Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/118688
PHOTO © 2013 THE FIVE STAR TRAVEL CORPORATION PHOTO COURTESY OF SHERATON WILD HORSE PASS RESORT Kai Chef de Cuisine Joshua Johnson. Above: Kai's Red deer venison loin with sage-infused gnocchi. Pizzeria Bianco is the creation of Chef Chris Bianco. He does not take reservations. He does not offer takeout or delivery. His Phoenix pizzeria holds 42 diners. The wait is often four hours—or more. Fans show up 90 minutes before the doors open, in the hope of getting a table. Andrew Zimmern has called it the best pizza he's ever eaten. Chris Bianco is the only pizza chef to ever win a James Beard Award. And let me repeat: His pizzeria is in Phoenix. Not Brooklyn or Chicago. This is very much a Restaurant That Matters. PHOTOS COURTESY OF FNB A world apart—but not very far distant—is Kai at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort &Spa in nearby Chandler. Kai means "seed" in the Pima language. And to make the dishes served at Kai, Chef de Cuisine Joshua Johnson uses ingredients grown on the Gila River Indian Community. Ingredients that show up in creations like his "salad inspired by the local farmers & children of the Gila Crossing School," made with "tiny greens, Crow's Dairy feta cheese and Queen Creek olive oil." And his red deer venison loin with sage-infused gnocchi made with spiced sweet chile and Fair Trade coffee rub. This is locavore cooking taken all the way. His tasting menu is called "The Journey." It's well named. Chef Charleen Badman and co-owner Pavle Milic call their Scottsdale culinary destinations "curious food + wine spots," and they've done much to move Scottsdale from a realm of chains—to a landscape of culinary . . . curiosity. They consist of FnB, and the adjacent Bodega Market. FnB is built around ingredients from local farms, washed down with vintages from local wineries. Thus, there are dishes like hand-pulled mozzarella with leeks gribiche, and a Creekstone Farms ribeye with sweet potato hash, and glasses from wineries like Dos Cabezas, Page Springs and Sand Reckoner. And Bodega Market sells . . .pretty much all the ingredients they use to create the food at FnB. So, you can eat a meal prepared in their kitchen—or do it in your own. If you can only figure out how. FnB's Pavle Milic and Chef Charleen Badman. LEFT: An inspiring seasonal salad at FnB. april 2013 / the tasting panel / 133