Bella Pizza, Ristorante Cucina Italiana by Apryl Parcher

Did you know that pizza actually has its roots in Italian royalty?

According to legend, the first pizza was created around 1889 in Naples, Italy to honor Queen Margherita. On a visit to the countryside, the queen noted that many locals enjoyed eating a large, flat bread. She sampled some, and enjoyed it so much that she hired a poor baker named Raffaele Esposito to make the special breads for her at the royal palace. To honor the queen, Raffaele created a special dish in the colors of the Italian flag with tomatoes for Red, mozzarella cheese for White, and basil for Green, and Presto! Pizza was born!

Over a hundred years later, pizza has come a long way from its lowly beginnings. Today you can get it in a mind-boggling array of varieties, textures, and colors — but how many pizzerias in Cecil County have owner-chefs who were born in Italy, grew up in Naples, and whose cooking is still very much influenced by Italian family ties?

We know of one — Bella Pizza at 4 West Cecil Avenue in North East. Its husband-and-wife owners, Giuseppe (Peppe) and Patricia Di Meo have lived in the United States for ten years, and just might be the youngest first-generation Italian immigrants to own their own restaurant in Cecil County. Peppe personifies everything Italian — from his Mediterranean smile to his heavily accented English — and his food is outstanding, with a taste that keeps his customers clamoring for more.

While Bella is known for its old-fashioned Sicilian pizza, there might be a few CSM readers who haven’t tried their other authentic Italian dishes, so Ken and I tried some for you. It’s a huge menu, so you’ll want to come back often to try something new. They have everything from “Pizzabilities” to “Pastabilities,” fresh salads, wraps, subs, even “Delizie Dal Mare,” or “from the sea.”

First, we munched on a square of Peppe’s delicious Gramma’s Pizza, which is a light, delicate crust topped with his grandmother’s special sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, garlic, and basil.

“I really taste the parmesan and tomato,” said Ken, “and the crust is so light
— you don’t get overfilled. You can really taste the toppings.”

While we were enjoying the pizza, Peppe took some time to tell us a little more about his background. It seems that ever since he was a little boy, he loved being in the kitchen with his mother and grandmother, “sticking a finger in the pot,” as he calls it, and absorbing everything he could about cooking. By the time he was 14, he was already cooking big meals.
“Our family has a restaurant in downtown Naples, close to the water,” he said. “It was passed down from generation to generation in the family for 100 years. In fact, the name of the restaurant is ‘Cento Anni,’ Italian for ‘100 Years.’”

Like many Italian families, three generations lived together in the Di Meo household, and Peppe’s grandmother, Filomena, played an important role.

“Our family canned tomatoes from the garden, and I remember
my grandmother putting hot and green peppers and a chunk of meat
in our Ragu (sauce),” said Peppe. “She would use pork, veal or lamb
— whatever we had — and simmer it a long time.”

Peppe cooks his sauce much the same way, which gives a wonderful taste to some of the seafood dishes. Ken tried the Linguini Alla Cozza Fresca, fresh mussels steamed in their shells with garlic and olive oil and covered with marinara sauce. The mussels were very tender and tasty, and he pronounced the dish “magnifico.”

I had the Shrimp Sorrento — gulf shrimp sautéed in Peppe’s homemade creamy pesto sauce with parmesan cheese, also over linguini. Both the shrimp and the linguini were very tender, with a hint of fresh basil in the sauce. It was “assolutamente il migliore,” simply the best!
Dessert was dreamy, too. I’ve never had Cannoli this good — and it’s no wonder—it’s shipped straight from Sicily. The crunchy pastry was lined in cocoa, and the creamy filling topped with candied orange peel. Peppe was right when he declared, “Our Cannoli is the best!”
Ken’s Tiramisu was wonderful, too…mocha-soaked cake topped with an inch of thick cream and dusted with cocoa. It was just the right touch.

We saw lots of customers coming and going during our stay at Bella. Its informal atmosphere is child-friendly, and many people call for take-out or delivery.

Fred Allen from Rising Sun stopped in to pick up an order, and he raved about Peppe’s subs. “They have the best Italian subs I’ve had in 20 years,” he said. “All their food is excellent,” he added. “I’ve never had a meal here I didn’t like.”

What makes Bella so popular with the locals? Great service for one thing — Peppe and Patricia are always at the restaurant, and put in long hours. “We’re looking for quality
— not quantity,” says Peppe. But his close ties to the old country also make a difference. Every winter, Peppe takes a few weeks to visit his parents in Naples and soaks up
a ,homegrown culinary inspiration to bring back to Cecil County.

When asked what he thinks makes his restaurant stand out, he pondered for a moment, “Well, it’s all the ingredients and the way we do it,” he said, and then he smiled when he thought of the perfect phrase, and delivered it with his lovely Italian accent: “It’s cooking by the scratch!” — CSM

— Photos by Bridgette Creswell —