Checking in with David Myers: New Comme Ça on track for 2009 opening, new pizzeria debuts Monday in Costa Mesa

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Chef David Myers’ food empire is growing. The Comme Ça purveyor’s latest restaurant, Pizzeria Ortica, will open to the public Monday for lunch after a private event Saturday evening.

The Costa Mesa Italian eatery will serve up antipasti dishes such as frutti di mare con farro (farro, mussels, calamari and shrimp) as well as pasta offerings such as Milanese (Fontina, asparagus, Parmigiano-Reggiano, fried egg). Naturally, the Food Art Group restaurant’s menu is also heavy on gourmet pizzas (check its guanciale, ricotta e cipollotto ... with fresh ricotta, house-cured pork cheek, scallions and fennel pollen).

Pizzeria Ortica is expected to start serving dinner in ‘a few weeks,’ reps say. In other Myers-related news, the long-in-the-works Orange County counterpart to Melrose Avenue’s Comme Ça looks on track for a late summer or early fall debut -- also in Costa Mesa.

On Tuesday evening, a few employees at the restaurant also hinted that if things continue to go well for Myers at his flagship Comme Ça in West Hollywood (it was packed Tuesday), a San Francisco chapter might be a possibility for later this year or in 2010. But no other hard details of an S.F. Comme Ça can be confirmed by representatives.

In the meantime, here is the address for Pizzeria Ortica for our Orange County readers who want to check out the pizzeria for lunch next week. Let us know what you think.

Pizzeria Ortica, 650 Anton Blvd., Costa Mesa. (714) 445-4900.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo caption: Chef-owner David Myers, left, and executive chef Michael David at Comme Ça in 2007. Photo credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu / For The Times