Jacob Tyler Dunn Breadwinner from p 19 Giovanni Scorzo, the owner of Scottsdale’s Andreoli Italian Grocer, was a finalist for this year’s Best Chef Southwest award. Though the award ultimately went to Fernando Olea of Sazón in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Bianco took the opportunity to recognize Scorzo in his acceptance speech. “He was a mentor of mine when I was younger and is very talented,” Bianco says. “It’s great to see someone that deserved a lot more light as an elder in the commu- nity, to finally see people recognize his immense skill set and what he brings to the table.” Bianco worked with Scorzo for a couple of years in the ’90s at his Italian eatery Babbo Ganzo in Santa Fe. No stranger to the kitchen, 62-year-old Scorzo began cooking when he was just 11 in Calabria, Italy. Andreoli, his Scottsdale eatery and market, is an ode to his mother, a chef with the same maiden name. Scorzo serves Calamaretti al Sacrestano, grilled calamari flown in fresh from San Francisco, hand-rolled fusilli pasta in tender pork rib tomato sauce, and house-cured bresaola and carpaccio from his homey restaurant. His daughter, Francesca Scorzo, helps bake the bread daily and the market sells grocery items including seasoned salt and natural pizza flour imported straight from Italy. According to Chris Bianco’s brother Marco, “he took a simple thing and tried to raise it to a higher level.” “I wished for a better outcome after so many years,” Scorzo says of his James Beard upset, but has fond memories of mentoring Bianco. “It was very fun working with Chris,” he says in a thick Italian accent. “We used to go around to try and find a restaurant to eat at on Sundays, when we were closed, but they were all disgusting. So we would go back to the restaurant to cook and eat.” Bianco saw Scorzo as a purist who didn’t accept mistakes, Scorzo says. He was receptive to learning about pizza, pasta, and bread from a perfectionist and treated customers like family when Scorzo wasn’t at the restaurant. Infamous pizza aside, that welcoming personality is part of what made Bianco such a success, another mark of his legacy. “This is my cellphone. You can call me anytime” he says. “I’m always down to talk.” For someone as busy and highly acclaimed as Bianco, he doesn’t have the usual publicist, and his authenticity shines through. “I talk to everyone with the same amount of respect. As crazy as I can be, I’m honest,” he says. His brother Marco Bianco, who makes the dough for Pizzeria Bianco, remembers growing up with Chris, a popular guy who everyone knew in the Bronx. “People would meet me and go, ‘You’re Chris Bianco’s brother?’” he says over the phone while kneading dough for dinner service. Marco, who grew up entrenched in his father Leonard’s graphic design business, making labels for wine and liquor, is happy to be behind the scenes in the next genera- tion of family business. Leonard, who passed away last year at 94 years old, was a painter at heart. He painted the labels for the Bianco DiNapoli tomato sauces and the Dos Cabezas Pink, a rosé from southern Arizona. The latter was originally a painting Leonard gifted to his bride Francesca on their wedding day in 1959. His still-life paintings can be found all over the Bianco restaurants, including six at the new L.A. location, a minimalist space remi- niscent of the beloved Heritage Square restaurant in downtown Phoenix. Creativity is simply part of the family. Bianco’s mother, Francesca, worked as a fashion illustrator and designer after grad- uating from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She took care of everyone Jacob Tyler Dunn around her and worked hard at her craft, Marco says, finishing final stitches on the subway. From close family to fellow chefs, Chris Bianco has had plenty of ingenuity to draw from. “My brother was surrounded by all these people who inspired him,” Marco says. He wasn’t content to just bake pepperoni pies like the New York pizza places he grew up around and worked in. “He took a simple thing and tried to raise it to a higher level,” Marco says. And while the James Beard Award and downtown Los Angeles location present new challenges to rise to, Marco says his brother enjoys the pressure. For all the buzz surrounding him, Bianco is laid back, priorities in place. “As I get older, what I love to eat is food made by people I love. Anything I don’t have to clean up is ideal,” he says, pausing for a moment. But amid heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, the best ingredients he can get his hands on, he likes to keep it simple at home. “Nothing too complicated,” Bianco says. “I’ll take a butter tortilla that my kids make me.” 20 JULY 14TH–JULY 20TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
