Landini’s Pizzeria Lands Italian Restaurant in Pacific Beach

The freestanding building on Garnet Avenue that was the longtime home of Caffe Bella Italia is being revived as a new Italian restaurant from Leo Landini, the owner of Landini’s Pizzeria in Little Italy. The 11-year-old, New York-style pizzeria opened an offshoot at the Liberty Public Market last year, and since 2016, Landini and his wife Christine have operated a Tuscan trattoria called Ristorante Illando in the space above its original India Street location.

The Florence-born Landini named the Pacific Beach restaurant Scuderie Italia as a tribute to Italian auto racing culture. Opening today with indoor and outdoor dining plus takeout and delivery, the eatery will serve dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. nightly and plans to start lunch service next month.

There is pizza, of course — Neapolitan-style wood-fired pizza from an Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletan-certified pizzaiolo topped with housemade mozzarella cheese. The menu, which includes handmade pasta that can be paired with a choice of sauce, was designed by chef Danilo “DJ” Tangalin, Jr., an experienced local chef who’s run the kitchens at Tidal, JRDN, Bivouac Ciderworks, and Gaya Gaya; most recently, Tangalin cooked at Oceanside Italian spot Blade 1936.

Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo