Something To Read...

A recent review in the Salt Lake City Weekly

The Godfather Part 1

It had to happen. It was unavoidable. We had to make the pilgrimage to get the blessing. What am I talking about you ask. Well... This could take a while.

Set your minds eye back a few years. Joseph and I are toiling away up at Sundance. The Pizzeria isn't even a glint in our eye. Our sights are set on opening a bistro and bakery. There we are (the movers and shakers we were) laying down the foundation for this bistro. As fortune would have it my responsibilities as the Tree Room Chef would take me on a business trip to Phoenix, AZ. There is a culinary school there that we were hoping to extract a few unsuspecting souls from. Wanting to make the most of the time there I thought it best we visit this Pizzeria that I had heard and read about, Pizzeria Bianco. We rolled on down there having vaguely remembered hearing there was usually a long wait (2 hours). We put our names down and bided our time getting appetizers at another restaurant. We worked through some descent apps. and made our way back to Bianco's for the main event. For those of you who have never been, it is set in downtown Phoenix on a historic block. Bianco's is housed in a gourgeous old building, the remnants of an old foundry. Beautiful windows on the front. Glowing fire inside. As we ordered and food began coming I felt the excitement of being in the right place at the right time. Truly amazing food came pouring out. So good, you can't even bother with dessert. As we left I began to wonder about our own plans for our restaurant.

Later on down the road I got connected with Dave Tuoumisto of Bajio's fame (Owner of the new Timpanogas Harley Davidson store in Lindon) and he was kind enough to look over our business plan. He let us know that our current ideas and plans needed to be revisited. So we started talking about doing something smaller. As fate would have it, the building we were looking at leasing got sold out from under us and voila. Pizzeria Seven Twelve. Sure, there was the whole building the restaurant, hauling concrete and the like but we've covered that already. So, long story longer, we wanted to go back down and see Bianco's after we had flung some pizzas of our own, and of course pay our respects to Chris. We brought our wives for backup in case things got ugly. I was hesitant to disturb Chris while he was so busy but we went for it anyway and in true form he was willing to talk shop with us. A true gentleman. So if you are ever in Phoenix and feel like waiting for 2 hours outside on a blistering hot sunny day(it's worth it), I recommend you stop in and say hi to Chris. If we're lucky maybe it will remind you of Pizzeria Seven Twelve.



The walk back to the car is much easier with a full stomach.