It’s not just the Arizona Cardinals who seem to be enjoying a string of good luck here in the Grand Canyon State. We’ve had some incredibly good fortune as of late, and we’ve got a lot of catching up to do here on the blog. To skip ahead for a second here, we’ve landed in San Diego and have been enjoying the incredible weather and outdoor fun so much that we’ve been neglecting the posting for a bit. It’s hard to forget where we left off though–a trip to Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.
I had read about this place in a book about one man’s search for the perfect pizza (sounds like my kind of journey). It’s only opens at 5:00 pm and we had a bunch of time to kill, so we figured we’d park nearby and walk around downtown for awhile. We had no idea what we were in for. The pizzeria is located on a small sidestreet that is mostly closed to car traffic. There’s just enough room for a few cars to pull onto Adams Street and turn into the pizzeria parking lot. And, at 4:00 pm that is exactly what we found out. There were 4 or 5 cars stopped in the road and the pizzeria lot had a chain draped across the entry. We sat there in our car for a few moments and thought about driving around the corner, parking the car, and walking around downtown for the next hour while waited for the restaurant to open. And then, we had our first bit of good luck for the evening. A fellow in the car next to us rolled down the window and said, “He’ll pull back the chain in a few minutes. Better not go anywhere.” Words of wisdom to two inexperienced Pizzeria Bianco customers.
Sure enough, in a few minutes a man walked out of the pizzeria, pulled back the chain blocking the small lot, and we pulled into a space. In the meantime, people started coming out of the woodwork and gathered out in front of the restaurant. The place wasn’t opening for another hour. We didn’t really know what was going on, but this flurry of activity seemed like a good indication that this pizza must be something special. Mimicking the others, we sat ourselves at one of the tables in front of the pizzeria, soaked up the afternoon sun, and listened to the energetic conversations around us. We weren’t the only out-of-staters. And then, good fortune struck again when some folks asked if they could sit down next to us at the table. Harry and CJ and their daughter Jackie were out to celebrate one last meal at Pizzeria Bianco before Jackie moved to Salt Lake City the next day. It seemed like we had a lot in common with Jackie’s sister Adrian who had taken a trip around the world years ago, including some time woofing in New Zealand. We had a wonderful conversation, and Harry and CJ invited us several times to stay the night at their house in Phoenix. It sounded like a great idea, and it was a real treat to have some new friends so we took them up on the offer.
At this point, it was getting close to 5:00 pm and soon everyone started lining up outside the restaurant. We found our place in line–it’s all an honor system, peppered by offers to trade one’s spot in line for hundreds of dollars–and got ready to chow down. We were seated quickly and enjoyed a fantastic meal of tomato, basil, and homemade mozzerella salad, a margerita pizza, and a Wiseguy (smoked mozzerella, fenel sausage, and carmelized onions). Wow. This was good pizza. It’s hard to make comparisons over time and thousands of miles, but this was some of the best pizza I’ve had. After a memorable dinner, we went back to Harry and CJ’s for some good conversation and stories–the perfect way to end a perfect day (We had also eaten ice cream that day at the Sugar Bowl). Harry and CJ were the most generous hosts we could imagine and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Phoenix thanks to them. Thank you Harry and CJ! Hopefully we can return the favor someday!
