Pizzeria Bianco

Celebrity hype can make people do silly things, like get an autograph on their forehead or, in the case of Pizzeria Bianco, reserve a pizza dinner days in advance. And while chef Chris Bianco is certainly a pizza legend—with a James Beard award, his own Chef’s Table episode, and thumbs up from Oprah to prove it– he’s not the biggest celebrity at Pizzeria Bianco. That would be the pizzas: the perfectly charred, thin-crust pies that attract hordes of fans hoping to snag a walk-in. But the hype is deserved. Even if it all sounds like a bit much, or maybe a little silly, we’re here to say that, yes, Pizzeria Bianco is worth the hassle. 

Located inside Row DTLA, Pizzeria Bianco is fairly minimalist, with a few homey touches to warm up the industrial space. Exposed wooden beams frame a concrete room that spills onto an outdoor patio, creating no clear distinction between the two areas. And apart from the miscellaneous plants, fruit paintings, and shelves of canned tomatoes on the walls, it’s a noticeably bare dining room that charges its batteries from the energy of the people inside. It’s a loud, chatty room where laughter and conversation drown out the soft jazz music playing. And despite how sought after a table at Pizzeria Bianco might be, it’s still very casual. If you show up in your comfiest jeans and worn-in New Balances, you won’t be out of place. 

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

The menu is short and sweet, with three salads, a few antipasti, and six pies to choose from. While they’re clearly made with high-quality, straight-from-the-farmers-market ingredients, the non-pizza items on the menu aren’t especially noteworthy. The antipasti plate is an assortment of pleasant two-bite items like roasted peppers, pickled carrots, salami, and a nugget or two of cheese, while the spiedini comes as a nest of arugula topped with two sticks of prosciutto-wrapped fontina cheese. It’s all simple and tasty, but it’s probably not the reason you waited an hour for a table. 

So, whatever else you order, be sure to save most of your appetite for pizza, like the Rosa finished with salty parmesan, rosemary, crushed pistachios, and sliced red onions that nearly caramelize in the hot oven. The Margherita and Sonny Boy are slightly less busy, with the latter packing a nice savory one-two punch from smoky soppressata and salty cured olives. But overall, it’s the dough that truly makes these pizzas stand out. It’s fermented for 18 hours, giving it a delicious yeasty tang. Once baked, the satisfyingly chewy crust has a sturdy texture that stands up to the layers of sauce without tasting dense or crumbling apart like a burnt wafer. If Da Vinci had sketched out the perfect pizza instead of the Vitruvian Man, it probably would have looked like this one. 

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Would we prefer it if we didn’t need to carefully plan a meal at Bianco? Considering it would be an ideal place to slip in for a breezy weeknight dinner, sure. But you certainly can’t blame Pizzeria Bianco for its own success. If an hour-long wait for a walk-in sounds like your personal idea of hell, avoid the dinner wait entirely and come for lunch at Pane Bianco next door. This daytime spin-off sells sandwiches and New York-style slices. While you won’t be able to get the famous Rosa or Sonny Boy pies (or the charming dining room experience), at least you’ll save yourself time and sanity.

If you can practice the art of patience, however, you should make eating dinner at Pizzeria Bianco a priority. After days of anticipating a reservation, you’ll be rewarded with a restaurant experience that just feels good: wonderful pizza crust, warm staff, and enough wine to prolong your meal on the concrete patio. You’ve waited long enough for this meal, might as well milk it for all its worth.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Antipasto

This platter of roasted vegetables, cheese, and cured meats is very tasty (and beautiful), but you’ll probably forget about it once the pizzas hit the table. No shade.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Sonny Boy

This is the margherita’s bolder, slightly more interesting sibling. The soppressata and Gaeta olives add a salty richness to the pizza that pairs great with the fresh mozzarella but never feels too heavy.

Margherita

We’ve had many soupy, soggy, and borderline sad margherita pizzas, but that’s not the case here. The sturdy dough holds everything together, and the marinara sauce has a nice balance between sweet and tart.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Rosa

We don’t know if this pizza is named after someone named Rosa, but wouldn’t that be a flattering compliment? This pizza is beautiful in more ways than one. Not only is it the most unique pie on the menu and stunning to look at, it’s absolutely delicious: salty, funky, and a little sweet, with the crunch of roasted pistachio in every bite. Rosa = baddie.

Spiedini

This appetizer is basically a salad because 90% of the plate is a pile of arugula. The other 10% is two sticks of semi-melted fontina cheese wrapped in prosciutto. Ideally, we’d like a few more for $17.

Burrata Salad

The burrata salad consists of really good burrata with really good tomatoes. And if that sounds incredible to you, you should probably order it.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Sorbetto

The lone dessert at Bianco is a scoop of sorbetto made with seasonal fruit. It’s bright and tasty, but the clash between the ice-cold sorbetto and the room-temperature whipped cream on top is kind of jarring. There’s a cookie tossed in there, too. You can probably substitute this dessert with more pizza.