With many restaurants serving pizza in LA, you may wonder what makes one rise above the top of LA’s best pizzas? Focusing on quality and creating a crisp and savory crust is why Pizzana continues to be popular. It also helps that the late LA Times Food Critic, Jonathan Gold, willingly waited in line for hours to experience their food.
Pizzana caught rapid attention due to actor Chris O’Donnell and his wife Caroline being co-owners with Sprinkles founder, Candace Nelson. Together they discovered chef Daniele Uditi when O’Donnell invited him to prepare pizzas in his backyard wood fired oven. Soon after, history was born with the opening of Pizzana in Brentwood.
Uditi hails from a small town near Naples, the home of Neapolitan pizza. He learned his craft growing up in the family bakery and worked at Le Colonne, a Michelin star restaurant. After moving to LA, he created his signature “slow dough,” a blend of imported Italian flours and has attracted a number of celebrity followers.
The pizza crust is thin and crisp towards the outside. In some areas, air pockets create hollow circles of dough as the top and the bottom of the crust separates. The combination of using slow dough and baking it in a super hot oven creates the natural char and adds additional flavor in the crust.
San Marzano DOP is a certification that guarantees a tomato is of the San Marzano variety and from that Southern region in Italy. They are a key ingredient in many of their pizzas and Uditi imports them himself. The fior di latte (mozzarella) is also imported directly from Naples.
The sight of the cacio e pepe pizza isn’t impressive, but once you bite into it, you quickly smell and taste the pungent provoloncino di agerola, the richness of the mozzarella, and the fresh cracked pepper. The char from the edge adds a nice savory element and then your taste buds get a welcome surprise with the dollops of creamy parmigiano crema.
Pepperoni pizza is actually an Italian American creation. The pepperoni curls up after baking it and tastes like it was dry-aged. I ordered the pizzas (heat and slice) and should have removed the basil when baking and reapplied it after it came out of the oven. That way it retains its taste and freshness.
Salads don’t play a back seat here. For example, the mixed green salad contains arugula, treviso, endive, cherry tomatoes, candied walnuts, and parmigiano reggiano and is tossed in a red wine vinaigrette. The shaved brussels sprouts salad contains the naturally sweet lolla rossa lettuce and mixed with slivered apples, toasted pistachios and is served with a caramelized shallot vinaigrette.
Co-owner Nelson leverages her Sprinkles experience and dual hats as Pizzana’s pastry chef. She prepares the two desserts available, panna cotta made with salted caramel and a dark chocolate olive oil cake.
Pizzana remains open for to-go orders only. To minimize the wait time, it is suggested that orders be placed on-online with the desired time for pick-up. Two parking spots in front of the restaurant are reserved for to-go orders. They have a second location in West Hollywood.
Pizzana
Brentwood – 11712 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049; 310.481.7108
West Hollywood – 460 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048; 310.657.4662
pizzana.com