Jonathan Gold Compares the Pies at Pizzana to the Best in The World

This week, Jonathan Gold reviews Pizzana, the new Brentwood pizzeria by actor Chris O’Donnell, Candace and Charles Nelson of Sprinkles Cupcakes, and chef Daniele Uditi. The review focuses almost entirely on the incredible pizzas by the Italian-born chef, including the signature Neo-Margherita:

When you bite into the pizza — unlike the last Margherita pizza you had, this one is stiff enough to pick up with your hands — there is a crackle, a crunch, and a blast of fresh basil, that licoricey greenness that never quite comes through from a single raw leaf, right before the caramelized tomato acidity kicks in. [LAT]

The Times critic even goes so far as to compare it to the best pizza in the world:

Does it resemble in some ways the modernized Margherita made famous by Franco Pepe, whose pizzeria in Caiazzo, north of Naples, is considered by some people (including me) to be the best in the world? It does, although Pepe’s pizza achieves its effect through stripes of concentrated sauces on a layer of cheese, and gives an impression of lushness rather than herbal intensity. [LAT]

After marveling at the crisp, rather than soupy center that demonstrates “mastery of flavor, technique and form,” the Goldster concludes that “Uditi is the real thing.”

• Pizzana Slices Into Brentwood With True Wood-Fired Italian Pies [ELA]
• Watch Actor Chris O’Donnell Dish on His Upcoming Brentwood Pizza Place [ELA]