Chris Bianco is an American

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

-winning chef and restaurateur in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. He operates restaurants in Arizona and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Early life

Bianco was born in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

in 1960, and grew up in

Ossining, New York Ossining may refer to: * Ossining (town), New York, a town in Westchester County, New York state *Ossining (village), New York, a village in the town of Ossining * Ossining High School, a comprehensive public high school in Ossining village * Ossi ...

.Levine, E
"The road to pizza nirvana goes through Phoenix"
''

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'', 2004-07-07. Retrieved 2010-02-12. He had

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

as a child, forcing him to stay inside, where he watched his aunt cook. At age 13 he began working at a local pizzeria. In 1985, he won two plane tickets anywhere in the United States and, on a whim, chose to go to Phoenix. When he got there, he felt connected to the place. Bianco took chef's jobs in Italy and Santa Fe, N.M, and returned to Phoenix in 1993.

Culinary career

Bianco began making mozzarella in his apartment and selling it to Italian restaurants. Later, Guy Coscos, a specialty grocer in Phoenix offered him the opportunity to make and sell pizzas in the corner of his store. Bianco's pizza was popular and he realized he could make pizza for a living. Bianco opened Pizzeria Bianco with business partner Susan Pool, in 1993. In 1996, the restaurant moved to 623 East Adams Street, the historic site of Baird Machine Shop in Heritage Square. In 2010, Bianco was hospitalized due to a severe asthma attack and pneumonia. The reason was years of exposure to airborne flour and smoke from making pizza, which caused him to pivot away from pizza-only restaurants and toward pasta. Bianco also operates Bar Bianco, Tratto, and Pane Bianco, located in

Midtown Phoenix The Central Avenue Corridor is a significant stretch of north–south Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona. Roughly bounded by Camelback Road to its north, and McDowell Road to its south, this is one of Phoenix's most vital and heavily trafficked s ...

. In September 2022, Bianco was featured in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

documentary series '' Chef's Table: Pizza''.

Awards

Bianco's first James Beard Award nomination was in 2000, and he won the James Beard Award in 2003, when he was the first pizzaiolo to be named Best Chef Southwest. In 2022, Bianco was named Outstanding Restaurateur by the James Beard Foundation, the industry’s highest award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bianco, Chris Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American chefs American male chefs James Beard Foundation Award winners Chefs from New York City People from the Bronx People from Phoenix, Arizona Chefs from Arizona