This evening, I went out with a group of Ars Technica Lounge members living here in Phoenix, Arizona to a pizza place. However, this pizza place is arguably the best pizza place worldwide. Read on for my review.
Pizzeria Bianco - Phoenix, Arizona (USA)
Nested between the Phoenix campus of Arizona State University and the Ball One Ballpark stadium (where there were a game that evening), this quaint yet insanely popular pizza place find its home. It was a lovely day, but I had quite a challenge at the airport — America West decided to lose the first and only bag I have checked domestically in over a year, which includes all the liquids and my contacts, fancy electric razor, nice suits, and stuff… great. There’s shopping for me tomorrow.
Thus, I was the last of the 11 to arrive on the scene. Together, we would be breaking into the giant vault of delicious pizza, steal the prime pickings, and escape in the middle of a monsoon storm — there were a beautiful lightening show toward the west and south after dinner).
Reading the reviews for this place, one would feel quite reluctant in visiting, as people after people would complain with great justice that the wait time is too long, the staff is too rude, the pizza is too burnt, and in one person’s case, Papa John is better.
Mere mortals they are. The wait can be a fair argument, the place is in a sore need for expansion — I would suspect that adding 20-30 more seats could do the trick, but… the problem is the wood-fired oven. The space in there is so limited, with Chris Bianco delicately adding enough pizza to serve as quickly as he could. The wait time is not due to the lack of seating, it’s the lack of stove space.
It is also a place where you just simply can not replicate the experience, as there is only one Chris Bianco. This city definitely needs a competitor, if only to relieve the pressure on Chris Bianco, and bring more of the creative pizza options for all of us.
The staff is, by far, fantastic with us. None of the rudeness, none of the snobbish attitude, as long as we understood and respect the waiting time, the staff were excellent, yet quite busy. However, they are never TOO busy to answer a few (or a hundred) questions about their operations.
LimpBagel heard the interesting answer for my question on why they would serve soda from a can, instead of a dispenser. If I heard the bartender right, it was due to space issues, the space is at a premium. Plus the flavor of the drinks are much more consistent from the can than from the dispenser (which is true, carbonation can easily vary wildly based on the amount of pressure applied to the syrup and water in its mixture.)
Chris Bianco have to clean his oven 3 times a night, by wiping and dispensing of specific towels, and he usually do it when they add more wood to the stove’s fire. At some point, we could clearly see the smoke swirling toward the top of the stove, adding more of that wood-flavored goodness to our food.
I asked Chris for his recommendation on beer, and he offered the “Fool Gold” lager from the tap, and it was very good — quite appropriate for the pizza I had - Rosa. If there was one thing I was slightly disappointed with — it’s that the rosemary was not quite a standout as I want it to be. It was part of the chorus, not an alto, as it can be on other type of dishes such as Pork Tenderloin.
Not to say that it was bad, on the contrary, it was very good. I can understand why that person desired a Papa John — she wanted the overwhelming taste of faux cheese and faux sauce laden with sugar. This pizza is an extremely delicate plate, requiring you to observe, smell, taste, and relish each bite, as a true Pizza Geek would do. It is a matter of pacing yourself, and just enjoying the food like the true Italian would do — which is part of the reason why I never went there before, I didn’t have a group to enjoy the meal with. The food is to be enjoyed with someone, not alone. And no, Chris Bianco is not quite the person to enjoy it with, although he was awesome in contributing to our experience.
As others have mentioned, the loaf of Country Bread was absolutely divine, with incredibly subtle flavors that sparkles on every bite you take. This is not a bread to chow down; it’s something to chew carefully, just as everything else is on this menu.
Can a pizza be better? It would be very difficult to achieve. This is a mixture of New York and Pittsburgh pizza - crust-style, with much better ingredients including within the crust itself. If only we don’t have to wait 3 hours for this to be offered to us.
I know what I am having for lunch tomorrow - Pane Bianco. 
After all, it’s Chris Bianco’s last day before he disappears for a month on vacation. Then after that, it’s shopping time for the things that America West decided to ‘borrow’ for the time being.
