Ante's

Do you know when a restaurant must be really good? When the street it's on is named after it's family patriarch who created the restaurant. That's right. I'm talking about Ante's located on Ante Perkov way in San Pedro, CA.

Funny thing is that after living in San Pedro all my life, I've never eaten here. I've been to the bar a handful of times on 'Big Wednesday' when all the locals get together and have drinks with Ante (the grandson of the founder with the same first name). The one thing I do have to give Ante's credit for was it gave me a hunger and desire for fried calamari. The first time I ever tried the dish was when my friend's parents brought home a box of leftovers from their evening at Ante's. Since then I have been hooked on the fried deliciousness... although I never went back to the source. What was I thinking?

So one random Saturday evening, Alison and I went to Ante's with our neighbors Brandon and Melissa to indulge ourselves in some fine Croatian dining at Ante's. The dining room is old and awesome. Just sitting in the booth gave me a sense of history and tradition. Looking around at the other patrons, I had a feeling that everyone else had been there before a time or two and I would soon find out why.

We started off the evening with a bottle of Wente Riesling. It must have been pretty popular because by the time we ordered our second bottle, we had depleted their stock. The waitress later informed us that they had a baptism party earlier that day. I guess it must have been a fun one. Oh, and our waitress was pretty damn cool too. She was on top of everything we needed and pretty witty to boot. She did a good job of making us feel comfortable and at home.

Brandon getting gangsta with some Riesling

As I mentioned before, I learned how to enjoy calamari after eating leftovers from Ante's. Now it was time to go to the source. My experience before was like walking into a concert and getting a contact high. This time I was got to get the real thing, and you know what? I'm still jonsing another fix of some deep fried deliciousness.

Since Brandon and Melissa had been to Ante's quite a few times before, they guaranteed us that the dish to have was the Mostaccioli and a side of the Sauerkraut. Well, needless to say they were completely correct in this suggestion. Due to the massive portions at Ante's Alison and I split an order of the Mostaccioli as suggested by Brandon and Melissa. The sauce, cheese, meat and noodle heaven was really out of this world. The Sauerkraut was the shocker though. I put Sauerkraut on my hot dogs, but that's usually it. I've never even thought of it as an actual dish on it's own, but Ante's does it. Hot Sauerkraut with meat and sausage mixed in. My world had been changed.

After everything was said and done, we were stuffed, satisfied and slightly buzzed from the superb meal and spirits. Afterward we went home, not before a stop to our local booze dispensary, and drank a little Irish whiskey. I slept quite well that night, but I am still dreaming of my next meal at Ante's.

Ante's Restaurant

729 Ante Perkov Way

San Pedro, CA 90731

(310) 832-5375