5 Great Pizzas

GREAT PIZZAS

by

STEVE DOLINSKY

1. PIZZERIA BIANCO, PHOENIX, AZ

Obsession isn’t something you want in ex-girlfriends or IRS agents, but when it comes to the guy making your pizza, all bets are off. Every night (after you’ve waited in line or had a few drinks in the college campus-like house next door), you’ll see Chris Bianco all by his lonesome behind the counter, just a few feet from the mouth of his beehive-shaped wood-burning oven. It’s here where he forms every crust by hand, topping it with bits of mozzarella he’s made himself, sausage that probably came from New York and herbs he probably picked himself from nearby, resulting in a pizza with a beautiful char and chew.

2. GREAT LAKE, CHICAGO, IL

Nick Lessins looks up to Chris Bianco, so what does that tell you? For starters, he makes every pie himself, always working alone, and his long-fermented dough is the stuff of dreams – it results in a crust – and a cornicione, or lip—with a beautiful structure and a one-of-a-kind tang that has just the right amount of salt. That’s quite an achievement, considering he uses a regular electric oven to bake his four types of pizzas. The waits can be interminable – there are just four tables – and don’t even bother asking about delivery or reservations.

Portrait by Todd Rosenberg Photography

We asked Steve Dolinsky, Food Reporter for ABC 7 News in Chicago and 12-time James Beard Award winner, what five pizzas he thinks are worth a special trip.

3. PIZZERIA MOZZA, LOS ANGELES, CA

Nancy Silverton is to dough what Lance Armstrong is to cycling: both have a mastery of their skill set. But where Armstrong relies on his legs, Silverton relies on her innate ability to tease the best out of yeast, flour and water. She honed her skills in Europe and as the founder of La Brea Bakery and Campanile in L.A, then teamed up with a guy named Batali to open Osteria Mozza as well as a pizzeria right next door. Where some pizzaolas might venture into creamy burrata or spicy sausage, Silverton would rather use earthy chanterelles and peak-ofthe-season squash blossoms to grace her pizzas. One thing you can’t deny: the crusts here are ethereal.

4. MOTORINO, NEW YORK CITY, NY

I have to admit, I was dubious about Motorino, hidden away on a street in the West Village. Sure, the location was charming and the room was tightly packed with folks from the neighborhood, but surely this had to be just another pizza joint that was getting too much press by virtue of being located in New York (having started in Brooklyn). Boy, was I wrong. The crusts – nicely blistered and puffed on the outer edge – were full of flavor and mildly salted chew, with a great complexity so rare among New York pies. The brussels sprouts and pancetta version was particularly memorable.

5. FRANK PEPE’S, NEW HAVEN, CT

Any Yale Bulldog worth his/her Ivy League education knows that the war of dough and cheese between Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s Apizza is one of New Haven’s longest running and most beloved battle royals . I think the edge goes to Pepe’s, primarily for their massive oven that’s the length of a school bus and constantly loaded up with coal, producing incendiary temperatures that render the oddly misshapen pies with a killer crust. Be sure to try at least one white clam pizza; it’s a true mark of East Coast pizzography.