Authentic neapolitan-style pizzas at Solaire North

MILLIE: Solaire North presents Trattoria e Dolci—the newest pizza place in town! It’s not just your ordinary pizza parlor, it’s a dining experience designed to enjoy more than just Neapolitan-style pizzas baked in traditional brick ovens.

As we entered the trattoria, which in Italian means a casual dining eatery serving simple food, the ambience was quite welcoming. The place was bustling as it was cocktail hour and I immediately found joy in a round of aperol aranciata spritz, a typical Italian citrus-flavored cocktail with prosecco.

We were offered an assortment of Italian cold cuts arranged on a wooden board with slices of mortadella, Parma ham, salami and cheese. We also had the classic USDA beef tenderloin carpaccio served with arugula and Parmesan shavings.

I couldn’t help but notice, too, how pretty and colorful the dinnerware was and wondered if it was from the famous Italian Deruta designs.

KARLA: As soon as I sat down at the table, I couldn’t help but start picking on the charcuterie and cheese waiting for us at our table. It is an open kitchen so you can watch every step of the pizza process—stretching the dough, assembly, baking and finishing touches before serving. The invitation was just a sneak peek with a limited menu. For starters, I ordered the carpaccio, which very few places serve these days, and the seared tuna salad with artichokes, shaved fennel and green beans.

For the pizzas, there are choices for white and red pizza, simply saying that sauces are either white for cream-based and red for tomato-based. Our pizza of choice was the Trattoria, which consisted of a white sauce base, mortadella, stracciatella drizzled with olive oil and pistachio paste. We also ordered a calzone, with mozzarella, ham, black olives and mushrooms. Calzones are like a turnover, or folded pizza, and stuffed with the usual pizza toppings, crimped to seal then baked. 

If we were more, I would have probably ordered other variants of pizzas to try, such as the Funghi, a white sauce-based pizza with marinated mushrooms, porcini, smoked ricotta and truffle oil and for the red pizza, and the Diavola, with spicy salami, mozzarella and chili flakes. Also available is Rossa, with Parma ham, cherry tomatoes, arugula and Parmesan shavings. 

At the far end of the restaurant was the gelato counter, called Dolci. It extends to a takeout counter so you don’t need to enter the restaurant for your fix of gelato. They have so many offerings, from gelato sundaes and banana splits to floats, milkshakes to other frozen treats. My gelato flavor of choice was the peanut butter honeycomb, while Mom had her favorite Rocky Road. Milkshake flavors are peanut butter banana, pistachio vanilla, strawberry cheesecake and ube macapuno.

Frozen treats include ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches with cookies or waffles and mini ice cream cakes such as salted caramel banoffee. On my next visit, I will order an affogato, which is gelato with a shot of espresso. If it had not been too late in the afternoon, I would have ordered one instantly. It is off the menu but upon talking to the personnel at the counter, they assured me that they could easily oblige. 

MILLIE: The meal was light and perfect and I was excited to order a cup of espresso from the coffee station, having spotted the beautiful Gaggia coffee machine, an Italian brand renowned to be the best espresso machine! As expected, the espresso was rich, smooth and the aroma, bold!

Trattoria e Dolci is an ideal spot for a brief business meet, cozy and informal or a new place to bring family and friends!