One of the great joys of Second Street in Long Beach’s Belmont Shore is how walking down any given block you move between the new and trendy and the old school and sedate, with the sporty and noisy in between.

New and trendy runs to such hot spots as Saint & Second, Lasher’s Kitchen, Tavern on 2 and Roe. Old school, by contrast, is deeply Italian (classic spots such as La Strada, Papalucci’s, Domenico’s) and the pleasantly understated, neighborhood intensive Buona Gente, which translates, rather elegantly, as Good People. Such a nice name, and such a nice place.