La Piazza al Forno is located in Historic Old Town Glendale. This is a small Italian Restaurant that specializes in Neapolitan Certified Pizza. Although the unique pizza is the main attraction La Piazza al Forno might be most famous for Celebrity Chef and Host Guy Fieri’s appearance and their fame of being featured on Food Network’s Diners Drive-in and Dives.
Many awards and the Vera Pizza Certificate are hung by the entrance
On this visit we started out by sharing a generously sized house salad.
We also shared the Bianca Pizza. It’s made with flavorful milky house made mozzarella, a high quality (taste house made) ricotta cheese, fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, Sicilian oregano and we added Calabrian Chilies. It all got baked in a certified Italian wood fired brick oven. at a certified temperature for a certified amount of seconds.
The light as air crust with a moist middle is lightly blackened and chewy with the absolute perfect amount of salt….not too much but enough to flavor…..The made in house mozzarella cheese is very milky tender and flavorful…..Everything else is a bonus…High quality ricotta (it taste fresh made it’s moist and delicious), drizzled with the perfect amount of quality extra virgin olive oil…delicious seasonings and that added Calabrian Chili peppers that we are fond of. It certainly is among the best pizzas you can get in metro Phoenix. The Forking Truth is that PIZZA in general is very controversial…..wars can get started over pizza….it’s similar to religion and politics…..so I’m never going to you that any is the very best but this one is up there and might be the best. Hands down I don’t think there is a pizza out there that’s topped with such delicious flavorful cheese. The crust is so tender and light. These pizzas will never weigh you down. This was a Forking AMAZING Pizza!
But I do have to tell The Forking Truth……Pizzas from most places ARE NOT CONSISTENT…….(even the numeral uno….you know who!….I got a burnt one on my last visit there!)
Here is an example of two Margherita D.O.C. pizzas from La Piazza al Forno.
They look different and they taste different too!
Pizza on the left was made with tomatoes that weren’t drained well. The cheese was much looser and the middle was too wet.
Pizza on the right was absolutely delicious with a rich just right sweet tomatoes.
More often than not the pizza is very good from here. I’ve been here many times. But once I got a really bad crust on a pizza during a very busy dinner service and my crust was baked over some sort of spillage in the oven and had burnt tasting spots on the crust. That was only once. But when they get it right the Pizza from La Piazza al Forno is my favorite!
Here are a few photos from some previous visits.
Calzone
Dolce Diavolo Pizza from La Piazza Al Forno in Glendale AZ Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Soppressata, Calabrian Chilies, Basil, Honey
Salvatore Pizza- San Marzano tomatoes D.o.p., house made mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, prosciutto di parma, arugula
I don’t eat dessert here too often but this cheese cake is the very best cheesecake maybe in Arizona. It’s the only one I liked since moving here. I note I am spoiled……I grew up eating one of the best Cheese Cakes in the country. That cheese cake was from the Country Club Dinner in Philadelphia….(it’s much better than Jr’s of New York…to me) It’s light (for cheese cake) it’s delicious and not sour, heavy and thick. This La Piazza al Forno is the closest in style and taste to the FAMOUS Country Club Dinner’s Cheese Cake.
La Piazza al Forno is Worth a Fork!
www.LaPiazzaPhx.com
Worth a Fork! If you are a Pizza Foodie you might drive across town to dine here. I do note they have a newer location down town but I never visited that location so I can’t say if it’s the same.
The Forking Truth is that EVERYTHING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
The Forking Truth
