Inside Pizzana’s New Sherman Oaks Pizza Emporium

Farley Elliott is the Senior Editor at Eater LA and the author of Los Angeles Street Food: A History From Tamaleros to Taco Trucks. He covers restaurants in every form, from breaking news to the culture, people, and history that surrounds LA's dining landscape.

Valley pizza lovers, prepare yourselves: Pizzana opens Thursday, May 5 in Sherman Oaks. The star Brentwood restaurant and Michelin Bib Gourmand award recipient lands right along Ventura Boulevard this week with some of the best pizza not just in Los Angeles, but perhaps even in America.

Pizzana is already well known in LA slice circles, thanks to chef Daniele Uditi’s quality pies and Italian-Californian perspective. Using slow, 48-hour fermented dough, the Naples-born Uditi turns out pies like the neo margherita with san Marzano tomatoes and fior di latte imported from Italy. There are also pizzas that play to familiar pasta flavors like a cacio e pepe with lots of cracked black pepper, and a vodka sauce pie with smoked coppa and Calabrian Chile. And yes, there are vegan and gluten-free pizza options as well, in addition to antipasti starters like wood-fired meatballs, charred broccolini, and fried polenta. Salads, drinks, and dessert round out the Pizzana Sherman Oaks menu, with beer and wine to debut soon.

This newest Pizzana at 13826 Ventura Boulevard marks a new high for the group, including partners Chris and Caroline O’Donnell and Candace and Charles Nelson (from cupcake empire Sprinkles). The team has grown from its original 2017 Brentwood space to a second standalone location in West Hollywood, and now is jumping to the Valley alongside several other incoming names like HomeState, Jon & Vinny’s, and the recently-opened Uncle Paulie’s in Studio City.

As for the space, expect the same spare dining room and blue, white, and grey tones. There are 45 seats for indoor dining, each doused in plenty of natural light from overhead skylights and large front windows. The restaurant is also planning on doing a robust business with families and fans who would rather dine at home. In addition to shipping food nationally, Uditi and company will be offering a quick-service pick-up window at the back of the Valley location for local to-go orders, with options for fully cooked pizzas, par-cooked heat and serve pies, and frozen pizzas.

The new Pizzana opens along Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks on Thursday, May 5, keeping Sunday through Thursday hours from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., with an extension to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night.