Chris Bianco could have opened his second pizzeria anywhere in the world.
He picked downtown Tucson.
- Claire Lawton/Courtesy Phoenix New Times
- Chris Bianco: “Tucson has been one of my favorite places, for a lot of different reasons.”
“Tucson has been one of my favorite places, for a lot of different reasons,” Bianco said. “I have good friends in Patagonia and in Sonoita and the wineries there. Tucson has always been a good stop on the way for music and inspiration and architecture and the barrio
Bianco hopes to be up and running near Congress Street and Fifth Avenue (between comfort-food HUB and the nightclub Playground) sometime in November.
Bianco has running Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix for nearly two decades and was a step ahead of downtown revitalization there, opening in Heritage Square in 1996. His menu is small—just a half-dozen pizzas, a trio of salads and handful of small plates and side dishes—but the praise has been large. Bianco is the first pizza chef to have won a James Beard award. GQ has credited Bianco with launching the artisan pizza movement. Bon Appetit declared the pie to be the best in the nation. (It’s also considered the best in the world by Tucson Weekly editor Dan Gibson, who will explain his reasoning in this week’s print edition.)
Bianco has been praised for his care in combining fresh, quality ingredients from his own garden and local suppliers for everything from the dough to the toppings.
“You learn to take your own sense of what makes something good,” Bianco says. “It’s about celebrating your backyard. … When we get to Tucson, I think there will be an even bigger opportunity to do it.”
While he’s not yet ready to reveal all the relationships he’s building with local suppliers here, Bianco says “my back door has always been open to farmers and people to bring what they’ve got to show up. You show up with some local peaches and I guarantee you, I’ll find a way to put them in a salad.”
Bianco, who oversaw all the pizzas that went into his oven until a few years ago (when complications from a chronic asthma condition forced his to step away from the dusty dough), has been offered opportunities to open a second pizzeria from big shots around the globe.
But it was seeing the developing restaurant scene in downtown Tucson that convinced him to expand here.
“I walked into the space and I saw the red brick and the good neighbors,” Bianco said. “I’m just so excited.”
The new Pizzeria Bianco is a huge win for downtown Tucson, which has been steadily developing a reputation as a restaurant destination in recent years as new eateries such as HUB, 47 Scott, Maynards Market and Kitchen, Sparkroot and Reilly Craft Pizza and Drink have opened downtown. Janos Wilder, who was doing Sonoran locavore dishes long before locavore was cool, returned to downtown from the Catalina Foothills to open DOWNTOWN Kitchen + Cocktails in 2010. Two famed Flagstaff eateries, Brix and Diablo Burger, both are planning on opening new spots in the Rialto building next month.
Scott Stiteler, who will be Bianco’s landlord, says that he sought a focus on unique eateries in the downtown properties that he owns.
“My objective was to create an intersection that people all over Tucson and hopefully from places farther away feel the need to go and check out,” says Stiteler, who is also the landlord for Playground, HUB, Sparkroot and other eateries along Congress Street. “If you’re going to have a place to explore, you need a dozen or more interesting, unique businesses in your buildings.”
Stiteler’s vision for creating a dining destination in downtown played a big role in Bianco’s decision to open on Congress Street.
“To do something that is bringing together people with good intentions—that’s my kind of party,” says Bianco. “I think when things feel like home, you find a way to stay in the neighborhood and work in the community.”
This article appears in Apr 11-17, 2013.
Good bye Ronstadt Center. I see Operation “Kick out the poor people from downtown” is progressing smoothly. Watch out Armory park and MLK’S you’re NEXT!
Why would a growing city get rid of its downtown bus station?
I dont know. Maybe ask Maynards, Hotel Congress why they dont want the Greyhound station close to the Train station or City bus depot
The transit center only needs to be in walking distance of the center of downtown–not smack in the center of it. Also, I’m curious: what’s your alternative to Congress Street, which has looked like Beirut for years, becoming? Should it stay dilapidated, full of empty storefronts, with no reason for anyone to come into town? What poor people need are jobs–all of these businesses will need all kinds of labor.
The bus station is not a destination. It is a transfer point. It is a waste of property that could be something useful. Most people going downtown (by bus as a destination) get off at the La Placita stop or the Alameda stop. Get your facts straight. I’m all for left leaning casues, but you’re barking up the wrong tree here.
It would be great to kick all the poor people out of downtown. But there are no poor people. Just those with subsidized housing and basic cable.
all spoken perfectly by people who Im willing to bet dont take public transit. and Im also willing to bet all supported the MONORAIL!!!!!
Well not sure how a post about awesome pie turned to a bus argument…
In any event, this is great gastric news!
Great news about new pizza downtown. Every new store front is a win!
Change is hard, but stagnation is un-except-able and that’s where Tucson has been for the last 40 years. Change? I say, bring it on!
i just read that the city clowncil is considering trading part of the downtown bus depot for the Texas Union-owned 28 acres west of downtown: ” The city council is currently considering a land swap involving the Ronstadt Transit Center property for 28 acres of pristine desert land, known as Painted Hills, west of Silverbell Road and now owned by a Dallas police and fire pension fund.” http://www.biztucson.com/biznews/cover-story/436-banking-on-downtown
A revitalized and vibrant downtown means a stronger economy and more jobs for everyone. A dilapidated downtown with empty storefronts does not make for a strong city. I think the revitalization effort has been LONG overdue and I am pleased with how it’s been done thus far…a lot of unique, local entrepreneurs with strong business plans and ideas. Pizzeria Bianco is a perfect fit in this regard.
This restaurant is a blessing for dwntwn tucson. It’s not gonna close down the transit center you morons. It’s a descent (finally) pizza joint that all of you are gonna love! homeless people can get jobs!
Hey!!! Let’s all eat pizza and tear down that funky dilapidated eyesore hotel and build a destination hotel property that will attract visitors and spring training and conventions and…jobs jobs jobs…”scuse me while I kiss the sky…
I’m with you BURNIE MAK
I’ve read about this place but never thought I’d get around to eating there..woohoo!
drool …
I would like to see Tucson retro remain rather than metro gain.
That transit center has gots to go.
Supposed to be some of the best pizza in the state. With the Tucson Weekly naming a terrible place best pizza for 2013, we need an upgrade. Unless you go to Tinos.
My SON has mild autism. The transit center caused nightmares. People were very mean to him. We will never step foot in the Rondstadt TRANSIENT center, ever! Great news on this fabulous pizza though, I’ll bring red wine!
Go back to Phoenix OUTLANDER. Seriously nothing good has ever come from that shithole to the north. Too bad local places already can’t afford the new skyrocketing rents downtown.
in other news, fired pie is coming…. who cares!