{"id":82305,"date":"2024-04-12T09:23:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T16:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=82305"},"modified":"2024-04-12T09:24:30","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T16:24:30","slug":"review-lantica-pizzeria-lives-up-to-the-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/review-lantica-pizzeria-lives-up-to-the-hype","title":{"rendered":"Review: L\u2019antica Pizzeria lives up to the hype\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belmont Shore\u2019s newest Italian restaurant, L\u2019antica Pizzeria da Michele, opened in January<\/a> and has drawn crowds of patrons willing to wait hours on the sidewalk for a table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I visited for the first time on a recent Sunday with five friends \u2014 reservations are a must \u2014 and concluded it is worth the hype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Naples, Italy-born owner, Francesco Zimone, completely transformed the former dark, dreary space at the west end of the Second Street strip that once housed Papalucci\u2019s Italian Restaurant (which I don\u2019t miss) and Babette\u2019s Feast bakery (which I do miss).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
From left: owner Francesco Zimone, Pizza Chef Michele Rubini and Executive Chef Guiseppe Gentile as L’antica Pizzeria de Michele celebrates its grand opening in Long Beach, Friday Jan. 5, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The ambiance is airy and cozy at the same time, with tables and booths with bench seating and fat pillows for comfort. The dining area and outdoor patio are situated around the altar of an igloo-shaped stone oven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The advantage of going with a group is being able to eat a little bit of a lot of food, starting with the meatballs ($20), fritto misto ($24) and eggplant involtini ($20). I\u2019m not usually a fan of eggplant \u2014 it\u2019s a hard thing to cook right and often winds up either mushy or rubbery \u2014 but I could have easily made a whole meal of this delicate, rolled appetizer with spices, parmesan and basil that was simple and full of flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fritto misto comes as a plate of tempura-coated calamari, shrimp, zucchini and fennel that tasted clean \u2014 it’s very tempting to say healthy \u2014 despite being fried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fritto misto at L’antica Pizzeria in Long Beach. Photo by April Servin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The main event, of course, was the pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tried the pesto ($28) and the arugula and prosciutto ($30), which I\u2019d skip next time if only to save stomach space; the saltiness of the meat clashed a bit with the salt in the pizza dough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pesto, however, was perfection. It comes with basil, garlic, walnuts, parmesan, olive oil, tomatoes, and a baseball-size mound of soft mozzarella in the middle. The ladies in my group are all chatty and polite, but for this entree, the table was quiet and the last piece was gone as soon as it landed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pesto pizza at L’antica Pizzeria in Long Beach. Photo by April Servin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And of course, after stuffing our faces with a bounty of gluten and cheese, we went for dessert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a sucker for creme br\u00fbl\u00e9e; the version at L\u2019antica was nothing special but still hit the spot. We also tried the molten lava chocolate cake (get this) and an assortment of Italian cookies. We left sluggish and happy, with nothing but crumbs scattered on a table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Molten lava cake with ice cream at L’antica Pizzeria in Long Beach. Photo by April Servin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I will waddle back to L\u2019antica soon; it\u2019s worth the price \u2014 and the wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u2019antica is at 4621 E. Second St. It is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Call for reservations: 562-248-2320. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of Second Street’s most anticipated restaurants had a high bar to clear. It’s worth the wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":80838,"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":[127],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[3296],"class_list":["post-82305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-food-review","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82305","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\/206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82305"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82322,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82305\/revisions\/82322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82305"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=82305"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=82305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}