Long Beach Chefs Get Creative

This story was written by Sue Brickman.

Long Beach restaurants, like other food establishments on Long Island, must compete with the top chefs of New York City.

Since Alexis Trolf took over as chef at Caffe Laguna in the West End, he said the restaurant has really turned over and become something that is out of the ordinary, at least in Long Beach.

“Things tend to trend in New York City before they make their way out here,” said Trolf, who is also a partner at Caffe Laguna, at 960 W. Beech St. “I think I’m very in tune with the trends and make sure I’m well read and stay current."

Trolf has lured patrons to the 13-year-old, “Italian-inflected, new American restaurant” in the West End for nearly two years with his creative specialties.

The Long Beach natives said his dishes are inspired by the seasons. Often, that permits him to serve up eight-to-10 specials every night. Right now, he said, he is creating dishes with cauliflower and squash and razor clams that have just come into season.

“I am also using some conch here and there,” he said.

And chanterelle mushrooms rank high on the specials, all cooked in the brick oven, which are rare in Long Beach. The pizza crust, brushed with a very green olive oil, turns “really crisp once inserted into the 850-900 degree oven,” Trolf said.

On the other side of town, creativity and consistency also are key ingredients in the cuisine prepared by Andy Piselli, chef and owner of Geri’s at 631 E. Park Ave. Piselli opened Geri’s five years ago to provide diners with “new-American-with-a-leaning-toward-comfort food,” he said.

He, too, changes dishes depending on the season, but keeps his menu small. It allows him to focus on what he does best, he said.

“I don’t believe in having a big menu because I don’t think you can execute it correctly,” he said.

Piselli offers patrons chicken francaise, short ribs and homemade cavatelli with bolognese sauce and always his meatballs, which he keeps moist with ricotta cheese and very little breading.

The one offering he changes frequently is a fish entrée, he said, “because there are always certain fish running and I have to consider
what is best.”

He always has a tuna flatbread with raw tuna, red onions, capers and wasabi mayo, pan roasted cod and Cajun swordfish with basmati rice.

Ruth Renlener, a self-described “foodie” and longtime Long Beach resident and Realtor, gives Caffe Laguna high marks (as does Zaget), as well as Geri’s and Bahia Social Club, a tapas restaurant, at 832 W. Beech St.

Bahia’s owners, John Rugolsky and Michael Orza, persuaded El Salvador native Israel Hernandez to run the kitchen shortly after the restaurant opened in July 2011. His fish tacos, made with fresh hake fillet, homemade cole slaw and special Bahia sauce, are a favorite, as are his beef, shrimp and chicken empanadas.

Every day he prepares a special dish, sometimes fish, sometimes paella, with his own twist with spices.

Redlener thinks these chefs are all moving in the right direction.

“I think they are all trying to do things that are more imaginative and creative with food, but I would like to see more diversity with more organic and more green-market items,” she said. “There is still room for growth.”