A new restaurant in downtown Naples celebrates family, so its launch proves to be well-timed during the Thanksgiving season of family gatherings.
The new La Salière at 360 12th Ave. S. is the latest result of local restaurant rebranding this year in the Naples area following last year’s lackluster season. During the last four months, owner Stefano Frittella converted The Bevy into La Salière, an Italian restaurant concept he launched in Monte Carlo more than 40 years ago.
Locally, The Bevy open-air drinking and dining spot originally opened in summer 2017. The venue in Old Naples changed hands twice and had various iterations during its eight-year run. La Salière Naples had its soft opening there Nov. 7 with a menu that mirrors Frittella’s original La Salière in Monaco.
“So far, so good. We’re very happy with the opening,” said Andrea Frittella, Stefano’s daughter and a Miami resident who is in Naples during La Salière’s opening weeks. The family prides itself on its hands-on ownership.
“We really value the family, interpersonal relationship with the client, so I’ve been there as the face of my family and just making sure that everything is going smoothly so far,” she said.
Andrea Frittella explained the difference between The Bevy and the new La Salière that replaced it. “The Bevy was a new American restaurant and gastropub fare, while La Salière brings an elevated fine-dining experience that is rooted in authentic Italian tradition, Mediterranean elegance and a Riviera-inspired atmosphere, the brand having been born in Monte Carlo,” she said. “This is our first brand expansion with La Salière. We decided to bring it to Naples because we felt that our type of brand and what we bring was missing in the market, so we’re very excited to have it open.”
La Salière means “the salt shaker” in Italian. The flagship restaurant takes its name from the naturally salty seawater in the calm harbor it overlooks on the Mediterranean Sea.
“The reason why my dad named his first restaurant La Salière is because of the location that it has in Monaco,” Frittella said. “It’s on Port de Fontvieille, so he kind of wanted to incorporate the sea. You have the view of yachts in front of you in the original location.”
La Salière Italian restaurant launched Nov. 7 in The Bevy’s former space at 360 12th Ave. S. in Old Naples.
Tim Aten
Bevy of restaurants
A prolific restaurateur, Stefano Frittella operates many popular dining options in Miami Beach, Monaco and Naples. Frittella is a partner in several Naples restaurants on Fifth Avenue South, including BiCE Ristorante, Caffe Milano, La Trattoria and Vergina. Of Frittella’s existing restaurants in Naples, perhaps La Salière may be closest in concept to BiCE, but Andrea Frittella said it will be most similar to Casa Avenue 31, another one of the family’s fine-dining concepts in Monaco that they are planning to eventually introduce to downtown Naples via a recently approved redevelopment project on Fifth Avenue South.
“Both brands are born in Monaco. La Salière is different because it’s Stefano’s first restaurant that he ever opened in 1982, so it’s a very important restaurant for us,” she said. “We own many Italian restaurants in Naples. What sets La Salière apart from others in town is that the brand is deeply personal to my family — it’s rooted in a decades-long friendship and collaboration between my executive chef, Sabato Toscano, and my grandfather. Sabato has been part of La Salière since almost three decades now. He has shaped the brand’s culinary identity with a balance of timeless tradition and modern creativity.”
Beyond its French Riviera legacy, La Salière is different, Frittella said. “La Salière stands apart for its own authentic sense of family, where we welcome guests as relatives, dishes are shared across the table and returning clients become part of the restaurant’s story. The Naples location continues this 40-year heritage which blends Italian warmth and coastal sophistication with Chef Sabato’s signature recipes from Monte Carlo. So, my executive chef at La Salière Monaco inspired the menu for La Salière in Naples.”
La Salière’s Maltagliati Veal Ragu features pasta with veal ragu and parmesan cheese.
La Salière
On the menu
Since practically growing up in La Salière Monaco since she was 3 or 4 years old, Andrea Frittella’s favorite staple always has been the pappardelle, house-made broad ribbons of pasta served with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. The new Naples restaurant includes this dish, of course, as well as other pastas such as lasagna with veal ragu, rigatoni with black truffle or spaghetti with clams.
True to its familial roots, La Salière’s menu features a “Family Style” section designed for sharing.
La Salière’s Branzino alla Ligure features a sea bass filet with tomatoes, capers, olives and potatoes.
La Salière
“The whole family section of the menu is very unique to the brand because the brand is all about family and driving conversations through food,” Frittella said. “So, always having plates in the middle, having things to share, so the family section is also, I think, very important to the brand, where we have the Branzino al Sale for two [Mediterranean seabass cooked in a salt crust]. We do kind of a show when serving it. We kind of light it on fire, break the salt off the branzino and it’s cleaned in front of the table.”
Other “Family Style” options include Linguine con Aragosta, pasta with lobster and cherry tomatoes; Pollo al Mattone, grilled bio chicken with “jus de viande” gravy; and Fiorentina alla Toscana, T-bone steak with Tuscan-style bean sauce and toasted bread. The menu also has appetizers, salads and Pinsa Romana — Roman-style flatbread pizzas.
La Salière features many “family-style” dishes with plates designed to share.
La Salière
“We have the recipes from Sabato himself since he inspired the menu, and my team in the kitchen has been following that strictly to a tee,” Frittella said.
La Salière Italian restaurant launched Nov. 7 in The Bevy’s former space at 360 12th Ave. S. in Old Naples.
Tim Aten
Intimate invitation
The intimate 2,600-square-foot La Salière Naples is on the south side of 12th Avenue South just east of Third Street South. Its design around its central full bar combines Mediterranean elegance with a timeless Italian villa aesthetic that is both sophisticated and warm. Cascades of magenta bougainvillea flow from the exterior into the interior, creating a garden-like atmosphere for its 120 guests.
La Salière serves dinner daily 5:30 p.m.-midnight; and brunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Happy hour is 3 p.m.-4:45 p.m. daily.
La Salière also will be open on Thanksgiving. “We’re offering a special $29 holiday plate, which features roast turkey with stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes and house-made cranberry sauce,” Frittella said. “We also will have our regular menu available with happy hour offerings, as well.”
Meanwhile, BiCE Ristorante on the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South is targeted to reopen soon after it was temporarily closed post-season for a physical transformation ahead of its 20th anniversary in 2026. “We hope that before Thanksgiving, but it’s not confirmed,” Frittella said.
The Tim Aten Knows weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at Tim.Aten@NaplesPress.com
Dining and Cooking