizza boxes, paper napkins, etc. Could have been a great place for individuals or small groups to sit at the counter with a view of the action, but instead it takes away from the visual appeal of the restaurant.
Naples pizza is protected with a DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controlla or Controlled Destination Origin) by the Association Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN). Settebello has been granted DOC designation. The tomatoes must be either San Marzano, or the tomatoes that grow on the slopes of Vesuvius. The cheese must be mozzarella di buffalo from Campagna (you can also find this in Roma deli on Lake Avenue). 00 flour and brewers yeast are other key components of this pizza whose making is included on the list of intangible cultural heritage produced by UNESCO. Note that only one pizza at Settebello appears to fit the DOC regulations - the Margarita DOC.
I ordered caprese salad, margherita doc pizza, pizza polpette, pizza settebello, arancini, involtini, and bruschetta.
First, the bruschetta. They ran out of crostini (small toasted bread that the bruschetta would go on) sometime before our 6:30pm order.
Caprese salad. The tomatoes were ice cold and had a greenish yellow core. Do not refrigerate under ripe tomatoes, they will never ripen properly! The cheese was too cold as well. Hard to tell for sure if it was buffalo mozzarella, but I would wager that it was not. Not a version that would make the folks in Naples proud.
The polpette, or Naples style meatballs were decent with lots of pine nuts inside. The meatballs themselves were a little dry, but tomato sauce balanced that out.
The involtini (prosciutto wrapped arugula and goat cheese) was quite large. The prosciutto was nice but there was too much arugula and really no obvious goat cheese. The bitterness of the arugula and the olive oil really took over due to the size of the serving. Some goat cheese and lemon would have balanced this dish by adding some acidity to neutralize the bitterness.
Arancini, a Sicilian dish, is made by cooking risotto, fillinga round ball of it with a traditional meat and pea ragu (there are many other variations), then breading and frying the ball. The version we had was seasoned with a great deal of saffron and had a molten mozzarella center. It was an enjoyable dish, but I would have toned down the saffron. For purists it ate more like the Roman fried rice ball – Suppli.
The pizza has possibilities, especially the Margarita DOC, and I would encourage you to try it, but we hit a bad night. Quite normal for a sort of wet center of San Marzano tomatoes to be in the pizza, but we had undercooked dough with a very wet pizza. The pizza was visually appealing with a good balance of buffalo mozzarella , sauce and basil. The outer crust did have the chewy , slightly gummy texture that is a positive trait of Neopolitan pizza. The Settebello pizza had way too many toppings for a Neopolitan pizza (although technically it wasn’t a Neopolitan pizza), the crust was even wetter and the cheese did not quite melt. The Polpette pizza had the right amount of topping, but the cheese was nowhere near melted.
If you are looking for a fun dinner with decent food close to campus, Settebello is worth a visit. If you are looking for a true taste of Naples, keep looking.