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

Now Open: Mother Dough Pizza

Fans of Neapolitan pizza can celebrate a new addition to the LA scene, Mother Dough Pizza.  Mother Dough is named for the starter that contributes to the pizza dough.  According to the restaurant, "a piece of each day's batch [is saved and added] to the next day's dough mixture" and the term for this fermentation starter is mother dough.  The restaurant is located on Hollywood Blvd just East of Vermont Avenue and is across the street from Umami Burger and down the block from Bar Covell.

The menu is small with five pizzas, all of which use buffalo mozzarella, and and six starters.  The pizzas are made with imported zero zero flour and the dough is hand-stretched before being cooked for 60-90 seconds at 850 degrees in the wood-burning oven imported from Naples.  The Neapolitan style is thin crust and crispy.  The choices are: Margherita, Zucchini, Oven-Roasted Vine Tomatoes, Prosciutto and Arugula, and Sausage and range in price from $15 to $19.  There is a short wine list of about a dozen wines plus half a dozen beers, all imports or microbrews.

I ordered the Margherita Pizza ($15), which is always my tester pie at a new pizza spot.  The ingredients are: san marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil, aged parmigiano-regiano, extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.  The pizza was good but not great.  There was char as I expect with this type of pizza and oven, but a bit too much for my taste. The crust at the center of the pie is limper and chewier than ideal.  But the ingredients are great and the ratio of toppings to dough is as it should be.  I am hopeful and confident that as they get more use out of their oven they will gain experience and the pies will get better.  Do I think they will be a rival to Mozza?  No, but this is a much more casual operation and a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

The Burrata Salad ($11) above was a very nice iteration of the dish.  The portion is enough to be someone's lunch or for several hungry people to share as a starter.  The portion of burrata in particular was quite generous.  The heirloom tomatoes came in a variety of colors and the whole dish was plated attractively.  The salad was simply dressed and some sea salt was sprinkled on it.  I'd happily have this again.  The other appetizers include raw almonds, duck crostini, a charcuterie platter, olives and a mixed green salad.  

The pizza oven

There are currently two desserts on the menu: oven roasted pears with chocolate shavings, creme fraiche and hazelnut liqueur; and triple chocolate mousse with caramel sauce and lavender sea salt.

Mother Dough Pizza is located at 4648 Hollywood Blvd in Los Feliz.  Phone: (323) 644-2885.  Website: www.motherdoughpizza.com  Note: website not currently operational