Nonna Mercato - Long Beach

Lauded as one of Long Beach’s best restaurants, the line on a Saturday morning is proof that it’s at least a local fave. I don’t know if I was quite as enchanted as Eater, but I did like the apps a lot. 

In a cute cafe with an airy patio, Italian brunch and dinner are made from scratch, and the bakery churns out plenty of pastries and bread.

Spanish Milk Tea is a fantastic drink, a murky black with sweetened milk that finishes with floral notes and an aroma of orange peel. 

Bruschette should be basic but they make it their own with gorgeous wedges of heirloom tomato that carry such a depth of flavor. They taste like tomato but you didn’t know tomato could taste like this. I’ve only ever had savory bruschetta, but this one is sweet with creamy burrata, and threads of drizzled honey that make it absolutely divine.

I thought I’d tried all the cheeses, but the Tomino Alla Piastra is very new to me. It’s mild and smooth, slightly nutty, a salty/savory variety with a firm and rubbery (in a good way) rind. It’s an agrees with both sweet and savory pairing while still asserting its own unique profile. It’s a harmonious clash of sweet and tangy with acerbic notes of mustard that also mix with tangy-sweet dried apricot. I’ve never had anything like this, especially in this combination.

Floppy, folding Rigatoni tubes come with a tomato-based sauce with deeply cheesy notes. it’s beautifully rich but the sharper notes of rucola as a balanced finish that makes you just keep eating.

Pappardelle belts are impossibly long and wide, and the texture is the reason I’ll always order it if it’s there. The sauce is a meaty ragu, one that’s meaty and not much else. Too heavy and a bit crude, imo. 

Their bakery sure is pretty, with colorful croissants and every flavor of cupcake. The pink and white croissant has a creamy crust and is filled with the smoothest cream with just the right amount of sweetness and a breath of strawberry sunshine. A raspberry cruffin has a similar filling, and both taste more like dessert than a companion to your morning coffee. The matcha croissant just has the crust on top. The inside just has those airy, chewy layers, and I think it’s this simplicity I’m seeking. Like the ragu, they’re a bit heavy-handed with the bigger flavors.

S’mores cupcakes are a fantastic dessert later that night, and I may be biased because of my obsession with marshmallow, but these seem to be the perfect size to enjoy but not overindulge in, with just the right ratio of icing to cake. 

I liked Nonna Mercato but I can’t say I fell in love. The made from scratch concept is endearing, but their pastas could use more polish, and their baked goods try to be glam but venture into gimmick. If the 45-minute wait for a weekend brunch is any indication, there are plenty of people who don’t agree with my assessment, and in all fairness, even I’d be willing to eat there again.