For so many years an unusual building in downtown Covington became a revolving door for restaurants. Each of them stayed for a few years, and some of them were even very good. Maybe it was the horseracing theme, represented by a jockey statue out front that lessened the appeal of the place.
Then in 2016 a new restaurant opened the doors, and I knew immediately that it was a “cursebreaker.” I have given that term to a restaurant that opens in a “cursed” location that defies all the odds and becomes a success. This is a much easier thing to do as an additional location of a well established group, but such insulation from the vagaries that plague a new restaurant is not essential. Sometimes magic happens, and the people behind a brand new concept have instincts that guide them to success.
Such was the case for two guys from Baton Rouge that came to Covington with the idea of doing an Italian restaurant focused on pizza from an Italian oven. Back then such ovens were new and exciting to people not used to them. Before that, pizza came out of ovens that had doors that slammed, or even conveyor belt ovens. But this new style of pizza was from Napoli (Naples) in Italy and it was eponymously named neapolitan. This type of pizza is distinctly different from any American pizza. It has defining characteristics of a very thin (pretty useless) crust in the center with a sturdy ring of crust on the perimeter marked with char marks from the wood oven. And the mozzarella is buffalo milk mozzarella appearing as melted white circles rather than a blanket of melted cheese.
Regardless of my thoughts about neapolitan pizza, I was thrilled to see Meribo arrive in the “cursed” space in Covington. It reminded me in a very small way of my favorite L.A. restaurant Bottega Louie, and Italian restaurant featuring wood-fired pizza and a substantial amount of American classics, all done very well.
Meribo is considerably smaller and not nearly as glamorous, but this is Covington and not L.A., so it works. We have had many meals at Meribo, with the best one being brunch, but over the years I have come to be annoyed by a few things: they only served iced tea from bottles, wine, cocktails, and water from bottles.
The water was Aqua Panna, which I love, but it annoyed me to have to buy water from a bottle, and to not have house-brewed iced tea. These annoyances did not preclude me from visiting, but it seemed an odd practice. On my last visit this seems to have been changed. The waitress told me that they were now brewing tea and the water was tap water. I have no idea why they would change something this long in place, but I’m glad they did. They appeared to have expanded their pizza menu as well.
Three of us got four pizzas because it was a Wednesday and they have Happy Hour all day on Wednesday. We got a pepperoni of course, and all three of the others were newbies. An Il Supremo is an “everything” pizza as the name suggests from the 20th century Supreme pizza, and something called a Gabagool, as well as a white pizza take on a Hot Italian Beef sandwich.
We had too much pizza for three people, but it was Happy Hour prices at $10 each, so one of us was happy to take it home to his kids.
The pepperoni pizza at Meribo is the wide pepperoni and it is buried under the cheese. It’s always been hard to tell that it was pepperoni. I like this pizza, with a nice kick to it and plenty of regular mozzarella. The crust is typical neapolitan, with a soggy thin middle and a thick charred rim. I deal.
The Il Supremo had housemade sausage as well as pepperoni, and sweet chili peppers. Pickled onions were scattered about the top. This was a decent pizza with more “stuff” on it. The red sauce is terrific here,
The Gabagool was as weird as its name, with spicy capicola as the meat, provolone in addition to the mozzarella cheese, and a hefty forest of arugula on top. There was also garlic and a drizzle of Mayoli (mayo and aioli?) and toasted sesame seeds. This had a nice blend of flavors and the same crust.
The Hot Italian Beef pizza was a decent version of the sandwich, with red onion, hot and sweet peppers and garlic, but I don’t consider that pizza. I know it’s no different from smoked chicken pizza, but I don’t consider that pizza either.
These are good versions of neapolitan pizza, but I’ve gone back to my preference for New York-style pies. There is a lot more to the menu at Meribo. I love their Tuesday burger days with great burgers and housecut chips for $10.. Their pastas are aldo delicious. I’m going to stick with those now.
