Italian food in Long Beach is almost perfect at this restaurant – Press Telegram

Restaurant critic Meryl Schindler says Marlena in Long Beach has a great dining space. (Photo provided by Meryl Schindler)

I try really hard not to seem like I’m writing fawning fan mail about my favorite restaurants seeking approval. I’m certainly an enthusiast. I love going out to eat. I love discovering wonders and gems, and sharing them with anyone who takes the trouble to read my meanderings.

But still…when you find a restaurant that really hits your culinary sweet spot and makes you want to go back, you can sometimes go a little overboard.

So please forgive me if I say Malena The best restaurant I’ve been to in a long time. Not perfect (I had to ask for lime slices for mineral water twice). But I would have to have an amazingly boring dislike for that to get in the way of the pure happiness I felt eating at Marlena. The location is unique. This place is full of happy servers and cheerful diners. The bar is crowded with elbow benders smoking Maria Pickford (rum, pineapple, grenadine, maraschino liqueur) and Cortez the Killers (bourbon sherry, bitters, lemon oil).

The Marena is a wonderful space with a roof and a wide open space, where if there were walls, the night breeze would pass through them. It’s located just south of 2nd Street, around the bend from Naples Rib Company. It’s located in an upscale neighborhood in Naples, rather than on bustling 2nd Avenue.

Neighborhoods and restaurants are places where you can escape from the world around you. A trip to Malena will satisfy both your appetite and your troubled soul. I really didn’t want to leave.

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Considering that chef Michael Ryan spent six months learning from pasta master Evan Funke (at Rustic Canyon and the great Felix in Venice), Marlena’s menu has few precious pastas, and more recently ricotta. It was just cheese gnocchi and pesto genovese, pappardelle and pork sausage ragu. , served with special tortellini made with prosciutto and black truffles.

In contrast, this place is practically a neighborhood pizzeria, with pies (incredibly crispy and layered with lots of things) by Waldo Stout, who toiled at two of L.A.’s best restaurants, Bestia and Gjusta. ). This restaurant has deep roots in trends. Malena’s Ancestry is really delicious.

Like Spago’s early, funky, down-to-earth West Hollywood era, Marlena has a lot to do with how we eat today, and perhaps how we’ll be eating in the years to come. I completely understand. There are two of her breads on the menu that are much more than bread. It’s a happy hybrid called Pizza Bread. One is tomato sauce and aromatic Calabrian oregano. Another is Pizza Bianca with rosemary, black pepper and olive oil. they will arrive soon. They disappear from the dish even faster. And those are just hints of what’s next.

At Malena, it was easy to prepare small plates. Each dish promises a unique flavor unique to Chef Ryan’s eclectic palate. A mix of olive, orange, rosemary, and fennel pollen. I like fennel. However, although pollen sounds like something valuable and rare, it is extremely difficult to harvest. The grilled octopus was incredibly tender and went perfectly with the crunchy chickpeas.