Pizzeria Bianco offers a New York City-style pizza in downtown Los Angeles. (photo by Jill Weinlein)

Chris Bianco was one of the featured chefs on the Netflix series “Chef’s Table: Pizza.” Winner of the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restauranteur in 2022 for this Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Bianco opened a location in Los Angeles at ROW DTLA last June in the former Paramount Coffee Project space.

Once the former Southern Pacific Railroad terminal, and later part of the 1914 bustling produce market, Pizzeria Bianco offers an inviting outdoor dining patio and industrial modern design interior featuring a large wood fire pizza oven, counter dining, banquettes and tables with chairs. Large glass garage doors open on warm days encouraging a breezy flow from the outside.

For those who may not be familiar with Bianco, he grew up in the Bronx and later moved with his parents to upstate New York. As a teen he started working at a pizzeria after school assembling pizza boxes. He followed his pizza-making dream to Phoenix and settled in, first selling his beautiful hand pulled cheeses door to door, and later making New York City-style pizza slices and whole pies for the desert community. It was such a hit that he opened Pizzeria Bianco in 1987.

Last Friday, I attended a Coreology Pilates class at ROW DTLA. I walked by Pizzeria Bianco on my way to the class and thought about how I was going to treat myself afterwards with a group of friends.

The lunch menu features pizza by the slice including one with house made red tomato sauce and a blend of cheese. The Calabrese salami with a red sauce base and fresh oregano was savory and equally delicious.

Since it was St. Patrick’s Day, Pizzeria Bianco offered two green pizza slices. One was made with wood fired Romanesco and sage with garlic, mozzarella and a Veracruz-influenced salsa macha chile oil. The flavorful oil is made with a variation of dried chiles, garlic and finely chopped nuts. The other vibrant green pizza was made with stretched curd Caciocavello cheese and wood fired spinach leaves on a base of luscious cream sauce and parmigiano reggiano cheese. The edges of the thick rim crust were tanned and slightly scorched, while the base of the pie was thinner and easy to fold to take a large bite. I had one of those, “Aha, I get it,” moments, while tasting all of the fresh and appealing flavors.

Bianco’s Roman-style Alla Palla pizza slices are prepared with long-rising dough and high-quality ingredients that include fontina cheese, Meyer lemon, red onion and rosemary. That one sold out quickly. The other was a cheesy market pizza topped with soppressata, provolone, mozzarella, parmigiano, sliced fresh garlic and pickled Fresno chilies.

Pizzeria Bianco offers a variety of salads, which can vary. The day I dined there were three types of salads to try, and my favorite was the frisée market salad with thick slices of Satsuma Mandarin and sweet Cara Cara oranges. The shaved fennel was a nice touch, as was the lemony vinaigrette.

The chopped little gem salad had diced fontina, soppressata, olives, mortadella and red onions topped with a pleasing vinaigrette. A beet salad on kale with ancho chiles, walnuts, pecorino and black radish was another option.

In addition to salads and pizzas, Pizzeria Bianco prepares sandwiches like goat cheese and mortadella with arugula on house-baked focaccia, and a burrata with wood-roasted snap-peas dazzling with a touch of sherry vinaigrette. A thick ciabatta bread with thin slices of prosciutto, provolone and arugula nestled inside was a thrid choice.

In the “Chef’s Table: Pizza” episode there is a dramatic scene where Bianco states that there was a time in his life where he felt he didn’t belong in school, and later due to his health problems, he again felt displaced. Fortunately, he learned to let people help him and to trust people and now he enjoys being a mentor to talented chefs. One of these chefs is the head chef at Pizzeria Bianco, Marco Angeles.

I saw the duo standing outside the restaurant taking in the view of a full dining terrace. I approached Angeles and asked what it’s like to work with Bianco.

“Chris elevates all of us. He is appreciative and honors us. It’s great working with this amazing rock star,” Angeles said.

Bianco said developing meaningful relationships with farmers, local producers, family, customers and staff is the key to this humble chef’s success.

“Put good things in the oven and good things will come out,” Bianco said.

Pizzeria Bianco at the ROW DTLA is open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. No reservations are accepted, Everything is ordered at the window and food is delivered to your table.

The restaurant is open for dinner service from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., offering an array of small plates, salads and six types of pizzas, including his winning Rosa pie made with red onions, rosemary, parmigiano reggiano and fabulous Santa Barbara pistachios.

Reservations are strongly suggested for dinner and can be made at OpenTable. There is plenty of parking in the secured garage structure at ROW DTLA. Two hours are complimentary. $-$$. 1320 E. 7th St., (213) 372-5155