Alex White (34), Dani Garcia-White (32), Cameron White (39), Justin Ford (38), Co-owners
Yukon Pizza Downtown Las Vegas, NV
Instagram handles: @alexcreagwhite, @dani_oakley_69, @cameronsmwhite, @j_pizza_lv
Alex White, Dani Garcia-White, Cameron White and Justin Ford, Co-owners of Yukon Pizza in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, have been named Rising Stars of the Pizza Industry 2023 by Pizza Today. Read a quick Q&A with Dani.
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 pop-up 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 2 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 9 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-year-old starter and the effect it has on your pizza crust?
Our sourdough starter is the key to our pizza. Passed down from our great-great-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.
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