We've some pizza gold from the Slice mailbox. If you saw our Pizza Obsessives interview with Lance yesterday, you'll have eagerly been awaiting the followup—Lance describes his visit to Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix and gives us a first look at Flagstaff's Pizzicletta, which of course is the subject of Caleb Schiff's column "Building a Pizzeria". What I'm saying is that we have a cosmic pizza convergence here. "You're driving to Phoenix... for pizza?" That's how everyone used to say it, with shock in their voice. But with all the press that my favorite place in the world, Pizzeria Bianco, has...
So far I've been telling everyone about some of the major steps and objectives I've accomplished as I open a pizzeria: the local support and lenders, the menu, the oven, the layout, and glimpses of the construction. And now as a businessman, I have to consider how much detail I can and should reveal to all my followers. However, I'm not one that can hide my emotions, as those closest to me could tell you. Making long-term financial commitments to my lenders, committing my foreseeable future to making Pizzicletta successful, and understanding that Pizzicletta and Caleb will soon be an inseparable entity is a HUGE emotional undertaking. The closer these plans come to a reality, the more excited I am for them to be true. At the same time, I am constantly thinking of how I can improve my business model to ensure success.
It's been almost ten years since Pizzeria Bianco has been open for lunch, and judging from the email owner-pizzaman Chris Bianco sent me this morning, both he and the serious pizza-loving community are incredibly excited at the prospect.
For this post, I want to discuss the process of developing the menu for my pizzeria and the inspiration behind it. When you come to Pizzicletta, you'll soon realize that through the menu, the space and decor, I am striving for simplicity.
Justin Piazza makes it clear what you will be getting when you walk through the doors at La Piazza Al Forno. They offer wood-fired Neapolitan-style pies, made with "00" flour and topped with San Marzano tomatoes and homemade mozzarella.
Getting a table at Pizzeria Bianco is a challenge. On any given night, most diners will wait at least two hours. The most reliable strategy is to start lining up in front of the restaurant around 3:30 p.m. (on a weeknight that is—I've never had the courage to wait in the weekend lines). Getting into a cooking class with Chris Bianco can be just as tricky.
'Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana is situated in the Borgata, a faux Italian plaza built about 20 years ago in the heart of Scottsdale, Arizona. Stefano Fabbri opened the restaurant—the valley's first VPN-certified pizzeria—in February of this year with his Acunto Forni brick oven as the prominent centerpiece. This 6,000-pound beauty was hand-built in Naples, shipped across the ocean, and then brought all the way to Arizona.
Last week I got an email from today's My Pizza Oven subject, Sue Wong of Phoenix: "I just had my first wood-fired oven installed in my backyard a month ago and have been reading everything I can on pizza, and your blog is my favorite." Well, if Ms. Wong was gunning for a MPO spot, she knew just the right buttons to push. Flattery gets you everywhere, right? Anyway, without further ado, let's put Sue in the hot seat.
This week's My Pizza Oven interviewee, Caleb Schiff (aka Flagstaff Forno), is A) awesome and B) CRAZY. He's got a beautiful backyard wood-fired oven he built himself and cooks some great-looking pizza in. That's the awesome part. The CRAZAY part is that he seems totally serious about hosting Flagstaff-area Slice'rs for pizza. I don't think he knows what he's getting himself into!
There's been a lot of talk online in various forums and pizza sites, including here on Slice, about the status of Chris Bianco at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. Is he retiring or is he not (For the record he isn't)? Is he there making every pie or is he not? We've known about some of the issues Chris speaks about below for some time, but out of respect for his privacy we have not gone public with them. But with the rumors reaching a new level lately, we asked if he would go on the record about what's been going...
