Families, dates, solo diners and beer nerds are lining up nearly every day to experience Mooney’s Pizza Tavern, a new Long Beach restaurant that’s big on nostalgia and Midwest comfort.
The pizzas come large and piping hot, there are vintage arcade games to play in the waiting area, and for dessert, there’s house-made frozen custard.
“I grew up going to dine-in pizza places and loved it,” said owner Hal Mooney. “All of my family memories growing up are going out to eat. I’m not trying to be anything other than what I ate growing up and still love to this day. … [Mooney’s] is warm, and nostalgic to no specific era.”
The Central Illinois native wanted to incorporate a number of tavern stalwarts, including squeakers — or fried cheese curds — imported from Wisconsin. He’s also offering buttermilk-brined chicken wings, four-meat meatballs, a classic cheeseburger, salads (which can be ordered “family size”), a range of house-made dips and dressings, and frozen custard in two constantly rotating flavors.
Mooney’s uses a combination of five flours for its pizzas, which come in two styles: the “classic round,” a California-style, fluffy-crust variety available in 12 and 18 inches; and the 14-inch pan pizza, which arrives with a crispy layer of cheese at the edges. Toppings include classic options such as pepperoni or supreme, or cheffier ingredients like sausage and chard, eight-hour ragú, or the al pastor-inspired pie slathered with pineapple sauce. Zinc and Pitfire veteran Thomas McNamara is leading the kitchen.
As a cicerone and the founder of beer-tour company LA Beer Hop, Mooney’s path overlapped with the pizza community for years. But when he was hired to develop the beverage menu for a pizza chain, he began learning the trade and later put that knowledge to use in a local pizza pop-up called Crumb, which his friend still runs.
Mooney and his family moved to Long Beach during the pandemic and drove by their future restaurant space countless times. Eventually Mooney wondered: Could the long-vacant Huff’s diner flip to a tavern? He won the lease and set about building his dream — and first-ever — restaurant. He designed custom stained-glass lamps that spell out the restaurant’s name in cursive. He turned the diner’s long kitchen counter into a bar, including seats that overlook the pizza oven and TV screens broadcasting live sports.
With 15 years in the beer trade, Mooney offers 20 taps at the restaurant and crafted a beer list that includes a rotation from his “bucket list,” a guide to 100 beers he believes everyone should try before they die. His tavern offers a passport for them, and once you’ve ordered 25 and 50, you receive a prize at each benchmark; at 100, your name is printed on a plaque. Meanwhile, Mooney’s wine list is full of biodynamic picks curated by consulting and lauded sommelier Ian Krupp of Anajak Thai Cuisine.
But Mooney also needed the tavern to be kid-friendly. Inspired by his 3- and 5-year-old kids, he installed two arcade cabinets that he sourced from Button Mash; designed a smiling turtle mascot named Chef Pepp; and devised a recipe for fresh lemonade, which is found on nearly every table with children.
Mooney’s Pizza Tavern is also serving intrigue: During construction, Mooney discovered an old locked safe left behind by former tenants. Since mid-April, he’s been raffling $5 tickets to win whatever might be inside, and on Sunday at 1 p.m., in lieu of an official ribbon-cutting ceremony, he and his team will mark the grand opening by cracking the safe — with all proceeds from the raffle benefiting nearby nonprofit Casa Youth Shelter. As of Wednesday, Mooney said he’s raised more than $10,000 for the charity.
If it’s empty, Mooney says, there’s always pizza: The winner will receive the equivalent of a weekly supply from the tavern. Mooney’s Pizza Tavern is open daily from 4 to 10 p.m.; Sunday’s grand opening marks the launch of its weekend hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8105 E. Wardlow Rd., Long Beach, (562) 684-2220, mooneyspizza.com
Chainsaw
One of L.A.’s favorite food pop-ups launched a brick-and-mortar cafe — and Chainsaw’s new Melrose Hill outpost is already so popular that it’s expanding again this year. Chef-founder Karla Subero Pittol launched her dinner series of the same name out of her Echo Park garage, where throughout the pandemic she roasted whole animals and served Venezuelan snacks such as arepas and empanadas and her famous icebox pies.
Subero Pittol — a Here’s Looking at You and Animal alumna — opened Chainsaw in late 2025, originally intended as a space for fans to find her popular desserts. But over the last few months it’s become more of a Venezuelan cafe, where she showcased her heritage first through street foods like those arepas and empanadas and then through more involved dishes such as milanesas with tamarind barbecue sauce, lomo saltado with smoked tomato and whole fried fish.
“Venezuelans are coming in in hordes,” she said. “I was like, ‘Where have you guys been my whole life in L.A.?’ I’ve never known such Venezuelan community until I opened a Venezuelan restaurant.”
The coffee program rapidly expanded, too, with options such as the TikTok-viral flan-inspired cafe quesillo, of which they sell upward of 100 a day (a funny twist for Subero Pittol, who does not own a TikTok account).
Now, with scant seating and lines down the block, Subero Pittol just signed the lease on the space next door and plans to expand with dinner service, wine and beer later this year.
“On the other side is where I’ll definitely let my freak flag fly,” she said. “I will do the food that I don’t get to do at the cafe, given the daytime nature of it.”
Chainsaw is open Thursday to Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
5022 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, chainsawla.com
Coucou Manhattan Beach
Playful bistro Coucou first opened in Venice in 2023 before expanding its oyster platters, steak frites and luxe hot dogs to West Hollywood the following year. Now the restaurant and bar from the former Chez Tex owners is open just off the Manhattan Beach pier with French-apéritif classics, zucchini beignets, one of the city’s best burgers, gnocchi Parisienne, a fan-favorite soft-serve sundae, lobster spaghetti and other signatures from the Venice and West Hollywood locations. The newest Coucou opens one hour earlier than its predecessors and offers roughly 52 seats, with 10 at the bar reserved for walk-ins. Coucou is open in Manhattan Beach Sunday to Thursday from 4 to 9:45 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 4 to 10:45 p.m.
1131 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, 424-237-2024, coucou.la
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