Manducatis Rustica has been a Long Island City stalwart almost uninterrupted since 1959. No one is saying it’s the City’s best Italian. But there is still something fun about walking through its non-descript door and into the cascading dining rooms. Development may have infiltrated Long Island City, but Manducatis’ owners, the Cerbones, have made their own progress in the past two years. Namely, when their daughter, Chef Gianna Cerbone-Teoli opened her Italian café nearby: Manducatis Rustica. The layout takes a cue from Manducatis, with a working fireplace in the back of the first dining room.

You may have heard about their celebrated calzone, a sauce-covered $15.00 behemoth described as “a pizza folded over on itself.” But there’s also a list of brick oven, Neapolitan-style pizzas. The eponymous pizza pie, the Rustica ($13.00), is dressed with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, and a healthy pile of fresh arugula.