[Photograph: Kelly Bone]
At least two or three times a week, I get really annoyed at Chris Bianco. Here's a guy—a fellow New Yorker, no less—making, by all accounts, some of the best pizzain America, and he just has to do it in Phoenix freakin' Arizona. Which is, I'll have you know, 2,410 miles and 36 hours in the car I can't drive, or, alternatively, 5 hours on the plane I can't afford. Goddamnit, Chris Bianco. Why are you so far away?
[Photograph: Adam Kuban]
In all seriousness, though, the news that Bianco is opening a second pizzeria in Tucson is pretty exciting stuff. His Phoenix location has won all sorts of accolades, drawing pizza fanatics from around the country. It's not unusual to wait upwards of three hours to enjoy one of his legendary pies; even more impressively, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone complaining...at least not after their meal.
The new Tucson location is due to open this winter, in a 2,000-square-foot space on East Congress Street, according to The Arizona Star.
We'll be chatting with Bianco to find out more about how he'll be dividing his time between the pizzerias. With three other restaurants in Phoenix and a string of Union Jacks in London (in partnership with Jamie Oliver), Bianco is a busy, busy man. But he's also got the industry experience and tell-tale perfectionism to ensure that quality doesn't slip with quantity.
In summary, I hate everyone in the Phoenix-Tucson area. Send me some pizza. Or better yet, send me Chris Bianco!
About the author:Niki Achitoff-Gray is the editor of Slice and a part-time student at the Institute of Culinary Education. She's pretty big into pizza. Also, she likes offal. A lot.
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