Dear Girls and boys,
A strange but true tale of pizza...and a brush with Mafia and fame.
Today was my quest for the best pizza known to mankind. One thing Phoenix is famous for is having the best pizzeria in the world, hard to believe, but yes, Oprah and the Washington Post say so. It is named Pizzeria Bianco, and it is only open for dinner from 5-10. Unfortunately, I did not know that, and showed up for lunch after parking in a $12 parking lot.
It only has about ten tables, and when I knocked on the door, seeing the closed sign, the owner let me in to see the place and told me to come back at 4. The wait is minimum one hour, and if you show up at 7, it's up to 3 hrs. wait, that is how big their reputation is.
So I killed a bunch of time in downtown Phx, hanging out at the next door Science Museum, and rolled on over at 4. There were 25 people there ahead of me! The guy before me in line was a strange bird with a man purse, aka, murse, and bulgy big eyes. Ahead of him were three goomba guys from Jersey, who spoke Italian. One of them said to me, when he thought I was breaking into the line, "I got my eye on you!" I knew a warning when I heard it. Right out of central casting for the Sopranos.
The guy with the murse said, will you watch my seat while I go buy a glass of wine? I gladly did, and when he returned I told him my story, about how I was hoping Carlo would show up soon, and be there to savor with me the holiest of pizza experiences. Well, he told me that he would treat me and Carlo to everything and buy several pizzas, and all we had to do was sit with him. He said he was there on business.
When we got inside, still no Carlo, but luckily, we got a table ( after waiting since 4, I would hope so.) He had flown in a hour before from NYC just to taste the pizza there cuz he is a food writer for GQ< among other publications. Can you believe... We ordered seven pizzas, he asked the people around us if he could taste theirs, and taste their bread, et al. He was kinda nervy, but very nice.He tired to order 2 more pizzas, but the owner cut him off and said he could only have them to go! Cuz others had been waiting for our table since forever.
All in all, it was a very tasty experience. I liked the margarita and the margarita with prosciutto parma, if you want to know. I got to weigh in with all my fave restaurants in New Orleans and Old Town, and he said he disliked Bayona. His name is Alan Richman.
Carlo worked late, but I brought him 3 partial veggie pizzas, and he was happy as a clam. Light thin crust with the freshest tasting sauce and cheese. MMM. And 100% free, thanks to GQ's expense account.
ah!
A strange but true tale of pizza...and a brush with Mafia and fame.
Today was my quest for the best pizza known to mankind. One thing Phoenix is famous for is having the best pizzeria in the world, hard to believe, but yes, Oprah and the Washington Post say so. It is named Pizzeria Bianco, and it is only open for dinner from 5-10. Unfortunately, I did not know that, and showed up for lunch after parking in a $12 parking lot.
It only has about ten tables, and when I knocked on the door, seeing the closed sign, the owner let me in to see the place and told me to come back at 4. The wait is minimum one hour, and if you show up at 7, it's up to 3 hrs. wait, that is how big their reputation is.
So I killed a bunch of time in downtown Phx, hanging out at the next door Science Museum, and rolled on over at 4. There were 25 people there ahead of me! The guy before me in line was a strange bird with a man purse, aka, murse, and bulgy big eyes. Ahead of him were three goomba guys from Jersey, who spoke Italian. One of them said to me, when he thought I was breaking into the line, "I got my eye on you!" I knew a warning when I heard it. Right out of central casting for the Sopranos.
The guy with the murse said, will you watch my seat while I go buy a glass of wine? I gladly did, and when he returned I told him my story, about how I was hoping Carlo would show up soon, and be there to savor with me the holiest of pizza experiences. Well, he told me that he would treat me and Carlo to everything and buy several pizzas, and all we had to do was sit with him. He said he was there on business.
When we got inside, still no Carlo, but luckily, we got a table ( after waiting since 4, I would hope so.) He had flown in a hour before from NYC just to taste the pizza there cuz he is a food writer for GQ< among other publications. Can you believe... We ordered seven pizzas, he asked the people around us if he could taste theirs, and taste their bread, et al. He was kinda nervy, but very nice.He tired to order 2 more pizzas, but the owner cut him off and said he could only have them to go! Cuz others had been waiting for our table since forever.
All in all, it was a very tasty experience. I liked the margarita and the margarita with prosciutto parma, if you want to know. I got to weigh in with all my fave restaurants in New Orleans and Old Town, and he said he disliked Bayona. His name is Alan Richman.
Carlo worked late, but I brought him 3 partial veggie pizzas, and he was happy as a clam. Light thin crust with the freshest tasting sauce and cheese. MMM. And 100% free, thanks to GQ's expense account.
ah!
Patsie >^..^<
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