Felix's Evan Funke is opening a pizzeria in Hollywood

Evan Funke inside the new Fingers Crossed pizzeria in Hollywood.
Evan Funke, chef at Felix in Venice, is opening a pizzeria in Hollywood called Fingers Crossed. (Josh Telles)

Evan Funke, the chef behind Felix Italian restaurant in Venice, will open Fingers Crossed pizzeria in Hollywood on Saturday. The restaurant is located in an outdoor space adjacent to the Dream Hollywood hotel.

Funke will run the restaurant with Relevant Hospitality, the company behind the hotel, for a residency of at least six months.

While the focus at Felix is on handmade pasta, the menu at Fingers Crossed will celebrate Roman-style round pizzas, made thin and topped with ingredients from local farms such as Valdivia and Kong Thao. The Nduja pie comes with fior di latte, salsa di pomodoro, broccoletti, nduja Calabrese and peperoncino; the Fiori du Zucca is topped with fresh squash blossoms and burrata. Fans of Funke's signature cacio e pepe will be able to order a version here, as well as mezze rigatoni alla carbonara and rigatoni all'amatriciana. There's also a selection of bruschette, salads, Italian wine, cocktails and Italian sodas.

The Fiori di Zucca pizza from Evan Funke's new Fingers Crossed pizzeria in Hollywood.
The Fiori di Zucca pizza from Evan Funke's new Fingers Crossed pizzeria in Hollywood. (Josh Telles)

The space, surrounded by ivy-wrapped walls, will seat 70.

“We can’t travel, and I miss my friends in Rome, so Fingers Crossed is a way to stay connected and pay homage to the extraordinary traditional cooking of the Eternal City,” Funke said in a release.

The restaurant plans to donate a percentage of the profits each month to a different charity, including Black Lives Matter and the Independent Restaurant Coalition.

6471 Selma Ave., Los Angeles, fingerscrossedhollywood.com 

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.