Paul Reese would like to apologize to anyone who saw him walking around the streets of Long Beach scarfing down handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese.

He was researching to develop his own vegan cheese recipe, which he will now use in pizzas and pasta served in his first brick-and-mortar restaurant, MangiaFoglie, located at the end of Long Beach’s Retro Row.

It took over a dozen iterations, but the result bubbles, melts and “has a nice kind of funk” to it, Reese said.

Reese’s cheese is made from tofu rather than nuts, which is more commonly used in vegan cheese variations. He has been serving it on 10 varieties of pizza for a pop-up he started in 2020 known as Long Beach Vegan Pizza.

With MangiaFoglie, he is rebranding and expanding the plant-based menu to include pasta, salads and appetizers.

Paul Reese, co-owner, in the kitchen by the pizza oven of his new vegan Italian restaurant, MangiaFoglie, in Long Beach on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

The restaurant is currently open every day for coffee — served with oat milk or almond milk of course — but will expand to a full menu on Feb. 8, Reese said.

The initial menu will feature six appetizers, three salads, 10 pizzas and 10 pasta dishes, Reese said.

Daniel Vesely, MangiaFoglie co-owner, said he and Reese want to attract all types of diners, not just those avoiding animal products.

“Vegans will find it,” Vesely said. “More importantly, we are going to be catering to the general public because our pizza is not ‘vegan pizza.’ It’s a plant-based pizza that is amazing and can compete with any other pizza.”

When Vesely first tried Reese’s pizza, he said he was shocked to find out it was vegan. Reese told Vesely he already had a location in mind for the restaurant and the partnership developed shortly after that.

The space’s previous tenant, Scholb Premium Ales, didn’t use — and ended up covering up — a pizza oven that had been imported from Italy. Reese estimated the oven cost about $40,000.

“We’re really excited to get some miles on that oven,” Reese said.

Over a dozen years working in fine dining have prepared him to run his own restaurant, Reese said, giving him an eye for detail and teaching him to anticipate customers’ needs.

For instance, one of the restaurant’s bathrooms contains a mouthwash dispenser for anyone needing to freshen up after eating a garlic-heavy dish.

Cutlery options include a spaghetti fork with grooves to make twirling up noodles easier.

His restaurant’s name, MangiaFoglie, is Italian for “leaf eater.” Reese said the term dates back to the 17th century and was used to refer to people in Naples who ate a “heavily plant-based diet.”

Reese can pinpoint the moment he decided to swear off animal products.

At 17 years old, he was driving a red 1999 Ford Mustang on the 60 Freeway heading from Diamond Bar to L.A. for an anti-war protest.

Stuck in traffic, he had his windows down when something “putrid” wafted in.

“That smell hit my nostrils,” Reese said. “It burned my nose hairs.”

A few minutes later, he passed a broken-down 18-wheeler that was carrying a load of dead pigs.

After that moment, Reese has been eating vegan for nearly three decades, but he’s made exceptions from time to time — like when he was a waiter at a fine dining restaurant and wanted to give honest recommendations on the dishes being served.

Or the aforementioned cheese-eating walks.

MangiaFoglie, 2306 E. Fourth St., is open every day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.