The L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele folks are staying busy, with planned outposts coming to Long Beach, California and New York City. The group isn’t planning on slowing down, either, because they’re soon to jump north with a new location in the Central Coast city of Santa Barbara.
The incoming arrival of L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele — the famous 150-year-old name from Eat, Pray, Love — is great news for pizza-loving Santa Barbara locals and weekend travelers alike, though the city two counties north of Los Angeles is already well-fed thanks to celebrated Italian restaurant Bettina and its wood-fired pies. This new outlet from U.S. owner Francesco Zimone takes over the former Spanish home of the Copper Coffee Pot at 1031 State Street, right on Santa Barbara’s main drag. As with the Hollywood location that opened in May 2019, expect a large tree-wrapped patio as well as indoor dining and a bar. In the summer months, there will even be room for a gelato cart, operated by LA’s own Gelato Festival crew.
This latest L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele is slated to arrive by the end of spring, giving head pizzaiolo Michele Rubini and executive chef Pablo Castillo just enough time to get up and running before the full summer swing. The restaurant is joined by a bunch of other new dining tenants in the community, including LA seafood favorite Broad Street Oyster Co., which used to pop up in the wine-heavy Funk Zone for years before landing a full-fledged restaurant space right on State Street this year as well. Not that the da Michele team will have time to bask in the Central Coast sunshine; locations in Long Beach’s Belmont Shore area and New York City’s West Village are all still on track to open before the end of the year.
The Central Coast location of da Michele should arrive by Memorial Day 2022 at 1031 State Street, serving pizzas as well as housemade charcuterie, pastas, seafood, steaks, and wine from both the surrounding vineyards and Italy.