Families, dates, solo diners, and beer nerds line up almost every day to experience Mooney's Pizza Tavern, a new Long Beach restaurant that excels at Midwestern nostalgia and comfort.
The pizzas are large and piping hot, there are vintage electronic games to play in the waiting room, and for dessert, there's homemade frozen custard.
“I grew up going to pizza places and I loved it,” said owner Hal Mooney. “All my family memories growing up are going out to eat. I'm not trying to be anything other than what I ate as a kid and still love to this day… [Mooney’s] “It’s warm and nostalgic for no specific era.”
Custom stained glass lanterns at Mooney's hang above each booth.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The central Illinois native wanted to incorporate a number of tavern stalwarts, including squeakers (or fried cheese curds) imported from Wisconsin. It also offers buttermilk-brined chicken wings, four-meat meatballs, a classic cheeseburger, salads (which can be ordered “family size”), a variety of homemade sauces and dressings, and frozen custards in two constantly changing flavors.
Mooney's uses a blend of five flours for its pizzas, which come in two styles: the “classic round,” a fluffy California-style crust variety available in 12 and 18 inches; and the 14-inch pan pizza, which arrives with a crispy layer of cheese on the edges. Toppings include classic options like pepperoni or supreme, or cheffier ingredients like sausage and chard, eight-hour ragù, or the al pastor-inspired pie smeared with pineapple sauce. Zinc and Pitfire veteran Thomas McNamara leads the kitchen.
As a cicerone and founder of beer tour company LA Beer Hop, Mooney's path overlapped with that of the pizza community for years. But when he was hired to develop the drink menu for a pizza chain, he began learning the trade and then applied that knowledge at a local pizzeria called Crumb, which his friend still runs.
Mooney and his family moved to Long Beach during the pandemic and stopped by their future restaurant countless times. In the end, Mooney wondered: Could the long-vacant Huff Restaurant be converted into a tavern? He won the lease and set about building the restaurant of his dreams (and the first in its history). He designed custom stained glass chandeliers that spell out the restaurant's name in cursive. He converted the restaurant's long kitchen counter into a bar, including seating overlooking the pizza oven and television screens showing live sports.
With 15 years in the beer trade, Mooney offers 20 taps at the restaurant and put together a beer list that includes a rotation of his “bucket list,” a guide to 100 beers he thinks everyone should try before they die. Their tavern offers a passport for them, and once you've ordered 25 and 50, you receive a prize at each landmark; at 100, your name is printed on a plate. Meanwhile, Mooney's wine list is filled with biodynamic selections curated by consultant and lauded sommelier Ian Krupp of Anajak Thai Cuisine.
A wedge salad topped with pancetta, buttermilk-brined chicken wings, and cottage cheese squeakers at Mooney's.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
But Mooney also needed the tavern to be kid-friendly. Inspired by his 3- and 5-year-old sons, he installed two arcade machines he purchased from Button Mash; designed a smiling turtle mascot named Chef Pepp; and came up with a recipe for fresh lemonade, which is found on almost every table with children.
Mooney's Pizza Tavern also offers intrigue: during construction, Mooney discovered an old locked safe left by former tenants. Since mid-April, he's been raffling off $5 tickets to win whatever's inside, and on Sunday at 1 p.m., in lieu of an official opening ceremony, he and his team will mark the grand opening by opening the safe; All proceeds from the raffle will benefit Casa Youth Shelter, a nearby nonprofit. As of Wednesday, Mooney said he had raised more than $10,000 for the charity.
If it's empty, Mooney says, there will always be pizza: the winner will receive the equivalent of a week's supply from the tavern. Mooney's Pizza Tavern is open daily from 4 to 10 pm; Sunday's grand opening marks the launch of its weekend hours from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8105 E. Wardlow Rd., Long Beach, (562) 684-2220, lunaeyspizza.com
Fried whole snapper with chili-tangerine vinaigrette, cassava puree and salad at Chainsaw in Melrose Hill.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
chainsaw
One of L.A.'s favorite food pop-ups has opened a brick-and-mortar cafe, and Chainsaw's new Melrose Hill outpost is already so popular that it's expanding again this year. Chef and founder Karla Subero Pittol launched her eponymous dinner series from her Echo Park garage, where during the pandemic she roasted whole animals and served Venezuelan snacks like arepas and empanadas and her famous ice cream cakes.
The Chainsaw counter in Melrose Hill.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Here's Looking at You and Animal alum Subero Pittol opened Chainsaw in late 2025, originally intended as a space for fans to find her popular desserts. But in recent months it has become more of a Venezuelan café, where it showcased its heritage first through street foods like arepas and empanadas and then through more complicated dishes like milanesas with tamarind barbecue sauce, lomo saltado with smoked tomato, and fried whole fish.
“Venezuelans are arriving in droves,” he said. “I was like, 'Where have you guys been all my life in Los Angeles?' “I had never known a Venezuelan community like this until I opened a Venezuelan restaurant.”
The coffee program also expanded rapidly, with options like the café quesillo inspired by TikTok's viral flan, of which they sell more than 100 a day (a fun twist for Subero Pittol, who doesn't own a TikTok account).
Now, with few seats and lines down the block, Subero Pittol just signed the lease for the space next door and plans to expand it with dinner, wine and beer service later this year.
“The other side is where I will definitely let my strange flag fly,” he said. “I'll make the food I can't make in the cafe, given the daytime nature.”
Chainsaw is open Thursday through Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
5022 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, chainsaw.com
Coucou's menu is based on French food with options such as the haute dog, a pork sausage with onion jam, cheese fondue and pepperoncini.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Coucou Manhattan Beach
Fun bistro Coucou first opened in Venice in 2023 before expanding its dishes of oysters, fried steaks, and deluxe hot dogs to West Hollywood the following year. Now, the restaurant and bar from the former owners of Chez Tex is open right off the Manhattan Beach Pier with French appetizer classics, zucchini fritters, one of the best burgers in town, Parisian gnocchi, a fan-favorite soft serve ice cream, lobster spaghetti and other signatures from the Venice and West Hollywood locations. The newest Coucou opens an hour earlier than its predecessors and offers approximately 52 seats, 10 of which at the bar are reserved for walk-ins. Coucou is open in Manhattan Beach Sunday through Thursday from 4 to 9:45 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 4 to 10:45 p.m.
1131 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, 424-237-2024, coucou.la
