*******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS ******Pane Bianco is a casual restaurant with full service and a bar that serves American/Italian/Arizonian food by James Bead Award Winning Chef Chris Bianco. Chef Bianco is legionary for his pizzas. He is the most famous pizza maker in America and is endorsed by many celebrities. He is the first chef to win a James Beard award for pizza. His pizzas are kissed by Jesus….(well maybe they are!) and every FORKING THING IN THEM is special. They are made with heirloom Arizona grown grains or hand made in house cheese or California Italian Style tomatoes grown for Bianco foods. There are two locations of Pane Bianco in Phoenix but the location on Van Buren Street has an extended menu. They serve Italian style Sandwiches, some non-Italian sandwiches, a breakfast burrito, small pizzas called pizzettes, calzone, a Sicilian slice, soups, salads, desserts and a few sides.
The atmosphere is charming. The bones of the restaurant are very old with the original worn tin ceiling and the exposed brick wall.
String lights give a festive touch. Window garage doors bring in lots of natural light and some nice cool air in on our few nice cool days.
The tables are set with wipeable table clothes, candles and paper napkins that look just like linen.
We ordered a bunch of things and most of them arrived at the same time.
We started with the Arizona Lemon Pizzette ($9.50).
It’s smaller than a personal size pizza. It’s puffy and not crispy…..It’s different. It’s very bold. The Lemon pairs especially well with the rosemary, onion and parmigiana. My husband really loves it. I am unusually sensitive to sour and bitter…so it’s almost painful for me to eat it but I think it’s good flavors.
We also share some pickles ($4.00).
The colors are prettier than my photo shows. We got a generous bowl of carrots, cauliflower, onions and radishes. It’s a nice starter and it comes with some crusty Bianco Bread.
I had the Chicken Salad ($13.00).
The Chicken salad contains high quality chicken, house made aioli, apples, celery, red onions. The plate also includes fingerling potato and a simple greens salad that are locally sourced.
My husband had the Italian Combo Sandwich ($13.00).
It’s spicy soppressata, mortadella, coppa, provolone, house-made giardiniera, romaine, red wine vinaigrette, wild oregano on crusty country bread and a whole cup of cole slaw on the side. I just kept hearing, “this is very good!”
We had some of our leftovers packed up so we could try a dessert.
Today the two desserts offered were flourless chocolate cake and rice pudding so I went with the flourless chocolate cake ($7.00)
It’s served with lightly whipped cream.
At first I taste the cake and cream separably. At first taste I thought the cake wasn’t sweet enough and the cream I thought was too sweet. But when tasting them together they were just right. The cake is very rich with very good tasting chocolate. The cream is laced with natural tasting vanilla. It’s just right and is a very good dessert.
My husband orders some meatballs to take home $6.00.
I hear they are good!
Pane Bianco is Worth a Fork! ********UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS
www.PizzeriaBianco.com
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
