Pizzeria Bianco

Review by: Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle

Many have claimed that Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, AZ serves the best pizza in the land. As it’s also been one of the most difficult restaurants in which to secure a table, for years we’ve been unable to see for ourselves what all the commotion is about. Until now. Hours have been expanded to cover midday, with the result that it is now possible to join in the fun without enduring an hours-long wait in the Arizona desert sun.

After you’re seated notice the basket of scorched country loaves resting on a counter. These breads are extraordinary, made from the same dough that supports the pies, moist within and crackling without. But you can’t buy any! Slices are served with antipasto or salad orders, and the bread is so good that we’d recommend ordering a starter just to obtain your bread allotment, except for the fact that the starters are worth ordering in their own right. Everything depends on quality ingredients, locally produced in many cases, simply prepared. The antipasto is spectacular, combining a selection of roasted vegetables, some cheese, and locally made sopressata, and don’t miss the spiedini skewers, slender tubes of prosciutto di Parma wrapped around fontina (the good stuff, from Italy), and given some exposure to the wood fire to potentiate the flavors.

What to eat at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, AZ

But lets face it, you’re really here for the pizza. There are six pies on the menu at Pizzeria Bianco. We sampled four of them, and they are all thoughtfully constructed on that amazing pizza crust, which emerges from the oven scented with wood smoke. The most unusual of the pizza selections is the one they call Rosa, which tops red onion and Reggiano with a sprinkle of rosemary and a scattering of Arizona-grown pistachios. It works. The classic Margherita is perfect. The Wiseguy features smoke not only from the oven’s effect on the pie, but also from the wood-roasted onions and house-smoked house-made mozzarella. Locally made fennel sausage also plays along.

Unlike most pizza joints run by perfectionist obsessives (we’re looking at you, Anthony Mangieri), Chris Bianco’s place is actually most welcoming and eager to please. While it’s easier to get seated than ever before, particularly if you arrive during the day, you are still likely to wait for an evening pizza feast. There is a bar next door, called Bar Bianco, that serves as the pizzeria’s waiting room.

So… is it the best pizza in America? Ridiculous question. Depends on what you feel like eating at that moment, your mood, and a zillion other things. We will say that it is among the top tier of pizzerias in the country, and we can imagine that there will be times when we crave the pies of Chris Bianco above all others.

What To Eat

Antipasto

DISH
Spiedini

DISH
Handmade Mozzarella, Local Tomato and Basil

DISH
Margherita

DISH
Rosa

DISH
Biancoverde

DISH
Wiseguy

DISH
House Made Country Bread

DISH

Pizzeria Bianco Recipes

Discuss

What do you think of Pizzeria Bianco?

One Response to “Pizzeria Bianco”

Jim Clark

February 17th, 2012

Chris Bianco is no longer active on a daily basis in the Pizzeria Bianco restaurant due to health issues. Apparently the fumes from the pizza oven were causing him resperatory problems.

Monday, January 16,2012, Bianco opened his much-buzzed about new restaurant, called Italian Restaurant, in the Town and Country Shopping Center on Camelback Road (Camelback Road and 20th Street) in Central Phoenix.
It’s the same shopping center that, in 1994, was the original home of Pizzeria Bianco before it landed at 623 East Adams Street in Heritage Square two years later, Italian Restaurant will feature indoor and outdoor seating and chef Claudio Urciuoli (the ex-Prado chef Bianco hired in 2010) at the helm.

The Arizona Republic reports that Italian Restaurant, initially open for dinner only, will feature a limited, daily-changing menu inspired by Urciuoli’s Italian roots and Bianco’s Italian-American roots and may offer dishes such as shrimp and controne beans, gnocchi with arugula pesto, pork shank with farro and roasted parsnips, and fruit crostata along with a small wine list of mostly Italian with a few Arizona varieties.

In between the Pizzeria and the Italian Restaurant, he operated a small sandwich & salad shop called Pane Bianco on Central Av between Indian School Rd and Camelback Rd. It carries some Italian groceries as well.

Reply

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