A Fresh California-Italian Restaurant Comes to Long Beach From the Baby Gee Crew

Due Fiori in Long Beach. | Brian Addison Due Fiori debuts March 26 in the former Restauration space The team behind award-winning bar Baby Gee is opening a new restaurant on a much-loved stretch of Long Beach. The group’s collective experience includes management at Bestia and Broad Street Oyster Company, as well as opening the Los Angeles outpost of the famed New York hotel bar the NoMad.

Owners Daniel Flores, Gianna Johns, and chef Waldo Stout are set to open the new neighborhood restaurant, Due Fiori, on March 26.Due Fiori will take over the former home of Restauration on Fourth Street’s popular Retro Row. For the team, it was important to keep a restaurant in the space.



“We hate to see a beloved space torn down for condos. We want to be a hub for the community in the evening just like our neighbors Gusto and Coffee Drunk in the morning.” Daniel Flores, chef Waldo Stout, and Gianna Johns.

While Baby Gee is all about the cocktails, Due Fiori leads with its food offerings. Flores and Johns brought on Stout, who previously cooked at noteworthy Los Angeles restaurants such as Bavel and Pizzeria Sei, to introduce an unfussy traditional Italian-meets-Californian sensibility to the menu. For Stout, a lead role represents a full-circle moment, especially as the menu has him return to an early love: dough.

“Watching my mom and grandmother make these beautiful flour tortillas made me realize one significant thing,” Stout told Longbeachize in 2014. “My hands were made to touch dough.” Due Fiori represents Stout’s love of flour, kneading, and the specific alchemy that makes dough magical.

The menu features focaccia-like pizzas with a sourdough base and California tomatoes. (Stout says there’s no need to import Italian tomatoes when those grown in Modesto stand up to their finest San Marzanos counterparts.) The result is a beautiful pizza square like the Rosa made with tomatoes, salt, garlic, and basil.

A Detroit-style pizza comes with a wall of crisped cheese and cupped pepperoni. The white pie is doused with a black pepper bechamel, plus artichoke and speck.The California-Italian influence extends across the menu.

Stout breaks down whole ducks to use in a rich, earthy ragu with homemade ricotta gnocchi; he turns the unused duck parts into broth for a separate quail and Parmesan dish. In another dish, thick strands of pappardelle are tossed in a buttery lemon sauce. Johns is excited about the lighter fare on the menu, which includes an artichoke and bean salad with a bright Cabernet vinegar and herb dressing.

Stout tops ricotta with hyper-charred snap peas, dill, and mint; a roasted cauliflower Romesco plate uses fried capers, mint, and bread crumbs for textural and herbal contrast. Patio. The reworked interior of Due Fiori honors its roots while breathing new life into the space.

The bar stools are from the original Red Room bar’s renovation in the 1970s — the space Baby Gee Bar took over. After ripping off drywall, the founders discovered a diagonal, wood slat wall in the main dining room. The bright whites of Restauration and Shady Grove are long gone, with deep browns, pinks, and hints of green stretching across the main room.

The patio is adorned with pink chairs molded and crafted in Italy and lined with colorful strings of lights.Due Fiori has a fast-casual model where diners order at the counter and seat themselves. The colorful space lends itself to anything from an easy snack and a beer to a celebratory meal.

Flores and Johns aim to keep the restaurant affordable, with most pasta dishes coming in at under $20.“You often hear, ‘Long Beach is having a moment right now,’ and I find that tiring,” says Flores. “Because Long Beach has authentically been itself.

There’s something possible here that isn’t possible in LA. As someone who has worked in both, it’s been a blessing that we can work and create where I was born in Long Beach.” Assorted dishes at Due Fiori.

Focaccia pizza. Focaccia with rosemary. Ricotta topped with charred snap peas, dill, and mint.

Prosciutto with basil, olive oil, and mozzarella. An overhead glance of Due Fiori’s menu. Additional outdoor seating.

Bar. Mascot. Due Fiori.

.