Good food inspires all kinds of creative activity for me. Recently, I was looking over new Instagram posts from a few of the people I follow, and I was immediately struck by this one, from Chris Bianco, the founder of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. Our good friends, Pat and Pete, introduced us to this place almost 20 years ago, and in my opinion this is still the best pizzeria in the country.

I noticed that this unorthodox pie is similar in some ways to the sliced oranges and oil-cured black olive pizza we learned from Caleb Barber and now make frequently in our own oven. I was intrigued by the cheeses (Montasio and Aged Provolone vs. Mozzarella) and by the absence of tomato sauce. From that point on, I was in motion. The next week scheduled a trip to Eataly Boston to obtain the cheeses and best-quality spring onions, and we carved out a day on the weekend to invite Laura and Michael over for the first wood-fired pizzas of the Spring.

It turned out to be a letter-perfect day for the event. Temperature in the low 70’s, no bugs or humidity, the firewood was dry from lack of rain, and I was already in a good mood. Barbara made a bunch of her best pizza dough balls, and we cranked out and shared 5 pizzas among us.

Thank you, Chris Bianco! And friends.