The Team Behind Baby Gee is Opening a California-Italian Restaurant on Long Beach’s Restaurant Row | Eater LA
"Owners Daniel Flores, Gianna Johns, and chef Waldo Stout are set to open a new neighborhood restaurant on March 26 in the former home of Restauration on Fourth Street’s Retro Row. Flores emphasizes the team's desire to preserve the site's dining legacy, saying, "When it’s been a restaurant for a long time, we want to keep it a restaurant. We hate to see a beloved space torn down for condos. We want to be a hub for the community in the evening just like our neighbors Gusto and Coffee Drunk in the morning." While the team behind an award-winning cocktail bar handles the beverage side, this project leads with food: Stout, who previously cooked at Bavel and Pizzeria Sei and whose collective experience includes management at Bestia and Broad Street Oyster Company as well as opening the Los Angeles outpost of the NoMad, brings an unfussy Italian-meets-Californian sensibility and a particular devotion to dough. As he told Longbeachize in 2024, "Watching my mom and grandmother make these beautiful flour tortillas made me realize one significant thing. My hands were made to touch dough." The menu features focaccia-like pizzas with a sourdough base and California tomatoes (Stout insists there’s no need to import Italian tomatoes when Modesto-grown tomatoes "stand up to their finest San Marzanos counterparts"), including a square Rosa with tomatoes, salt, garlic, and basil; a Detroit-style pie with a wall of crisped cheese and cupped pepperoni; and a white pie doused with a black pepper bechamel, plus artichoke and speck. The California-Italian influence carries through: Stout breaks down whole ducks to make a rich, earthy ragu with homemade ricotta gnocchi and turns unused parts into a broth for a separate quail-and-Parmesan dish; thick pappardelle is tossed in a buttery lemon sauce; an artichoke-and-bean salad is dressed with a bright Cabernet vinegar and herb vinaigrette; ricotta is topped with hyper-charred snap peas, dill, and mint; and a roasted cauliflower Romesco uses fried capers, mint, and breadcrumbs for texture and herbal contrast. The reworked interior honors the room's history — bar stools from a 1970s renovation were retained, a diagonal wood-slat wall was revealed after drywall was removed, and the palette shifts from earlier bright whites to deep browns, pinks, and hints of green — while the patio is fitted with pink Italian-molded chairs and colorful strings of lights. Operating as a fast-casual counter-order, self-seating spot, the colorful space is meant to suit everything from an easy snack and a beer to a celebratory meal, with the owners aiming to keep the menu accessible (most pasta dishes under $20). Flores also frames the project in a larger context of place and practice: "You often hear, 'Long Beach is having a moment right now,' and I find that tiring," he says. "Because Long Beach has authentically been itself. There’s something possible here that isn’t possible in LA. As someone who has worked in both, it’s been a blessing that we can work and create where I was born in Long Beach." - Brian Addison
