MEET THE Wizard…

Chef Brandon Gray

With global fine-dining experience, a deep appreciation for sustainably-sourced seafood and local farmers market produce, Chef Brandon Gray (aka Brandoni Pepperoni) is Los Angeles’ Wizard of ‘Za.

At the age of 18, Gray joined the United States Navy as a deckhand but quickly assumed a role as a cook after showing enthusiasm for the kitchen. He spent the next three years honing his skills and preparing meals for officers in addition to other enlisted personnel.

In 2007, Gray returned from shore and enrolled at the Art Institute of California Los Angeles. Inspired by an Anthony Bourdain segment indulging in “the best carrot he’d ever eaten” at the Royal Mail Hotel in Australia, Gray relocated to Australia and spent some time honing his craft Down Under before returning to his hometown of Los Angeles in 2012.

After years working the line at some of Los Angeles’s buzziest kitchens (Providence, Trois Mec, Cape Seafood & Provisions, Best Girl at the Ace Hotel), Brandon was toying with the idea of a career change. Then came Covid and an out-of-the-blue question from a friend: “Hey, do you know how to make pizza?” Brandon did not make pizza. But he lied. He made three pies for his friend, and she told her friends. A few weeks later, chef and author Evan Kleiman mentioned the pizzas on her KCRW radio show, Good Food, and Brandoni Pepperoni was born.

Since April 2020, Brandoni Pepperoni has been firing up pies so sophisticated and flavor rich, you’d think he grew up in the hills of Naples in Italy instead of the Hills of Baldwin in Crenshaw. When not in the slinging Zas, you can find him biking, listening to music or making ceramics.