PIZZANA (BRENTWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CA)

Pizzana
11712 San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049
www.pizzana.com
Tel: 310.481.7108
Cuisine: Italian, Pizza
$$ ($15-$30)
Sun, 06/18/2017, 5:00pm walk-in
     (4.5 Piglets)

Pizza and I are like two peas in a pod. If I'm not eating pizza, I'm eating ice cream, fried chicken, or something remotely glutinous. Luckily, a new pizza joint backed by Chris O'Donnell (yes, the actor!) and Candace Nelson, the owner of Sprinkles, recently opened up within walking distance from my apartment. Unfortunately, this could mean some serious danger in terms of weight gain.

Pizzana is headed by chef Daniele Uditi who grew up in Italy making pizzas. The place is fairly small, with a small outdoor patio eating area and a chef's bar where you can watch the pizzas being made. It's contemporary, simple and clean. The pizzas are what they're known for, offering traditional neapolitan crust that isn't soggy, but rather a nice, chewy texture. 

The Interior

The pizza oven

The pizza comes out and is placed on a pan that has holes to let the steam out, giving a nice crispy crust. 

Pizza Making...

PATE DI FEGATINI ($13.00): Housemade Chicken Liver Pate, San Marzano Jam, Wood Fired Bread. This was amazing. The liver was smooth and creamy with a great amount of flavor and balance. It was absolutely delicious to the core and so was the bread. The only thing is, they only give you two small slices of bread and you're left with a bunch of liver leftover. 

Look at how much liver was leftover and we put a lot on our bread. We asked for more and they had to charge us an extra $5 for 4 slices. 

WOOD FIRED BREAD ($5.00): The bread was delicious, crisp and chewy. Enough said. 

CARNIVORO ($22.00): San Marzano Dop, Fior Di Latte, Spicy Soppressata, Fennel Sausage, Prosciutto Cotto, Parmigiano, Basil. This pizza is a meat lovers dream. It had everything on it and then some. If you love meat, this is your type of pizza. A good pizza with lots of flavor and spice. 

Peach Crostini with Sprinkles Ice Cream. I thought this dessert was just ok. I loved the ice cream as it was creamy and delicious, but the tart wasn't that great. It wasn't as crispy and decadent as I was hoping. 

MY FAVORITE DISH. UOVO ($19.00): Fior di Latte, Cherry Tomato, Prosciutto, Crudo, Bacon Jam, Arugula, Egg. This pizza is delicious. I thought it was fresh and it was a change to have bacon jam as the sauce. I thought it didn't taste heavy at all and the crust, oh that crust...it was delicious upon every bite. There was a little spice from the arugula. I thought it was a great pizza from the traditional meat pizza. 

Overall, Pizzana was delicious. I thought the pizzas had an amazing crust and lived up to their expectations. They import their mozzarella from Italy every two weeks to deliver the freshest cheese straight onto your plate. There were only a few issues I had with the restaurant that stopped me from giving them five piglets. The first was the pate dish. The liver pate execution was good but conceptually, it fails because they only give two small slices of bread and a whole lotta liver. I'd rather them raise the price $2 for the dish and provide four slices of bread rather than two. Additionally, I thought the service could have used a bit of improvement. It took them forever to refill our waters. We asked two times and had to tell the chef to refill our waters before anything was actually done. Other than that, it was magnificent.

Notable Dishes: Pate di Fegatini and Uovo Pizza