Pizza

DINING OUT When Romeo Cucina debuted here more than 10 years ago, a new dimension in Italian dining was introduced to Laguna Beach. Commencing with trendy avant-garde decor carried out in warm earth tones, the handsome new restaurant offered a wide variety of pizzas from a huge brick-fired oven behind the capacious entry bar. Beyond the large dining room was cocktail bar, and at the rear, two appetizing deli cases...

Good deals for meals are popping up everywhere around town, especially with the new small-plate concept. Romeo Cucina is no exception. Their happy hour, which lasts all night Mondays and from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, features nine selections for only $6.95 each. Calamari fritti, eggplant parmigiana and penne arabiata, for example, make for some tasty snacking or a light supper. Mondays through Wednesdays you can create your own pizza or pasta from a long list of classic ingredients for a mere $9.95 and you will also be eligible to win a weekly contest for the best creation.

A new pizza shop in downtown Laguna caters to the refined palate on an unpretentious budget. Pizza Lounge, now open at 397 Coast Hwy., in the old Medici Bistro location, serves an array of gourmet pies, salads and sandwiches that fill you up without emptying your pockets, owner Gary Decker said. Signature combinations include the Caprese, White Chicken and Goat Cheese, and Coconut Shrimp, all baked with "fresh quality ingredients" on New York thin or honey-wheat crust. "My personal favorite is the California pizza — a thin crust with bacon, pepperoni, spinach and tomatoes — which has also become our No. 1 seller," Decker said.

Dining Out When it comes to inspirational success stories, it would be difficult to top the tale of Laguna's Alex Costa. The enterprising restaurateur launched his initial Gina's Pizza and Pastaria in Boat Canyon in partnership with mother Gina circa 1983. The place was doubled when an adjoining dry cleaners folded. Then in 1997, after learning Boat Canyon would be demolished for total reconstruction, he opened a second unit on Oak Street. Ironically, following closure of another cleaning establishment next door, the Oak Street unit was expanded last year.

Laguna Beach’s favorite gourmet pizza has gone international. ZPizza, started by owner and Laguna native Sid Faranof in 1986, has expanded to an 89-shop chain nationwide with 300 more under way, and opened its first overseas franchise in Saudi Arabia last month. Another location in Dubai is scheduled to open soon. A leader in health and eco-friendliness, Faranof attributes the chain’s success to quality and health-conscious ingredients, artistic flavor combinations and friendly prices.

DINING OUT What must be among the most phenomenal Laguna Beach success stories of any era is the saga of Z Pizza and how enterprising principal Sid Fanarof gained fame by adding a delicious, nutritious gourmet twist to that popular Italian pie. The story began in June 1986 when Fanarof launched his creation with a single twosome table in Aliso Creek shopping center. Now, after doubling the original site a year ago, eight additional California locations are thriving, four more are on the horizon and 40 franchises have been established in such diverse locales as Lake Tahoe, Phoenix and Santa Barbara.

Gina's Pizza and Pastaria and the Clean Water Now! Coalition are teaming up to keep local beaches clean. For every pizza sold on Wednesdays through January, Gina's will donate $1 to the coalition's beach cleanup program. "The Clean Water Now! Coalition is the California Coastal Commission's designee for both programs: the quarterly Adopt-A-Beach and the big event, the yearly statewide Coastal Cleanup Day," said Roger von Butow, founder of Clean Water Now!

DINING OUT The many fans of Gina's Pizza & Pasteria are in for a big surprise when they discover that the popular little Oak Street location on Coast Highway has just doubled in size. Taking over a defunct dry cleaning establishment next door several months ago energetic principal, Alex Costa, immediately set expansion plans into motion. "We wanted more space for our large number of family customers and more room for couples and singles," Costa said, noting that 30 more seats occupy the new space.

STEVE KAWARATANI "Look, we're all the same; ... in the library he's paying his taxes, in the yard he's raising tomatoes ... " -- Arthur Miller "The fact (is) that you can't buy a decent tomato anymore." -- Calvin Trillin "Tobacco is a dirty weed," the song goes; however, it perversely adds the admission, "I like it, I like it!" Fortunately, tobacco has some very likable and edible relatives, including the ubiquitous tomato. A culinary delight for centuries in the Americas, the tomato has been recognized as a useful vegetable for less than 200 years.

The popular Wine Gallery in Corona Del Mar has opened a beautiful second location in Laguna Beach. The large room is centered around a spacious, U-shaped, marble-topped bar that faces the white-tiled, open kitchen featuring a wood-burning oven. The atmosphere is both sophisticated and cozy. The décor is contemporary and warm, with soft lighting emanating from a fascinating ceiling composed of long wooden slats separated by fire-resistant crushed black paper. Facing the street are floor-to-ceiling windows, with pulled-back curtains made of wine corks.

A new pizza joint opened in town, and the chef says it's serving up something locals don't get enough of. NEApolitan Pizzeria and Birreria opened Nov. 3 at the former Cafe Vienna spot, 31542 S. Coast Hwy. Chef Frank DeLoach, previously sous chef of The Playground in downtown Santa Ana, said the eatery is offering true artisanal pizza - which he said doesn't abound in Laguna - cooked in a state-of-the-art Stefano Ferrara oven. DeLoach, who traveled Italy, says the restaurant offers rustic Southern Italian fare.

While bars and restaurants abound in Laguna Beach, Chris Olsen and Jeff Schroeder contend that locals deserve a watering hole for their favorite glass of Pinot Noir as well. The two co-founders of Wine Gallery, which opened its first location in Corona del Mar in 1999, plan to open a second location in Laguna Beach in mid-July. Olsen, a Laguna Beach resident and owner of Mile 216 wines, said his town seemed like the perfect place to expand. "There's not a single wine bar," he said.

A new pizza shop in downtown Laguna caters to the refined palate on an unpretentious budget. Pizza Lounge, now open at 397 Coast Hwy., in the old Medici Bistro location, serves an array of gourmet pies, salads and sandwiches that fill you up without emptying your pockets, owner Gary Decker said. Signature combinations include the Caprese, White Chicken and Goat Cheese, and Coconut Shrimp, all baked with "fresh quality ingredients" on New York thin or honey-wheat crust. "My personal favorite is the California pizza — a thin crust with bacon, pepperoni, spinach and tomatoes — which has also become our No. 1 seller," Decker said.

For those of you who don?t keep track of these important milestones, January was National Pizza Month and Feb. 9 is International Pizza Day. So, put these on your calendar for next year before you forget again. Americans eat an average of 18 acres of pizza every day and spend about $32 billion a year indulging this pleasure. The average American consumes 23 pounds of pizza per year. Pepperoni and cheese is the most popular combination and pizza?s second only to the hamburger as this continent?

Good deals for meals are popping up everywhere around town, especially with the new small-plate concept. Romeo Cucina is no exception. Their happy hour, which lasts all night Mondays and from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, features nine selections for only $6.95 each. Calamari fritti, eggplant parmigiana and penne arabiata, for example, make for some tasty snacking or a light supper. Mondays through Wednesdays you can create your own pizza or pasta from a long list of classic ingredients for a mere $9.95 and you will also be eligible to win a weekly contest for the best creation.

Laguna Beach’s favorite gourmet pizza has gone international. ZPizza, started by owner and Laguna native Sid Faranof in 1986, has expanded to an 89-shop chain nationwide with 300 more under way, and opened its first overseas franchise in Saudi Arabia last month. Another location in Dubai is scheduled to open soon. A leader in health and eco-friendliness, Faranof attributes the chain’s success to quality and health-conscious ingredients, artistic flavor combinations and friendly prices.

The El Morro Elementary School Boo Blast may have been rescheduled for 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 9 — two weeks later than its original date — but it will still have all the trimmings of a harvest-time bash. Air quality concerns due to the recent wildfires led organizers to postpone the annual festival. The El Morro “Boo Blast At Last!” Fall Carnival, originally slated for Oct. 26, will feature a cake walk, carnival rides, an array of booths featuring games and prizes, popcorn, churros, a bake sale, a raffle and a silent auction of class baskets.

"It's not a crust; it's a canvas." In 1986, the day before the first Z Pizza was to open, the charming and very chatty Sid Fanaroff said that he and his then partner Suzie Megroz still hadn't figured out how to make dough in quantity. She had told him that she knew how to make pizza, but it was really pastry dough for a French onion tart -- which looks like a little pizza. When the giant dough mixer and oven were finally in place, Sid experimented with the recipe that came with the mixer.