Chris Bianco's New Italian Restaurant (Called Italian Restaurant) Opens Today

Last October, rumors were flying, then confirmed, that legendary pizza master Chris Bianco was planning to open a up a trattoria in CenPho. Now, it appears the launch date is set -- TODAY. Monday, January 16, Bianco is opening his much-buzzed about new restaurant, called Italian Restaurant, in the Town...

By Laura Hahnefeld

January 16, 2012

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Last October, rumors were flying, then confirmed, that legendary pizza master Chris Bianco was planning to open a up a trattoria in CenPho. Now, it appears the launch date is set -- TODAY.

Monday, January 16, Bianco is opening his much-buzzed about new restaurant, called Italian Restaurant, in the Town and Country Shopping Center on Camelback Road (Camelback Road and 20th Street) in Central Phoenix.

In the same shopping center that, in 1994, was the original home of Pizzeria Bianco before it landed at 623 East Adams Street in Heritage Square two years later, Italian Restaurant will feature indoor and outdoor seating and chef Claudio Urciuoli (the ex-Prado chef Bianco hired in 2010) at the helm.

The Arizona Republic reports that Italian Restaurant, initially open for dinner only, will feature a limited, daily-changing menu inspired by Urciuoli's Italian roots and Bianco's Italian-American roots and may offer dishes such as shrimp and controne beans, gnocchi with arugula pesto, pork shank with farro and roasted parsnips, and fruit crostata along with a small wine list of mostly Italian with a few Arizona varieties.

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