Pizza Today - July 2023 - 43

Alex White (34), Dani Garcia-White
(32), Cameron White (39), Justin
Ford (38)
Co-owners
Yukon Pizza
Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada
Instagram handles: @alexcreagwhite,
@dani_oakley_69, @cameronsmwhite,
@j_pizza_lv
What did it take for you to grow
from pop-up to a brick-and-mortar
pizzeria?
Patience, vision, and a strong, supportive
team. I spent a lot of my early pizza
making days solo, doing everything from
start to finish on my own. As my little
pizza passion project grew and grew -
taking on catering jobs and private events
- I knew that I needed to scale up my
operation. Growing from a backyard popup
pizza maker to a full restaurant was a
daunting task, and we didn't know exactly
where to start or what to do. When the
pandemic hit, we started slinging pizzas
out of our backyard for all of our friends
and family who were suddenly in isolation
and out of work. After a couple weeks, we
were seeing more new faces than familiar
ones, and the word was out about our little
backyard sourdough pizzeria.
Jolene Manina, founder of Secretburger.
com, had heard about Yukon Pizza from
friends and neighbors and approached us
with a unique and exciting opportunity -
to be a part of a shared kitchen concept
that would allow us to sell food to the
public in a proper restaurant setting. Vegas
Test Kitchen was a two-year incubator
for Yukon Pizza. It allowed us to create
menus, dial in training and operations, and
build a customer base in our community.
This visibility and success led to a meeting
with a prominent downtown Las Vegas
developer who wanted to see our dreams
realized. After a few months of meetings
and negotiations, we signed a lease
on a space in the historic Huntridge
Neighborhood in Las Vegas. After a
nine-month build out of our restaurant,
which features our wood fired oven in the
main dining area, we opened our doors in
December of 2022. Truly family owned
and operated, we are elated at Yukon Pizza
to be open and serving up pizzas to our
amazing pizza community.
Tell us more about your 125-yearold
starter and the effect it has on
your pizza crust?
Our sourdough starter is the key to
our pizza. Passed down from our greatgreat-great
Grandfather Gilbert, it has
traveled far and wide from the Yukon to
Alaska, down to Seattle and eventually into
southern California where my parents grew
up. Our sourdough has a real history, and
we love to keep the tradition alive with our
pizzas. We make an artisanal Neapolitan
style pizza that blisters beautifully,
providing a thin outer crispy shell that
gives way to pillowy, soft interior dough.
We also make NY style pizzas for our slice
window and the thin, crispy, cheesy slices
are always a hit. We also have a small bread
program where I make sourdough focaccia
and sandwich breads for our kitchen menu
items. We work hard to deliver a unique
sourdough pizza experience, sharing our
history and our love for what good bread
and pizza can do is our goal every day. As I
like to say, 'taste a slice of history!'
We work hard to live up to the depth
and quality of our sourdough. We want
to showcase its special characteristics by
pairing it with the best tomatoes, cheese,
and toppings. When you try Yukon Pizza
for your first time, there is a discovery
of flavor and balance in all of our pizzas.
Letting the quality of the food speak for
itself is our goal, so we treat every aspect
of our menu with care and thought to the
final pizza experience. Our Chef Justin
Ford has over 20 years of experience in the
industry, providing guidance and devotion
to a memorable food journey.
JULY 2023 / PIZZATODAY.COM / 43
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
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