{"id":80816,"date":"2024-01-05T16:38:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T00:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=80816"},"modified":"2024-01-05T17:46:47","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T01:46:47","slug":"after-years-of-planning-world-famous-lantica-pizzeria-de-michele-is-open-in-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/after-years-of-planning-world-famous-lantica-pizzeria-de-michele-is-open-in-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"After years of planning, world-famous L’antica Pizzeria da Michele is open in Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the mouth of Second Street, people gathered along the sidewalk waiting for a first glimpse inside Belmont Shore’s newest and long-awaited eatery, L’antica Pizzeria da Michele.<\/p>\n

The building, owned by Belmont Shore Business Association President Kurt Schneiter, was formerly occupied by Papalucci\u2019s Italian Restaurant and has been under construction for over two years. Initially, Schneiter hoped the space would become a boutique hotel, but after L’antica owner Francesco Zimone saw the space, he knew it would be the perfect location for his restaurant.<\/p>\n

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Francesco Zimone, left Owner, Pizza Chef Michele Rubini, center, and Executive Chef Guiseppe Gentile as L’antica Pizzeria da Michele celebrates their grand opening in Long Beach, Friday Jan. 5, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pizza Chef Michele Rubini works the dough of a pizza at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele as they celebrate their grand opening in Long Beach, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zimone brought on Executive Chef Guiseppe Gentile and pizza Chef Michele Rubini to recreate the legacy restaurant’s\u00a0classic Neapolitan pizza and Italian dishes in the heart of Belmont Shore.<\/p>\n

“We don’t strive for the ‘wow effect’ of something to put on Instagram like, ‘look at the cheese, look at the pepperoni,'” Zimone said. “What you get is exactly what you would be eating at home in Italy. We cook in a clean way,\u00a0not too much sugar, not too much salt.”<\/p>\n

The menu offers 10 pizzas, with classics like the Margherita ($20), and more unique pizzas like the Caserta ($32) which is topped with Fior di Latte mozzarella, rapini (broccoli rabe), Italian sausage, garlic, basil, smoked provolone, pecorino and Calabrian chili. One pizza can feed roughly two to three people.<\/p>\n

The pizzas are made to order and cooked in an imported clay, wood-fired pizza oven by Rubini.<\/p>\n

In addition to pizzas, the menu includes appetizers like deep-fried gnocchi ($20), salads, pastas like cacio e pepe ($24), main entrees like grilled branzino ($38) and chicken scaloppina ($32), which comes with a lemon sauce, mashed potatoes and broccolini.<\/p>\n

For dessert, customers can indulge in Italian gelato or traditional Italian sweet treats like creme br\u00fbl\u00e9e, tiramisu, and deep-fried pizza dough with a Nutella filling and hazelnut gelato. The restaurant has a full bar and various coffee and tea options.<\/p>\n

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Pizza Chef Michele Rubini works the pizza oven at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele as they celebrate their grand opening in Long Beach, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pizza’s being prepared at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele as they celebrate their grand opening in Long Beach, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although he was born in Naples, Italy, Zimone is really a Long Beach local. He moved here after meeting his wife, Sheila, a Long Beach native. Three years ago, they were on one of their usual strolls around Belmont Shore when they began to dream up a plan to bring the pizzeria to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

“We were walking around and saw the building, there wasn’t even a lease sign on it yet,” Zimone said. “We had a dream to create something that felt like the desert, mid-century, like somewhere in Palm Springs.”<\/p>\n

Of the 8,000-square-foot location, 3,000 square feet are dedicated just to the patio. Desert plants surround the landscaping and inside the restaurant, the pizza oven is tucked in the corner of the airy dining room.<\/p>\n

“Long Beach is a place where community really comes together,” Zimone said. “We want to make sure we created a place where people gather and come together.”<\/p>\n

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Francesco Zimone, owner, holds his son Alessandro Zimone after cutting the ribbon as L’antica Pizzeria da Michele celebrates their grand opening in Long Beach, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If the name of the restaurant sounds familiar, it’s probably because of its longstanding, global history. The brand’s origin restaurant was opened in Naples, Italy in 1870. In 2006, author Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about her visit to the Italian pizzeria in her famed memoir turned film “Eat, Pray, Love.” Italy’s location has since closed, but in 2019, Zimone and his partners brought the brand to Hollywood and then opened two other locations before bringing it to Long Beach.<\/p>\n

The restaurant is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. In the spring, the business is looking to add a brunch menu and expand its outdoor dining.<\/p>\n

L\u2019antica Pizzeria da Michele is at 4621 Second St.<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This story has been edited to clarify the spelling of L\u2019antica Pizzeria da Michele.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The owners of the internationally beloved L’antica Pizzeria da Michele, who are locals, long dreamed of bringing the eatery’s famed wood-fired pizza to Belmont Shore. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314,"featured_media":80841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[168],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32152],"class_list":["post-80816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-restaurant-openings","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80816"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80851,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80816\/revisions\/80851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80816"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=80816"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=80816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}