Ball Park Pizza | 5055 East 10th Street | Visited: Friday, December 21, 2012

ballparkpizza.com/

Intro

We've driven by this place dozens of times because it's just down the street from the Emerson Theater, which is where Wesley's band plays every now and again.  

You never know with pizza places, and although this place didn't look overly promising, we wanted to keep open minds (and mouths). Plus, it's another opportunity to eat n' blog.

So, when we dropped Ginger off for a recent show, we decided to give Ball Park a try.

Atmosphere & Service  

Well, if you're a loyal follower of our blog (hi, mom!), you know that our last review was for Napolese Pizzeria. And even though Mapquest tells me that these two restaurants are only separated by 8.04 miles, they couldn't be further apart. 

We were just going to carry out our pizza, but when we told the manager that we were going to eat it in our car while waiting on Wesley, he pulled back a curtain to reveal a clandestine dining area. He turned on the lights and the heat and welcomed us back (in time, actually).

 
The employees (one of them was the owner, I'm sure) were very nice and helpful. We were going to order half Home Run pizza and half cheese, but he said he it wouldn't cook evenly. So he suggested a large and a small, which was an affordable alternative. He also forgot to ring up our cans of soda, but gave them to us for free. Service was very, very good.

Pizza (breadsticks)

I did take a photo of the breadsticks, but somehow the picture got deleted from my phone. They were a little more "garlic bread-y" than "bread stick-y", but the marinara sauce was served cold. I'd give them a C or C- for the sticks alone.

For our main course, we ordered one cheese and one "Home Run" pizza (sausage, peppers, olives, etc.). When we walked in, I think I saw the guy behind the counter pulling crusts out of a bag, as if they were prepared ahead of time and frozen. And the crust tasted that way, too.

I will say,  the more slices I had, the less terrible it tasted. Kind of like cheap beer, I suppose. However, I wouldn't describe their pizza as "tasting good". The cheese pizza was dull and boring (the crust really dragged it down) and the Home Run, although better than the cheese, but was still a sorry excuse for a frozen pizza, let alone something purchased from a pizza place. 

 

 

I would consider this place a typical "hole in the wall", but without the unexpectedness of delicious, authentic food. The pizza and the atmosphere were both underwhelming. Again, I would commend their employees for their friendliness, but that's certainly not enough to warrant a second visit. 

Verbatims from Benjamin: 

RE the breadsticks: They taste like Cheese-Its. The sauce is cold.

RE the pizza: It's hot!

Verbatims from Sophia:

RE the breadsticks: They good.

RE the pizza: Not as good as the "blueberry pizza" (see our Some Guys review).

Rating (out of 8 possible slices, with 4 being average)

Dad: 2.5 (an extra .5 for the good service)

Benjamin: 6

Sophia: 5

Receipt: I normally include a photo of the receipt, but we ordered at the counter and they didn't give us one. The meal was pretty cheap for two pizzas and sticks: $28ish.

Napolese Pizzeria | 114 East 49th Street | Visited: Saturday, December 15, 2012

napolesepizzeria.com

Intro

Being a writer and working in marketing, I tend to be very selective about the words I use. Not because I have some sort of Vonnegut (Vonnegutian?) Complex, but because I think there's a fine line between "persuasive selling" and "straight-up lying". 

That being said, I find it interesting how restaurants (in this case, pizza restaurants) choose their names and descriptive language. 

In previous posts, I've celebrated the whimsical "Smiling Teeth" of Puccini's and questioned other places on their ability to deliver on their marketing messages (e.g., Coal Pizza touting the fact that it cooks its pizzas in 90 seconds, and then taking nearly 45 minutes to get our order to our table). 

WRITER'S NOTE: I just looked up the Coal Pizza site again and, apparently, it closed its doors since our visit last month. Too bad. Hate to see that happen to any local business. But bad service will do that to you.


Our most recent family pizza blog visit was to Napolese, which fancies itself as "an Artisinal Pizzeria". And even though the word "Artisanal" is oft-overused in pizza and foodie circles, Napolese truly delivers. And then some. 

Here's some descriptive proof from their salad menu:

GUNTHORP FARMS DUCK CONFIT, ROASTED POTATOES, ARUGULA, RADISH, JOWL BACON, SHAVED PARMESAN, SHERRY FIG VINAIGRETTE

Atmosphere & Service

Napolese is located next door to Cafe Patachou, the great local eatery that owns and operates this neighborhood restaurant. We arrived about 6:00 on a Saturday night and were seated immediately (even though the joint certainly was jumpin'). They have bar seating situated right next to the pizza flingers and the beautiful brick oven, and these seats were quickly filled after we got there.

 

To be completely honest, I'd say the place feels a little pretentious. But a better term may be gourmet chic (how's that for marketing spin?). I felt a tad under-dressed in my Black Keys t-shirt, but that's my own fault (and my own self consciousness). Napolese certainly has a trendy/hipster feel to it, but it attracted all sorts of people—families with kids, couples on dates, groups of sports fans wearing ball caps, etc. If I go again (which I definitely will), I'll dress a little less shabbily, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Pizza (breadsticks) 

I've complained in the past about pizza places that don't serve breadsticks, and Napolese doesn't serve breadsticks. But the eclectic menu more than makes up for it. (Hypocrite!)

Instead, I went with the chop chop salad (which is actually big enough for two people), and it was fresh, flavorful and well balanced. The perfect prelude to my "Artisanal" meal.

The pizza was, well, WOW. I had the Hamaker's Corner (pepperoni, Italian sausage, provolone, mushroom). Benjamin went with the Classic Pepperoni (why do they slice their pepperoni the long way?), which had some spice to it, but Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed. Wesley selected the Pie of the Night, which if memory serves, had pepperoni, feta and...wait for it...spare ribs! Wesley was blown away. Benjamin thanked me for taking him there. My pizza was, in a word, stellar.

The crust was divine, delicious, downright perfect. Both boys commented (several times) how great the crust was—even hours after the visit.

My one strike against Napolese is the price. In their defense, we could have cut the cost by going without the salad and only buying two personal pizzas versus three (we had plenty of leftovers). And a $6 beer is pretty pricey for a pizza place. But I'd argue that the flavor and the experience is well worth the expense. It's not the every-Friday-night kind of place (for our family budget at least), but it's definitely one of the best pizza places in Indy. Hands down.

Verbatims from Benjamin: 

The pepperoni tastes like sausage. It's spicy but really good. Really spicy but I still really really love it.

Verbatims from Wesley:

From the looks of this place, you'd think it would be healthy. But it's disgusting. And I mean that in the BEST kind of way. Good cheese, great toppings, great crust... this is delicious.

Rating (out of 8 possible slices, with 4 being average)

Dad: 7.25

Benjamin: 7 

Wesley: 7