Heavily lauded and now the subject of a Netflix “Chefs Table: Pizza” spot, Pizzeria Bianco in Arizona is one of the top 25 pizza spots in the US. Even my Uber driver knew about it. He did say “you’re talking to a huge pizza afficianado”, but he prefers Chicago style pizza, that he gets from Lou Malnati’s (6 locations in Phoenix, all trained by Chicago chefs). To each his own, but I can only respect true Napoli style pizza. (#foodsnob) . We did bond over our love for Italy the country, and the difficulty of keeping a home pizza oven clean in the backyard.
I was extremely impressed by the pizza. The 18-hr fermented dough was so flavorful, tender, crispy; with the “wok hei”-like smoky aroma of the wood-fire-burned crust. The cheeses – mozzarella, Parmesano reggiano, ricotto with the oven toasted Parm taking center stage, a huge umami bomb. True Italian Parm is the cobalt blue of the cheese world – completely overwhelming every flavor nearby. But still good.
The only wine that could stand up to the parm was the fruity, tannic, and bold 2023 Andrea Oberto Langhe Nebbiolo ($16). My first Nebbiolo, I’m impressed.
I sat at the end of the bar closest to the oven, and enjoyed the busy vibe and the pizzaiolos throwing the dough and positioning the cooking pizzas. Every once in a while the lights would dim briefly. Ambience! Prego!
Go if:
– You’re a pizza snob and must only have the best.
– your inferiority complex can only be satisfied by finding others that haven’t yet had pizza in Naples
– You’re a shameless social media karma whore
– you’d chuckle when you overheard the servers say “call Nancy Silverton at Pizzeria Mozza” (another high end supposedly authentic Naples pizza joint, but that is a subject for another post)
Don’t go if:
– your hotel is not close and you would regret a $50 Uber roundtrip bill.
– you’re a reservations-only kind of person
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WearyTravelers.net 