With Love and Wine: Restaurant Review: Pizzeria Bianco, Downtown Phoenix Location

I've put this restaurant review off for a while now. After I got home from vacation life just took off full speed with the millions of things I had to catch up on. Then I got bloggers anxiety. How can I do this restaurant justice in one simple tiny review? But I will try.

Located: 623 E Adams St Phoenix, AZ (602 258 8300)
Hours: Monday 11am-9pm, Tuesday-Saturday 11am-10pm
Website: www.pizzeriabianco.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/pizzeriabianco

Perfect for: date night, special occasions, girls night, family dinner, casual dining, anyone who enjoys fabulous food made with the finest local ingredients.
Atmosphere: Gorgeous. This is how I want a pizza place to look, truly authentic. Bar Bianco is stunning and sophisticated.
Overall: Highly recommended. I'm jealous there isn't one near me actually.

Pizzeria Bianco is a gem. The food is fresh, locally sourced, and made with heart. But let me back track a bit to how I ended up at this Pizzeria. My family booked a vacation to Sedona, Arizona- a place my mom has always wanted to visit. Just a few days before we left she said to me 'I think my college friend Marco lives in Phoenix now!'- which was quite strange since they went to school in Rochester, NY. So she facebooked him and we arranged to have lunch at his brother's restaurant, a family business of sorts, as Marco is the bread maker- amongst other things. I prodded her: 'make sure he knows I'm vegan' I didn't want to spring that on him last minute "Oh, everything looks delicious, but I'm Vegan- can you possibly throw something together that I can eat?" That's always a pain in the ass.

The menu is simple, truly Italian. The food is made humbly, with the finest ingredients- and most importantly the food is made with integrity and respect. With more than 25 years under their belts, Pizzeria Bianco has found what works and truly does it right.

The menu consists of 'Small Plates', Salads, the best Pizza you can get your hands on, and house made desserts.

I was impressed to see they had a Marinara Pizza on the menu, which is a delicate crust layered with the most perfectly seasoned tomato sauce, oregano, fresh basil, and thinly shaved garlic slices. I'm accustomed to eating some pretty bland pizza as a vegan (you know the whole- omit the cheese thing), but this was nothing but. I was blown away by the intense flavors in something so simple. In fact, I ate the entire pizza. Yes. The ENTIRE pizza. And I probably would've polished off a second entire pizza if it was sitting in front of me. As I was stuffing my face with each glorious slice Marco told me the story on how the Marinara pizza came to be. The details may be slightly fuzzy but story has it the sailors in Italy couldn't bring cheese or meat pizza with them as they went off to sea because it would spoil quickly, they ended up ditching the toppings and perfected the marinara pizza which wouldn't spoil and kept them well fed. Something like that, right Marco?

He then showed us around the property where they had a Meyer lemon tree, amongst others, and a fresh herb garden with the most gorgeous basil you have every seen. Right next store is a historic little house called Bar Bianco where you can grab a glass of wine or a small plate and wait for your name to be called over at the restaurant. The bar is gorgeous, dark woods scattered with original paintings from the Bianco brothers father. The bar in itself is a find.

Pizzeria Bianco's founder Chris, Marco's brother, won the James Beard Award for Best Chef, and the restaurant itself has been given praise from critics and fellow chefs alike. I asked Marco why the awards aren't hanging up somewhere so people know what they have accomplished, he replied that they're all sitting in a closet. Putting them up on the wall is tacky and pretentious. "People know the food here is great, we don't need to advertise it". And they're right, they don't.