Blackout be damned! Pizza with this much history does not need power to electrify.
With a Saturday lunch crowd packing the open-air courtyard at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele in Los Angeles, a power outage might have spelled disaster. But a recent blackout put a spotlight (albeit a battery-generated one) on what the two-year-old Hollywood restaurant does so well. When the lights and electric ovens suddenly went bust during my visit this month, the kitchen staff set aside the pastas and fish dishes and focused instead on the storied wood-fire pizza.
Francesco Zimone and fellow Neapolitan chef Michele Rubini opened the first U.S. location of L’antica in April 2019. The original Naples location dates back to 1870, a decade before electricity was a thing, and long enough ago to warrant the brand’s reputation today as “world’s best pizzeria.” Those chewy and charred rounds of tomato, basil, and mozzarella are exceptionally good, and whether it’s the classic margarita or something flashier—like the $60 double fior di latte with pecorino, basil, shaved black truffle, and truffle oil—the power is in the freshness and simplicity not in modernist sleight-of-hand by way of centrifuge. Most days, the kitchen sends out classic dishes such as Nerano pasta, a favorite of actor Stanley Tucci’s, and popular sides like fried zucchini blossoms filled with house-made ricotta.
The pizza oven at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele takes two days to heat up.
With L’antica’s proof of concept affirmed in Southern California (and during the pandemic, no less), Zimone has his eyes on saucy new horizons. I spoke to him this week about his plans for a U.S. expansion, his philosophy on the dining experience, and where else he likes to eat in Los Angeles (be warned: his list will make you very hungry).
Francesco Zimone, left, and fellow Neapolitan chef Michele Rubini at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele
Pizza is so simple but nobody gets it quite right the way L’antica Pizzeria da Michele does. Can you explain this magic?
Francesco Zimone: Ha! Thank you. We think about this all the time. These things sound easy and simple but they’re not. It takes two days to warm up the pizza oven. It’s like starting up an old car. You just have to get it going. Then, if you have cheese that’s the wrong cheese, it changes the entire experience. Or people think, just put some mushrooms on pizza or put salami and pizza, and it will be delicious because you’re creating this experience of savory and salt. But each of those ingredients needs to be just right or it’s a disaster.
Great food is about more flavor, however. When we were waiting for various approvals at L’antica, I made a point of sitting in every chair in the restaurant. I always asked, ‘What is it that you want people to think when they sit here or here or here? What do you want them to feel?’ The answer was always the same: You want customers to go home and say, ‘Wow, I had a great experience at that place; an experience that came from the heart.’ That comes from really being selective with all the elements, from the food to the decor to the atmosphere to the valet parking after the meal. You want people to leave happy and stay happy.
Before the outage: Spectacular pasta from the kitchen at L’antica Pizzeria da Michele
Your customers certainly look happy. Even when the electricity conked out, people stayed at their tables, laughing and enjoying themselves over bottles of Brunello.
Francesco Zimone: I think what’s made us successful is that I was not a restaurateur before this [Zimone was a designer before opening L’antica Pizzeria da Michele, his first restaurant, in his mid-40s]. I never looked at this project with the goal of, ‘How much money are we making?’ Our goal, really, was to make people feel good. I love to be with people. People lift me up. When you add good food into the picture, life doesn’t get much better.
Tell me about the plans to expand the brand.
Francesco Zimone: We’re opening in New York City in the spring of 2022 on the corner of Greenwich Avenue and Bank Street in the West Village. It’s a beautiful old landmark building. Lots of bricks, lots of history, gorgeous space, incredible location. We’re also working on a location here in Los Angeles on the West Side in a space that looks exactly like L’antica Hollywood. Because I’m crazy enough to think I can manage restaurants on the West Coast and East Coast, and, within this city, two locations at a distance of 30 minutes apart. Oh, and we are also opening in Belmont Shore, here in Long Beach.
Wait. Long Beach? Why Long Beach?
Francesco Zimone: You’re not the first person to ask that question! Everyone sees Long Beach as a second choice or third choice after Newport Beach. But I had a chance to spend some time there and really fell in love with this location. It’s a spectacular space. We’re combining two restaurants and making them into one big space. We want it to be almost a 24/7 type of place with breakfast, lunch, dinner and after dinner menus. It will have that component of the croissant behind glass. You can have coffee and then breakfast or brunch with eggs; a beautiful lunch and then dinner and late night options. We want to push on the aspect of being a home for people.
When I asked the great Mexican chef Enrique Olvera recently where he likes to eat in Los Angeles, he immediately mentioned your restaurant. No pressure to return the compliment but…
Francesco Zimone: Oh, my God, I have goosebumps. I didn’t know that you wrote the story that mentioned that. That is so cool. I haven’t eaten at his Los Angeles restaurant Damian yet but I just returned from Mexico City and called Pujol in advance to let them know I was the guy blessed that Enrique Olvera loves to eat in my restaurant. [Laughs]. Pujol was truly one of the best meals of my entire life. The flavors were so balanced. Your mouth never gets tired because each taste is different, even in a meal that goes on for many courses.
Okay, so where do you like to eat in L.A.?
Francesco Zimone: When I go out in L.A., what I love is quality. Often that means Asian cuisine. Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills for me is quintessential old-school Japanese. I love Sugar Fish, too. Years ago, I lived above Nozawa in Studio City and would give them my paychecks at lunchtime to Mr. Nozawa. I love Gjusta, too, and I love Gjelina. There’s a gelato place in Altadena, Bulgarini, that is a guilty pleasure. And for Italian food, I love Marino. The chef is a genius on tomatoes. I can have a blast with a Mucho Bowl at Cafe Gratitude or, every once in a while, I’ll get a Harvest Bowl at Sweetgreen or a little piece of salmon at Tender Greens—marinated perfectly and served with toasted bread. I could go on: Ori Menashe at Bestia and Bavel Downtown LA is making some of the best Mediterranean food on the planet. Oh, and Angelo Auriana’s handkerchief egg pasta with pesto at Factory Kitchen—that dish is insane. Insane! Do you need more?
Whoa! No! I’m really hungry now.
Francesco Zimone: Me, too. Let’s eat!
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.