Community Spotlight: Little Coyote Brings Delicious Pizza to Vintage Row
Little Coyote restaurant delivers authentic, delicious pizza with a side of great service and ambiance to make it a premier spot for the lunch and dinner hour.
Jonathan Strader and Jack Leahy are the owners of Little Coyote, a pizza restaurant located on 4TH Street in the heart of Vintage Row in Long Beach. With their business opening at the beginning of the pandemic, these two entrepreneurs have turned a leap of faith into one of Long Beach’s hidden gems.
The restaurants’ primary location is right in the heart of Vintage Row, a collection of small businesses, bars, and restaurants. Vintage Row attracts a wide array of people that creates a lively atmosphere that surrounds Little Coyote.
Strader and Leahy opened Little Coyote in June 2020. Despite the unknown nature of the early days of the pandemic, they took a chance that ended up working out for the best.
“We opened at a time where everyone was looking for the little positives during the darker days of COVID, so being able to open and see people outside of their homes felt like a positive when opening the restaurant,” said Strader.
These business partners have known each other for almost 10 years. They initially met when Leahy worked in a restaurant that Strader partially owned. Now, their combined years of experience have granted them the knowledge necessary to open a restaurant offering delicious pizza.
“Pizza is like a universal language and Strader and I have always had bigger dreams to feed more people,” says Leahy. “We both love pizza, so it felt natural to gravitate towards something that was a great equalizer.”
Little Coyote adds a subtle elegance to the long-standing traditional New York-style slice of pizza. Customers can grab a slice to go or sit at the restaurant’s outdoor seating area while enjoying a beverage or glass of wine from their drink menu.
The menu sticks to Italian classics such as cheese, pepperoni, and white pie pizzas. They can be bought by the slice from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Whole pizzas are available all day and have more options than the singular slices. Items such as sub sandwiches and salads are available for purchase all day as well.
“My favorite item at Little Coyote is the Grandma Squares,” says frequent visitor Will Dowie.
One other favorite of its customers is their white pies which actually use the same recipe that Leahy shared with Strader during the testing phase of their menu items.
If you would like to visit either Little Coyote’s stores, you can go to its flagship store at 2118 E. 4TH Street or their second location at 3500 N. Los Coyotes Diagonal.
For more information on Little Coyote, you can go to littlecoyotelbc.com.