Second Take: Ilan Hall Develops the Menu at Urbano Pizza

Last month Ilan Hall, the chef of The Gorbals in downtown LA and the winner of season 2 of Top Chef, has joined Urbano Pizza Bar, the downtown pizza spot that opened this summer to positive reviews.  At Urbano he has partnered with Chef Josh Moser on expanding and revamping the menu (he is still at The Gorbals as well).

Hall is excited to be working with the huge oven, saying "you have a lot of freedom with a wood burning oven.  We want to use the oven as much as possible.  There are two ovens and we can't just be using the wood burning ovens for pizza."

He has changed the flour to a higher gluten blend, which makes the crust of the pizzas crisper.  Hall and Moser have also been using leftover pizza dough to make open-faced sandwiches.  Below is the meatballs with warm pizza bread, which was delicious.  The meatballs are made with all beef and the sauce was full of flavor.  It is great to see pork-free meatballs on a menu.

The margherita pie ($12) is made with fresh mozzarella, hand crushed tomato and petit basil.  The pie was well executed.  The crust was firm enough and the sauce again was good; I would have preferred just a little more of the mozzarella cheese.

The Testa Verde pizza ($13) is one of the more unusual pizzas I have tasted in that it uses Irish cheddar as the base.  There is no tomato sauce on this pie.  Instead, baby spinach and herbed ricotta as well as the aforementioned cheddar are the toppings.  The cheddar was surprisingly good, mellower than I was expecting and I preferred this pie to the margherita.

Hall and Moser's collaboration is bearing fruit and they have been experimenting with putting more and more dishes into the wood burning ovens, including potatoes, lasagna, artichokes and corn.  The wood used in the ovens is almond wood, which is reasonably priced, less smokey and doesn't pop.

My favorite pie is the Mushroom Ricotta pizza with mushroom oil, eggs and bottarga.  The eggs are runny and delicious and ample enough to coat the pie.  The mushrooms are enhanced by the mushroom oil and the whole concoction is a decadent pie worth going out of your way for.

If it is on the menu when you go, a visit to Urbano is not complete without trying the Nutella dessert, pictured below.  It is made with fresh pizza dough with carmelized raw sugar, sweet ricotta with cream, sweetened and creamed nutella.  I am not a dessert guy, but I'd happily have this on a regular basis as it is not too sweet but the chocolate comes through.

All in all, Hall has rounded out the offerings at Urbano, enhancing the pizzas and expanding the menu with fun and approachable offerings.  There is a happy hour from 5 - 7 pm with six dollar margherita pizzas and four dollar draft beers, both of which are great deals.  Urbano is a great addition to the downtown dining scene and at dinner it is easy to get a table.  At lunch they also offer pizza by the slice, which is priced at $6 for two slices.  Tables are communal.

My visit was hosted.

Urbano Pizza: 630 W. 6th St @ Hope St, DTLA.  Phone: (213) 614-1900.  Web: www.urbanopizzabar.com

First Impression: Urbano Pizza

Urbano Pizza Bar opened last month at the corner of 6th & Hope Streets in Downtown LA next door to Library Bar, whose owners backed Urbano as well.  The interior is spare and attractive with a long communal table in the center of the space.  The focus of the menu is the titular pizzas, which have been created by baker Brad Winnaman and cooked in the Neapolitan style in a wood burning oven.  There is a short menu of starters and and about ten different pizzas offered daily.

The highlight of the starters section is the Wood Roasted Artichoke with garlic butter and lemon herb aioli ($10).  Almost every table seems to order this dish and with good reason.  This was the best artichoke dish I have had in recent memory.  The aioli is light and wonderfully garlicy and the artichoke has been roasted to just the right degree of doneness.  If you can only order one dish, then get this dish, even above any of the pizzas.

The Butter Lettuce & Gorgonzola Salad with wood roasted sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, sliced avocados, chives and herb white wine vinaigrette is a pleasing appetizer that is on the lighter side.  The gorgonzola adds a pleasant savory note to the salad and the fresh cherry tomatoes are sweet.

The consensus favorite of the pizzas was the Selvatica with Burrata, roasted cherry tomatoes, basil pesto, and pine nuts.  There was restraint in the amount of topping on this pizza as the basil pesto and the burrata were so flavorful that the pizza didn't need to be drowning in sauce or toppings to be delicious.

We also enjoyed the Margherita, made with just mozzarella, crushed tomato and basil, and the Carciofi with smoked mozzarella, marinated artichokes, crushed tomato and rosemary.  The artichoke pizza was good but not as amazing as the artichoke appetizer.  The pizzas are thin crust and have a pleasant char from the oven.

Urbano doesn't serve either coffee or dessert, so if you want to linger at your table, order one of the beers or wines from the all Italian list.  Moretti is a good beer to enjoy while you eat your pizza pies. Lunch is significantly busier than dinner.  Dinner hours are Sunday - Thursday 6 pm - 11 pm, and from 6 pm - Midnight on Friday & Saturdays.  Lunch is weekdays only from 11:30 am - 3:00 pm.

Urbano Pizza Bar: 630 W. 6th Street, DTLA.  Phone: (213) 614-1900.  Website: www.urbanopizzabar.com