Arizona Marvelous Ideas: Now Open: Chris Bianco’s Tratto in Phoenix

Instagram: @PizzeriaBianco

Few moments in Phoenix’s culinary anthology ring brighter or more influential than James Beard alum Chris Bianco and what has unequivocally become our city’s most known dining quantity, his celebrated Pizzeria Bianco.

Fast forward through the endless accolades of Chris Bianco’s wood-fired talents (Ed Levine, New York Times, Oprah Winfrey, Eater, Rachael Ray), beyond the AP formalities required when describing Phoenix’s favorite pizza professional, and devoted locals will immediately whisper to another Bianco Midas touch: pasta.

With Bianco’s first full-throttle foray into food beyond the pizza oven, at his short-lived Town & Country trattoria “Italian Restaurant” in 2012, expectations for anything not called Rosa, Sonny Boy or Wise Guy, fell on tone-deaf appetites. Perhaps too sudden for fragile Phoenix diners, but the simple seeds of flour, egg and water were planted.

Now, Bianco is ready. In the years since Italian Restaurant fatefully transitioned into more traditional Pizzeria Bianco territory, his thoughtful handmade pasta dishes, as well new protein-only mains, slowly and stubbornly infiltrated the menus, quietly winning advocates ever since. (Sunday Gravy, anyone?)

Bianco’s latest and revised pizza-less project is finally here with Tratto, located immediately adjacent to his Town & Country pizzeria in Phoenix’s Biltmore neighborhood. This time, let’s show him and his very talented team (Anthony Andiario, Robbie Tutlewski, Blaise Faber, and more), all of the other things we appreciate.

Sample menus and contact details will soon be available here.