Locavore Lunch (March 7, Cont'd)

Stanley & I at the edge of the Vesuvius crate

It was 2 PM on Wednesday, March 7th - and we were already on our third adventure of the day.

Adventure #1: Naples Bay Run!

Adventure #2: Vesuvius!

Adventure #3: La Stanza del Gusto (read on...)

La Stanza del Gusto is a nuevo-Italian bar/restaurant in Naples.  It is a "quirky" (most commonly used adjective on TripAdvisor, where it ranks in the top 20% of Naples eateries) mix of wine bar/tapas spot/sit-down restaurant with a focus on local ingredients and cuisine.  Kee-Min scoped it out on-line and was really looking forward to trying it.  Since I was the one who insisted we spend a few days in Naples - my reasons are detailed here, in case you are dying of curiosity - the least I could do was support any proposed culinary escapades, within reason.  [This is, incidentally, how we ended up on a subway/funicular/walking adventure to try Donna Teresa the previous evening.  And while our meal there was solid-but-not-amazing, the whole visit was an experience we're glad we had.]  Plus, bless his Singaporean-ness, my husband generally does have excellent food-dar.

On this particular day, we were waaaaay off the standard Italian eating schedule of a super-fast breakfast and long, late leisurely lunch.  We'd gone for a run in the morning, then gotten cleaned up and headed out to La Stanza, hopeful (from hours provided on the website) that we could procure a very early lunch before our trip up Vesuvius.  But when we arrived, tables and chairs were still stacked, and the only employee visible was sweeping the sidewalk outside.  We were advised to come back later.

So, we grabbed a snack and headed out to Vesuvius, figuring we'd try to return for a late lunch, if our timing allowed.  We were back in Naples by about 2 PM. Kee-Min Math determined that this allowed us plenty of time to take the subway back out to La Stanza, have our lunch, subway back, pick up our bags, and still make our train to Florence (at 4 PM). I decided to trust him and (try) to be carefree about the tight timing.

So, off we went.  La Stanza also claims to be open all afternoon - but we walked in around 2:30 and the place was deserted.  The bartender/waiter/owner (???) looked mildly confused, but still invited us to come on in for a bite.  The kitchen was, apparently, open.  I felt awkward. Kee-Min felt adventurous.  Par for the course...

The interior design was definitely contemporary, and the walls were covered with blackboards describing the food and drink options (in Italian):

Kee-Min ordered a beer, and while he enjoyed that, I nearly got myself stuck in the bathroom (hint: the door is a PUSH, not a pull...d'oh!):

Beer photo.
There will be no stuck-in-the-bathroom photo.

We used some Eng-talian to explain that we only had about an hour for lunch, and our waiter friend made some suggestions of meals that would be speedy.  Despite the time crunch, we each opted for a soup and an entree - you can hardly do differently in Italy!

Our soups arrived, and we realized we'd forgotten one thing: our bathing suits.  Seriously, the largest serving of soup I've ever had:

Kee-Min had a white bean soup, seasoned with dill.

I had a garbanzo bean soup, with orange peel and whitefish.

As you can see from the photos, there was a pretty high bean-to-broth ratio, making these more like stews than light, pre-lunch soups.  Truly, each could have stood alone as a cold winter night's dinner.  Kee-Min thought his was pretty good, but I wasn't impressed.  I felt like I was eating a can of garbanzo beans that had been drenched in orange juice, served with a side of fishy-tasting fish.  But beans are healthy, so no harm done - and it was time to move on to the entrees anyway.  

Our server suggested only 3 or 4 entrees that were quick to prepare, so our entree choices were limited.  Kee-Min ordered fried fish , served over cold roasted veggies:

The fish was slightly greasy, but seasoned with some Indian spices, nicely battered and fried tempura-style.  Overall, it was quite tasty.  I ordered a salad with seafood.  I'm not sure if this was a translation or interpretation problem, but this is what came out of the kitchen:

Definitely not what I was expecting!

Yes, those are octopus tentacles.  Lots of 'em...  And while those are definitely veggies underneath, I was a bit surprised to see steamed, chilled veggies replacing lettuce as a "salad base".  Ah, well - cultural experience!  I must confess - I was disappointed when I saw the dish.  But the octopus was actually relatively tender, and the veggies had a decent vinegar-y dressing that I appreciated.

That said, though - I wasn't impressed with this spot.  Despite the good reviews and high-ish price tag (soup + entree was ~25-30 euros/person), I wasn't terribly excited about the food.  I thought the soup was mediocre, and my entree - although better than I expected when I first saw it - wasn't exactly amazing, either.  I do give them points for contemporary and innovative cuisine - and I would probably go back (hypothetically) for an after-work drink and snack.  But I would be slow to agree to dine there for a meal again.

In fairness to La Stanza, though - Kee-Min did like this spot.  He was intrigued by the reviews, the decoration, and the atmosphere - he liked it before eating anything, I think.  And he did give the food a higher rating than I did.  It's not often that we disagree on a restaurant - but he'd return here much more readily than I.

With a 1-1 tie in the votes here (and since I really don't like giving a place a bad review), I'll include a link to this post, from the Urban Italy website, which provides an enthusiastic review of and perspective on La Stanza. 

As it was getting late, we skipped dessert and settled our bill.  I was starting to get *really* anxious about missing our train.  Bless Kee-Min's patience, because I was rather cranky as we made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags.   But, as usual, my concern was misplaced, as we collected our bags and were back at the train station just in time to hop on our high speed train to Florence.  Zoom, zoom!

Good bye, Naples. Hello, Florence!!