Blaze Pizza, featuring custom artisanal pizza freshly fired up in less than 180 seconds, just opened in The Original Farmers Market in L.A. (Kelli Shiroma / Neon Tommy).

Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza opened its ninth So Cal location in The Original Farmers Market in L.A. on Wednesday, April 30. The fast-casual restaurant is located between Veggie Grill and Chipotle Mexican Grill in the North Market building (110 S. Fairfax Ave.). 

And that’s not all. The pizzeria is celebrating its grand opening by offering free—did we mention FREE?—“build-your-own” artisanal pizzas on Thursday, May 1 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. to Blaze Pizza’s Facebook fans. You just have to “Like” the Blaze Pizza Facebook page and show proof on your mobile device or print out a screenshot of the “liked” page. 

The “build-your-own” option features about 40 different toppings from which customers can choose, according to Brad Kent, the eatery’s executive chef and USC alum (1992 graduate from the School of Business). These completely customizable pizzas cost a flat rate of approximately $8. Some of these toppings include ovalini mozzarella, ricotta, crumbled meatballs, pepperoncini, pineapple, sautéed onions, gorgonzola, and sauces like white cream sauce, pesto drizzle, BBQ drizzle and more (Vegan cheese is an additional charge). Customers select a sauce(s)—classic red sauce, spicy red sauce or white cream sauce—and go down a Chipotle-style assembly line, selecting from the various ingredients displayed to create their perfect pizzas. 

“About 50 percent of our customers choose the ‘build-your-own’ option,” says Kent, who started working with the company since December 2011. “We often do see customers getting excited by the variety [of toppings] and really pile them on.” 

While the “build-your-own” option is extremely popular among customers, the eatery also features a variety of delicious “Signature Pizzas,” ranging from “Green Stripe”—pesto drizzle, grilled chicken, chopped garlic, mozzarella, arugula and roasted red peppers—and “Meat Eater” (pepperoni, crumbled meatballs, red onions, red sauce and mozzarella) to “Link In”—a mixture of Italian sausage, roasted red peppers, sautéed onions, red sauce and mozzarella—and “BBQ Chkn,” consisting of mozzarella, red onion, banana peppers, gorgonzola, BBQ sauce drizzle and grilled chicken.

Blaze Pizza, founded in 2011, is revolutionary because of its high-quality ingredients and fresh approach to pizza making, according to Kent. The 11-inch, thin-crust pizzas are fired up in open-flame ovens, which ensures a great-tasting product delivered at lightning speed.

“Our pizza dough is my own recipe and is made from scratch daily,” Kent says. “It requires 25 hours to proof and creates the perfect crust to top with our wide variety of traditional and inventive toppings.”

“Pizza is fundamentally a fast food concept,” he adds. “We thought, ‘If there’s a way to deliver pizza directly to a consumer quickly—in a format where they can select from all the toppings they like and can see the quality of the ingredients—in an energetic and fun environment, that would be a winning combination.’”

Blaze’s newest L.A. location has been in the works for more than a year, and Angelenos can look forward to more locations in the near future. 

“The Original Farmers Market shopping center is an icon in the Los Angeles area, and we’re very excited to be joining its legacy,” Kent says. “There are many locations that we’re working on throughout Southern California, including the Glendale Galleria, Del Amo Fashion Center and Riverside Plaza.”

Reach Kelli Shiroma here or follow her on Twitter.