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Europe and South America meet and marry at Napoli

PHOTOS AND REVIEW BY PATRICIA B. GROSSMAN

John Sobrinho is a restaurant entrepreneur. Having successfully launched and sold Cristina’s in Wheaton, his new venture, Napoli Ristorante Italiano–A Wonderful Taste of Italy and Brazil, is also becoming a smashing success. The menu is an interesting blend of Brazilian cuisine and Italian dishes reminiscent of Cristina’s. If you like to experiment with new tastes, this is the place.

Born in Italy and raised in Brazil, John and his lovely wife, Cristina, have been taking the Silver Spring restaurant scene by storm. Cristina has inspired many of the entrees on the menu. Vitello alla Cristina is one of them, a luscious blend of lemon butter and capers over pan-seared veal scaloppini stuffed with crabmeat. I was beckoned back to Napoli for a second visit by this entree.

The early bird special, offered Monday through Friday from 5 to 7p.m., features a wonderful selection of Italian dishes as well as Brazilian. For $14.95 you get soup or a house or Caesar salad, a main course, and dessert. My dining companion was impressed with the salad’s Italian dressing and the bite-sized pieces of lettuce, and the bread accompanying the meal was delicious.

The soups to go for are the chicken-stock-based minestrone and the soup which all three of my companions were crazy about: red pepper soup. If you like a creamy soup and sweet pepper taste, you’ll love this.

During my first visit I ordered the early bird special–a price they still honored even though I ordered at 7:05 p.m. Eager to try Brazilian cuisine, I took the waiter’s suggestion and ordered Brazil’s most famous national dish, feijoada. This black bean stew is dominated by pork meats and smoked sausage, with a pungent and earthy flavor. My serving was huge–I had leftovers for three days. Accompanying the feijoada are rice, collard greens shredded in a most appetizing garlic sauce, and farofa (a grainy flour made from the yucca plant, over which black bean sauce is poured). I enjoyed this meal with guarana, a soda from Brazil that tastes like ginger ale with a splash of exotic fruit juice–not too sweet and not too effervescent.

Meats at Napoli are hard to predict. One of my dining companions ordered the Frango com Quiabo e polenta–chicken pieces in okra stew, served with polenta and rice. The stew was savory and the chicken moist. One of my companions, however, was slightly disappointed when her grilled meats came out a little too dry. Another had ordered Tutu a Mineira, grilled pork loin and sausage, and said the sausage was out of this world and that she loved the collard greens, just as I did, but that her grilled pork was a little dry, too.

While Brazilian cuisine is very authentic at Napoli and a real adventure in dining, the less adventurous can’t go wrong with any of the tried-and-true Italian entrees on the menu, from the stuffed eggplant to the chicken cacciatore. Or order anything with seafood–you will not be disappointed.

The menu is almost as extensive for the lunch crowd as for dinner. And the next thing I’m going to try at Napoli’s is pizza (Le Pizze), offered only at lunch. The Pizza Quattro Stagioni includes ham and eggplant; quite interesting. You can also order Fai la Tua Pizza–make-your-own pizza with a vast array of Italian toppings.

Meal portions are generous, but leave room for coffee and dessert…especially Brazilian Pudim, a delicious caramel flan.

You would never believe that the elegant dining room at Napoli is turned into a nightclub on Saturday nights, offering some of the best Brazilian music and dancing around town–another innovative twist by owner John Sobrinho. What will he come up with next?

Napoli Ristorante Italiano is located at 8241 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring. (301) 588-3388. Hours: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. The nightclub is open Saturday from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.