Restaurant: Pizzana
Location: 11712 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 481-7108
Date: October 9 & 24 and November 16, 2017 plus January 20 & February 26 & September 1, 2018
Cuisine: Neo-Neapolitan pizza
Rating: very good pizza for LA
Brentwood’s former Osteria Lantini location has been rebooted as Pizzana. Candace and Charles Nelson, the couple who brought you Sprinkles Cupcakes, are opening a pizza restaurant called Pizzana in Brentwood on Friday. Chef Daniele Uditi, who is from Naples, is making Neo-Neapolitan-style pies using 48-hour fermented dough.
Right on San Vicente.
Looks like Osteria L, just repainted and no customer accessible upstairs.
Very crowded all the time because it got great reviews.
The menu. Lots of pizzas which is nice.
Pizza oven.
Caesar salad (10/24/17). Crunchy fried capers. Nice texture and good flavors. Not as potently bright as I like a (great) caesar — and this didn’t seem to have anchovy — but fine.
Carulina Salad (1/20/18). Baby butter lettuce, crispy prosciutto crudo, charred corn, parmigiano oregano dressing. Nice salad with a lively texture, good crunch, and nice flavor.
Cavoletto di Bruxelles (9/1/18). Shaved brussels sprout, lolla rossa, apple, toasted pistachio, caramelized shallot vinaigrette.
Carciofi Arrostiti (2/26/18). Charred articoke heart, fried baby artichoke, toasted pine nut, parmigiano, lemon olive oil. Very crispy and salty tasty.
Pate di Fegatini (10/9/17). Housemade chicken liver pate, san marzano jam, wood fired bread. This is about as good as chicken liver gets. Pretty darn good.
Instagram shot!
Kid’s cheese pizza (1/20/18). Basic, same size, but it’s nice that they make a kid’s version.
Pizza Margherita (10/9/17). San marzano dop, fior di latte, parmigiano, basil.
Pizza Corbarina (10/9/17). San marzano dop, squash blossom, burrata, cherry tomato, gremolata. Very bright flavors. Nice cool burrata. The gemolata (like a chimi churri) had lots of lemon juice in it.
Pizza Carnivoro (10/9/17). San marzano dop, fior di latte, spicy soppressata, fennel sausage, prosciutto cotto, parmigiano, basil. Like a spicy artisan version of the Little Cesars “Meatser Meatser”! But a really nice pie. I like it meated up like this.
Zoom!
Uovo pizza (1/20/18). Fior di latte, cherry tomato, prosciutto crudo, bacon jam, arugula, egg. I really liked this pizza with it’s very bright acidic flavors and sweet/savory bacon jam. Photo isn’t as good though because it was shot on an iPhone instead of the real camera.
Pizza Amatriciana (10/24/17). Housemade amatriciana sauce, fior di latte, cripsy prosciutto crudo, red onion, shaved parmigiano. Nice crunchy ham and a good approximation of amatriciana, but I would have maybe liked more of a Guanciale porkier vibe. Pizzana is good, but a little pulled toward mainstream and so they don’t really feature those more Italian funkier flavors — like that pork jowl.
Pizza Pignatiello (11/16/17). Neapolitan Sunday Gravy, fior di latte, parmigiano crema, basil. The “gravy” is a tomato based Bolognese like sauce, very rich and savory – as good a beef/pork gravy as you will find. There are chunks of short rib here too and two types of cheese to brighten it up. Very good pizza, less acid than the other ones I had here, but a good hearty rich beefy taste. Very much like some kind of beef cannel or something in Southern Italy.
Carbonara Pizza (9/1/18). Fior di latte, carbonara sauce, pancetta, parmigiano, activated charcoal bread crumb. Very nice meat and cheese pizza with a good eggy quality. Tasted a lot like a carbonara, although I could have lived without the charcoal.
Vanilla gelato and chocolate sauce.
Overall, I need to go back. I liked the dough, very stiff and chewy. I liked that there are a lot of different pies. I have to try more to get a real verdict. Certainly now there with Milo and Olive as the best dedicated westside pizza joints.
After four visits I like the pizza a lot. Good variety and great dough. Service can be a little dicier. On visit four it took 15 minutes for anyone to come to our table (and a good 5 after I asked) and then several tables that sat long after us got their food first. It was quite noticeable (other tables were sympathetic) and I mentioned it and the server just said sorry — she should have comped the ice cream or something. Still, if the food is good I’ll keep going back.