Last year I had a chance to visit Pizzana where I ate some of the best pizza I’ve eaten so far in my life. The Los Angeles based pizzeria has been featured on tv shows, endorsed by celebrities, and praised by food critics.
I first came across Pizzana when it was featured on Netflix’s The Chef Show. Watching the segment made me so hungry that I immediately wanted to make the two-hour drive. After that, it seemed like Chef Uditi and his pizza making skills were being featured everywhere.
The restaurant is owned by Chef Daniele Uditi, actor Chris O’Donnell and his wife, and Sprinkles Cupcakes’ founder Candace Nelson and her husband. From the various stories I’ve read, Chris O’Donnell originally hired Chef Uditi to teach him how to make pizza after he purchased a pizza oven for his backyard. Soon, the actor was having backyard pizza parties where he introduced many of his celebrity friends to Chef Uditi’s cooking skills. It was during one of these legendary pizza parties that Candace Nelson tasted Chef Uditi’s pizza and immediately wanted to open a restaurant with him.
There are currently two locations of Pizzana. The original location is in Brentwood. A second smaller store is located in West Hollywood. We visited the West Hollywood location. The location is very small so reservations are definitely recommended.
GNOCCO FRITTO
We started with some daily special appetizers. This one is fried pizza dough, accompanied by prosciutto crudo di parma. I found fried pizza dough to be a little on the tough side.
BROCCOLINI
Wood fried broccolini, whipped ricotta, roasted garlic, parmigiano, honey, calabrian chile oil. This was very spicy from the calabrian chile oil but we quite enjoyed the dish and its balance of sweet and savory.
MARGHERITA
san marzano dop, fior di latte, parmigiano, basil
My previous favorite margherita pizza place took their classic margherita off their menu and I’ve been in search for a replacement ever since. I absolutely loved Pizzana’s version. The key to a good margherita pizza for me is the sauce since the pizza is so simply adorned.
The sauce here really shines. It’s savory, mildly sweet, with intense tomato flavors that can only be produced from san marzano tomatoes. The cheese and basil ratio were also well-balanced.
The pizza crust does not have the soupy center of a classic Neapolitan pizza. It is a more modern approach, with a stiffer thin crust, but I actually prefer the crust this way. I really enjoyed the flavor and the chew of the crust.
NEO MARGHERITA
san marzano dop “polpa,” fior di latte, basil crumb, parmigiano, basil
This is Chef Uditi’s signature creation so of course we had to try it. For this pizza, the san marzano sauce is a more concentrated slurry. Basil breadcrumbs are scattered evenly across the pizza so that you are ensured to taste herbs in every bite.
While we enjoyed this pie and found the concept very interesting, we didn’t like it quite as much as the classic margherita. The cheese flavor was much more dominant and the concentrated slurry wasn’t quite as enjoyable for me.
Overall, we really enjoyed our pizzas here. We liked them so much we ordered another one for the road. We definitely hope to be back soon and I do think this place is worth a visit if you are in the area. The restaurant does take online reservations through resy so I highly recommend that you make a reservation before visiting.
PIZZANA
https://pizzana.com/menu/
460 NORTH ROBERTSON BLVD
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90048
