A Chopped Winner Is Now Cooking on 7th Street: Trattoria Napoli Opens in Zephyrhills

Trattoria Napoli is open at 5470 7th St., putting a chef-owned, sit-down Italian restaurant on Zephyrhills' main commercial strip. The owner is Matthew Zappoli, a Brooklyn native, Culinary Institute of America graduate and Food Network "Chopped" winner who spent 30 years cooking in New York, Las Vegas and San Diego before building this room himself.

The restaurant opened in late July and was confirmed serving in an Aug. 13 local business roundup. It seats 128 across a main dining room, a bar, an outdoor patio and a semi-private space Zappoli calls the pizza room, built around a Wood Stone oven. Hardwood tables, olive green booths, black ceilings. He designed the layout from the ground up.

What's coming out of the kitchen

Pasta is rolled and extruded in house on Italian equipment. Pizza dough comes from a starter Zappoli has kept going for years. The concept, as he has described it, is a neighborhood trattoria heavy on New York Italian favorites rather than a special-occasion white-tablecloth place.

The dish people will end up talking about is Millie's Meatballs, made from his grandmother's recipe and available as an appetizer or as an entrée with pasta. The rest of the menu runs wider than a pizza-and-pasta shortlist: braised short rib agnolotti with parsnip purée and a Bordelaise reduction, fresh seafood, a Bistecca Fiorentina for two built on 32 ounces of prime beef with Tuscan rosemary garlic oil and Parmesan roasted potatoes. There is wine and a craft cocktail list.

Zappoli's wife, Idania Reyes, helped shape both the menu and the concept.

Before Zephyrhills

Zappoli came to east Pasco from one of the biggest kitchens in the region. He served as creative culinary director at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, overseeing the property's restaurants, and earlier held chef de cuisine posts at Cipresso and The Rez Grill. That range, casino-scale fine dining down to a corner pizza oven, is what shows up on the menu.

If you're planning to go

The restaurant is open Thursday through Sunday, and those hours may widen as demand settles. That is worth knowing before you drive over on a Tuesday. The full menu and online ordering are at trattoria-napoli.com, and the phone number is (813) 788-0592.

Reservations are the practical question for a room this size on a weekend, especially with only four tables outside and a pizza room that will book up for birthdays and team dinners. Call ahead if you're bringing more than four people.

Zephyrhills has had Italian food for years, from long-running pizzerias to family restaurants that regulars are loyal to. What it has not had is a chef-owner with a national television credit and a Culinary Institute of America background opening his own place inside the city limits. Whether that translates into a destination people drive in from Wesley Chapel and Dade City for, or simply a very good Thursday dinner for locals, will get sorted out over the next few months.

For now the schedule is the thing to watch. Zappoli has not announced expanded weekday service, and the restaurant is posting updates on its own channels as hours change.

More Zephyrhills openings, closings and business news is always at Zephyrhills Community Website. Been in yet? Tell us what you ordered and whether the meatballs live up to the hype in our Community Forum, and read more local business stories or browse what else is coming soon around town.