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I've recently been lamenting the closing of our neighborhood water ice shop. It might not sound like a big deal, but I live in Arizona where water ice (Italian Ice) is a rarity. Everywhere I go it's either shaved ice, snow cones, or gelato, but I digress.

I'd been reading on NPR's website about how easy it is to make granita lately, which is pretty much the water ice that I'm used to (although water ice tends to be finer grained, but that's a matter of technique, not ingredients), so I decided that it was finally time to give it a try.

I was originally just going to try one of the recipes from the website, but while I was out in my yard, I noticed that our mint plant was looking like it could use a trim, so it dawned on me that I could probably take what I had learned from the article and concoct a Mojito granita, so that's what I set off to do.

Here's the basic recipe I came up with:

• 3 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Bacardi White Rum
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (3-4 limes)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
• 3 sprigs mint
• Additional mint for garnishing

Start by combining the sugar and water in a sauce pan and bringing to a rolling boil. Continue to boil 5 minutes while stirring the syrup.

Remove the simple syrup from the stove and add the three mint sprigs. Allow to steep for about 5 minutes, then discard the mint sprigs and continue to allow to cool.

In the meantime, measure out 1/2 cup of rum.

Add 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice and set aside.

Next, chop the fresh mint until you have about 2 tbsp. A little extra never hurt anyone.

Once the simple syrup has completely cooled, pour it in a metal (preferred) or glass 13x9 inch baking dish/pan. Add the lime juice, rum, and chopped mint. Stir to combine.

Place the 13x9 pan in the freezer. Set a timer for 40 minutes. When it goes off, whisk (or stir with a fork).

You'll need to repeat this every 40 minutes or so for several hours until the pan is full of loose, well defined crystals.

This will take anywhere from 4-8 hours.

Here's the granita after a few hours. Notice how much thicker it is and that there are definite crystals forming.

When the granita is completely done freezing, it should be comprised of loose crystals and looks something like this:

Serve the granita in chilled glasses. All I had handy were some double old-fashioned glasses, but they worked fine.

You should note that this recipe has alcohol in it, which lowers the freezing point of the mix. If you omit the alcohol, add an equivalent about of water and change the stir time to every 30 minutes to keep large clumps from forming.

The consistency of my final product was almost snow like. I probably could have packed it tightly and put it back in the freezer to get it closer to the water ice consistency I'm used to. I also heard that using a large metal spoon to scrape the ice as it freezes instead of stirring helps to produce smaller crystals. I may try that next time. Regardless, the granita turned out to be really great. It was light, refreshing, and tasted just like its namesake cocktail.

Back in 2006, I wrote a post criticizing the Ahwatukee Foothills News for their Best of Ahwatukee list. The winners in almost all categories were well known chain restaurants, leading me to wonder whether it was the paper pandering to their advertisers, or the case that people in Ahwatukee just had no taste.

You'll understand then why I became completely infuriated when I came across the Arizona Republic's 2008 Reader's and Critic's Choice Awards for Best Dining & Food. While I can say that the critic's awards were all within the realm of possibility (although I find some of the categories odd), the Reader's Choice awards were completely appalling. By an amazing happenstance, Oreganos's Pizza Bistro (no link, their site requires an annoying ActiveX control, which is a possible security hazard) won 11 out of 31 categories. That's right. Not only did they win best pizza, but also best Italian, best sandwich, best dessert, best family owned, best for a first-date, best local treasure, best takeout, best patio dining, best worth the wait and best quick (non-fast) food. How the heck do you win both best quick and best worth the wait? I don't even know where to start with this. If Oregano's had simply won best pizza, I could have lived with that, although I would have personally disagreed. However, winning 11 out of 31 categories, some of them totally ridiculous completely smacks of ballot-stuffing. Come on AZ Republic, wake up! Learn how to run a poll. I've never lived in or visited another major city with such a crappy (and consistently crappy) reader's choice awards.

Just so you can see the full list for yourself, here it is, along with some snarky commentary from me:

• Best Dessert: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - I know people like the pizza cookie, but come on. There are some seriously talented pastry chefs in the valley, and this is the best that people could come up with?
• Best Breakfast: Crackers & Co. - never been there, so I can't argue with this one.
• Best Indian Restaurant: Indian Maharaja Palace - Indian food in the valley is mediocre at best.
• Best Pizza: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - If this is the will of the people, fine. However, there is much better to be found as you can see from the runner-up list.
• Best Neighborhood Mexican: Carolina's Mexican Food - This makes sense.
• Best Bakery: Wicked Witch Bakery - Works for me, although I find the bakery selection in the valley to be seriously lacking.
• Best Family-owned Restaurant: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - it is a family owned restaurant.
• Best Late-Night Eats: Fez - Couldn't agree more. Excellent food all the way through closing.
• Best Place for a First Date: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - if someone took me here for a first date, it would also be the last date.
• Best Salsa: Macayo's - WTF?!!?
• Best Sushi: Ra See best salsa!
• Best Restaurant 'Worth the Wait': Oregano's Pizza Bistro - with long waits both at lunch and on weekends, Oregano's is definitely popular. However, I can't say it's really worth the wait.
• Best Wine Selection: D'Vine Bistro & Wine Bar - Been there and wasn't that impressed. If wine selection is really the criteria, then how could a place like Cowboy Ciao (even though I hate how their wine list is organized), or Kazimierz not win?
• Best Barbecue: Famous Dave's Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que - very hot topic. My pick would be Joe's Real BBQ, but that's just me.
• Best Local Treasure: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - Seriously now. Local treasure? Can you say huh?
• Best Chinese: P. F. Chang's China Bistro - Good Chinese isn't great in the valley, but we do have better than P. F. Chang's, and I don't mean Pei Wei.
• Best Place for Takeout: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - NO!
• Best Non-Chain Hamburger: Zipps Sports Grill - Oh boy. It's a typical bar burger. It isn't bad, but it's by far not the best. Both Delux and Chuckbox should easily have been at the top of the list.
• Best Ice Cream/Frozen Novelty: Maui Wowi - Wowi Maui. Good job.
• Best Middle Eastern Restaurant: Haji-Baba - Very popular and supplies most of the rest of the middle eastern/Mediterranean restaurants in the area.
• Best Italian Restaurant: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - It's a pizza place with a handful of other Italian dishes! There are many, many more Italian restaurants in the valley that are far superior.
• Best Sandwich: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - This is such a broad category. In many other cities they would break this one out. Mention this wind to a dozen of your friends and see how many of them react with "are you kidding me?"
• Best Restaurant to Splurge: Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar - it's definitely $$$, but for the money, I'd rather go to Kai.
• Best Quick (Non-Fast) Food: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - This one defies logic. Considering the long waits that are a staple of Oregano's, I don't see how you can read this one with a straight face. Even when you do finally get a table, it's often a long wait for the food!
• Best Steakhouse: Donovan's Steak & Chop House - I think you'll find a lot of people divided on this one.
• Best Romantic Restaurant: The Melting Pot - Fondue can definitely be romantic, however, for overall atmosphere, there are better choices.
• Best Pub with Grub: Zipps Sports Grill - For the love of all things! Four Peaks, Sonoran, and about ten other places come to mind before I would have ever thought to myself "hey Zipp's!"
• Best Patio Dining: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - The AZ republic actually got this right in their commentary on the win when they wrote "Located all over the Valley, with patios overlooking parking lots, streets and walls, it's hard to say what, exactly, it was about the outdoor dining spaces at the various Oregano's that azcentral.com voters found so alluring."
• Best Health Food Store: Trader Joe's - I love Trader Joe's, and so does everyone else.
• Best Sunday Brunch: T. Cook's - There is talent there, although the execution can be spotty.
• Best Thai Restaurant: Pink Pepper Thai Cuisine - NO WAY IN HELL. Swaddee, Maylee's, Yuppha, and many more should be at the top of this list.

It's hard to get people to take Arizona seriously as a foodie destination when this is the best we can come up with.

I've been making limoncello at home, from lemons grown in my backyard for about 5 years now. During that time, I've experimented with various recipes, tweaking the ingredients and amounts here and there looking for that one "perfect" recipe. Until last year, I had always used 100 proof vodka as the base for the liqueur, but compared to commercial limoncellos I had tried, I felt something was missing. My vodka version just didn't have enough lemon essence to satisfy what I was after.

Last year, I made two batches of limoncello using the same recipe with one small difference. The first batch used 100 proof vodka while the second batch used 190 proof grain alcohol (they had to be diluted with different amounts of sugar-water). When it came time to taste the two batches side by side, the difference in taste was amazing. The batch made with grain alcohol had a much brighter and stronger taste of lemon than did the vodka version. It was obvious to me that the grain alcohol had done a much better job of removing and infusing the essential oils from the lemon peels than the vodka was capable of.

This year, I've decided to make another batch of the grain alcohol based limoncello. My lemon tree had a bad year, perhaps due to last year's frost, and only produced enough lemons for a single batch of limoncello - about 16 lemons total. Tweaking my recipe from last year a bit, here's what I'm planning to do:

Combine the peels (with pith removed) of 16 lemons with two 750ml bottles of grain alcohol (Everclear brand) in a glass jar. Swirl vigorously and make sure all of the peels are submerged. Place the jar in a cool dark place for 30-45 days, until the liquid is bright yellow.

After the initial steeping time is up, make a simple syrup by bringing 6 cups of spring water and 4 cups of sugar to a boil while stirring rapidly. Allow to boil for minutes, then remove from the stove and allow to cool to room temperature. Next, add the simple syrup to the jar with the grain alcohol and lemon peels. Put the jar back in its cool dark place for another 30-45 days.

Once the limoncello has aged, strain it to remove the peels and any other particulates before bottling in individual sealable bottles. I like to use French limonade botles with ceramic caps. I once tried buying plain, unused bottles, but I found that to be much more expensive than just buying the French limonade, drinking it, then reusing the bottles for my limoncello.

If you find this recipe to be a bit to strong, you can further dilute the limoncello by adding additional water or sugar syrup to taste.

I've been living in Arizona for a little over four years now, and one of the things I miss most from the East coast is Italian water ice. Having lived not far from South Philly, with its large Italian population, you couldn't go far in summertime without bumping into the stuff.

In Arizona, however, Italian water ice is almost nonexistent. It seems as though ice cream and more recently, gelato, are the most popular icy treats. All that has changed, though, with the opening of Teri's Italian Ice in Ahwatukee (Elliot and 48th). Although I haven't had a chance to visit yet, word on the street is that they are open, and serving 8 flavors a day from a rotation of about 40. On the East coast, water ice was strictly a summer treat. It looks like in Arizona, it's going to be a year round thing.

My recent visit to Sassi (irritating website alert) can be summed up in one simple sentence. Great surrounds, inconsistent food, and mediocre service. I had high hopes for Sassi, I really did, but I digress... You see, yesterday was my 8th wedding anniversary. Since we do so much cooking at home, Pere and I almost always go out to celebrate really special occassions. After last year's relatively uninspiring experience at T. Cooks, we decided we were going to go back to Kai, but unfortunately, they are closed until September for renovations. We were just about to book dinner at one of our other favorite spots, Vincent's on Camelback when I remembered that I had been meaning to try Sassi, a Southern Italian restaurant next to Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale. Forgoing a sure thing at Vincent's, we made reservations for Sassi.

Not knowing how traffic was going to be, we left our place a little early and ended up arriving at Sassi about 20 minutes ahead of our 7pm reservation. It wasn't a problem at all as the place was huge and there were only a few other diners that we could see. The hostess greeted us warmly and lead us back to a large table for two in the garden terrace room, with a nice sunset view. At the time, there was only one other table occupied in our small dining room.

Our waiter came by with menus and asked if we would like water, as well as if we wanted anything from the bar. Their drink menu had a few interesting "martinis" on it, so we decided to sample. I chose a limoncello martini while pere went with the "Bella Berry". Both of us chose to have our martini's "slushy". Each drink came in a martini glass with three round snowballs. Think of this as an adult version of the snow cone. When the waiter arrived with our cocktails, he accidentally started pouring my drink into Pere's glass. This wouldn't have been a problem except Pere's drink had a different garnish, and her rim wasn't sugared. Instead of correcting the problem, the waiter simply said "ooops", changed shakers, and filled the rest of her glass with the correct drink. Both drinks were pretty good, although next time I would probably order sans the slush.

While we looked over the menu trying to decide what to order, our waiter returned with a basket of fresh breads and a bottle of olive oil for dipping. The basket contained several breads including a crusty loaf, olive, walnut, focaccia, and flat bread. All were quite good.

While we were enjoying our cocktails, the hostess showed back up with a party of four and sat them at the table right next to ours. Why she did this in a mostly empty restaurant, when we were practically the only other people there escapes me. To make matters worse, they were obnoxious - typical Scottsdale hipster wannabe's with too much money and not enough taste. Our waiter only compounded the issue when the other party was trying to decide on drinks and he pointed out that we were drinking the martini specials. This prompted a lot of staring and attempts at humor. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered me so much, but we specifically chose to come to Sassi because we wanted to celebrate our anniversary in a romantic, intimate setting, and let the staff know this in advance. Pere summed it up pretty well when she remarked that she really didn't appreciate the overly familiar attitude our waiter had. When you're dining at a place like Sassi, you expect a certain level of professionalism that just wasn't on display during our visit.

There were so many interesting items on the menu that Pere and I decided to share a few in order to have more variety. We started our meal off with Sassi's calamari. Not to be confused with it's deep fried cousin, Sassi's version is made from small squid slices, celery, spicy peperoncino oil, almonds, and lemon zest. We also tried the barbabietola, a small salad of wood roasted beets and mint dressed with Agrumato tangerine olive oil and 20 year old balsamic vinegar.

For a pasta course, we shared a bowl of the gnocchi al funghi. Pillowy ricotta gnocchi with a wild mushroom ragu and shaved pecorino romano. The pasta was perfectly cooked. The mushroom ragu was excellent as well. There was one small problem. For some reason, the pasta and the ragu just never came together. That is to say, the "sauce" just wouldn't stick to the pasta. It was like oil and water. It didn't ruin the dish, but it did detract.

To accompany our meal, we chose a bottle of 1999 Selvamaggio Villa La Selva, a Super-Tuscan Cabernet. The wine was dark ruby in color, and was fairly fruity, with a long finish. Being bottle aged for so long, I think the wine would have done better had it been decanted (my fault for not asking). Overall, we both enjoyed it.

For an entree, Pere selected the Pesce al Cartoccio. In this case, the fish was salmon and was prepared by steaming in a paper bag with lemon, sage, ginger, and scallions. The presentation of the dish was very nice. Unfortunately, the filet was awfully thin and came out a bit overcooked. It was also overly lemony. We really liked the concept of the dish, but unfortunately, the execution just wasn't there.

The only other entree on the menu that really caught my eye was the stravaganza di agnello. The menu described the dish as Browns Orchard naturally raised lamb served three ways with local ratatouille. When the dish arrived, the "three ways" were a lamb chop, lamb rib, and shredded lamb mixed in with the ratatouille. The lamb chop was extremely flavorful, although a bit salty. The lamb rib was mostly fat, but still had good flavor. The shredded lamb with the ratatouille was good, but didn't stand out.

We declined dessert as we were both stuffed by this point. Our waiter wouldn't hear of it, though, and brought out an order of custard with fresh strawberries for us to share - on the house.

All-in-all, our meal at Sassi didn't live up to my expectations. That isn't to say that I'd never eat there again, but I think they still have a long way to go before I'd consider them a really great restaurant. In the meantime, I'm more likely to pay a return visit for happy-hour and either dine at the bar, or perhaps try the patio and make a meal of the excellent antipasti.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a friend from back East out to visit. Friday night is usually my pizza night, and this one was no exception. Rather than make my standard Thai Chicken or sausage and fennel, I decided I wanted to try something different - fig and prosciutto.

Normally, I make my own dough from scratch, but since I was in a bit of a hurry, I bought a ball of fresh dough from Trader Joe's. I've used their dough before, and found it to be pretty good.

After letting the dough warm and rise a bit, Pere stretched it onto one of our non-stick pizza pans. I've tried making pizzas several ways in my oven, and have found that the non-stick pizza pan with the holes in it seems to work best for me - even better than the pizza stone method.

To top the pizza, I first gave the crust a liberal coating of extra virgin olive oil. I then sprinkled on a mix of fennel seed, basil, oregano and oregano. Next, I added a 3:1 blend of Gorgonzola and Mozzarella cheese, followed by caramelized onions I had previously made and frozen for later use. To that I added slices of dried Calimyrna figs and strips of Prosciutto. All this went into a 450 degree oven for about 14 minutes.

I liked the combination of fig and Prosciutto so much that I'm thinking of using it in a salad soon as well.

The night before Pere and I left for St. Louis, we had a strong craving for Italian. Normally, we would satisfy this at Va Bene, but Pere really wanted something other than risotto, which she wouldn't be able to stop herself from ordering if we went to Va Bene. Remembering that we still hadn't tried Tomasso's over at Casa Paloma, we decided to give it a go. I had eaten at what I assume was their sister restaurant on Queen Creek Road before it closed a year or so ago. I had lunch there and thought my pasta dish was pretty good. I was looking forward to something similar this time around.

I never realized how large Tomasso's was. From the outside, it looks like any other strip mall restaurant in Arizona. Once inside, however, I realized that the place was large to the point of being cavernous. The interior reminded me of your standard hotel restaurant. There was a semi-open kitchen in the rear which we were seated next to. The service counter was about 20 feet long, and a buffet table stacked with plates and other table service pieces sat beneath. It looked as though this setup belonged in a buffet style restaurant, and seemed out of place.

After looking over the menu, we decided to split an order of calamari as an appetizer. Pere ordered the cannelloni and I ordered the lobster and shrimp stuffed ravioli. The calamari arrived promptly. It was an instant disappointment. There was nothing to the presentation of the calamari. The fried rings and tentacles were plopped in a medium sized bowl with no arrangement or garnish and accompanied by a gravy boat of red sauce on a separate plate. The calamari were on the soggy and chewy side. At this point, I was hoping that this wasn't a sign of things to come, especially since the entrees were on the pricey side. My disappointment was further heightened when the waiter came to take away our appetizer plates and asked us to hold on to our forks. When the average entree price is $25-$30, I expect my used flatware to be replaced between courses. To me, it's a sign of good service.

When our meals finally arrived, again, the presentation was bland. If it weren't for the fact that my ravioli were made of dark colored pasta, the entire dish would have blended into the white plate. The pasta ended up being tough. I understand al dente, but in this case, the pasta tasted like cardboard. The filling was ok, but was completely overpowered by the saltiness of the cheese in the cream sauce it was sitting in. Pere's meal was no better. Although her pasta was cooked correctly, the dish was also way too salty. It was ok, but absolutely unremarkable in every aspect.

At this point, all we wanted to do was get out of there and put an end to a disappointing meal. We kindly declined desert after looking over the menu. Even if we had wanted something, the choices were completely predictable and boring. Creme brulee, tiramisu, etc. Needless to say, I won't be recommending Tomasso's to my friends anytime soon. Next time we get a craving for Italian, we're going to stick to old standards like Va Bene or Amano Pizza.

Ever since Pere started working in North Scottsdale, we decided that it would help break up the week and her long commute if I came up once a week after work to meet for dinner. Although that was the plan, it's now been almost a year since she took the job, and I've only driven up after work to meet her a hand full of times. Realizing this last week, I set about trying to change that. Since Pere works right next to Kierland Commons, I figured somewhere around there would be a good place to start. After looking over the options, we agreed to meet at North. North is a corporate run restaurant that's part of Fox Restaurant Concepts, and specializes in Northern Italian inspired fare.

After work, I shot up the 101 and made it there without much hassle. Parking wasn't a problem, which it can often be at Kierland Commons. We didn't have any problem getting in without a reservation, which is always a hit or miss thing on a busy Thursday night. The place itself has a bustling urban feel to it. The layout is open, with tall ceilings and lots of hard surfaces, facing a partially open kitchen to the side. My only complaint here is the noise level. With all of the hard surfaces, and wide open design, noise gets amplified. The place wasn't full, but if it had been, I could see how conversation could become a problem.

Once seated, our waitress stopped by and introduced herself. Moments after she left, a small plate of olives was dropped off at the table along with a loaf of bread and an orange colored butter. The green olives were nice, with a hint of fresh lemon flavor. The bread was also nice - freshly baked with a crispy crust. We started off with an order of the crisp calamari with baby arugula and grilled lemons. The calamari was fried with a tempura batter that gave it a nice and light taste. Coupled with the grilled lemon, it was very good. For our entrees, Pere opted for strozzapreti (screw shaped) pasta with mushrooms, wilted spinach, toasted pine nuts and parmesan cheese. The dish was well executed with the pasta perfectly al dente, not at all mushy. I was in the mood for something light, so I got the Alaskan Halibut with eggplant and white leeks. It was also very good. The fish was a thick, decent sized portion that was cooked just right. It had a good, mild flavor that was accented with a little grilled cherry tomato and balsamic vinegar underneath. The eggplant and white leeks were also good, but a bit overcooked in my opinion. We also split an order of creamy polenta. This polenta was made with white cornmeal as opposed to the yellow variety that's more common. It was combined with quite a bit of cream and a hint or parmesan cheese. It was fantastic!

Since we're heading to Sonoma for a long weekend next month, I've been on a kick to try wines from Healdsburg, the main area we're planning to visit. It just so happens that North had a 2003 Old Vine Zinfandel from Seghesio, a vineyard located there. It turns out that this Zin was really good. It had a high alcohol content at 15.3%, but you really wouldn't know if from the taste. It had a concentrated berry flavor, with a nice balance of acid and tannin. I loved it. We're definitely going to visit the vineyard while were on our trip.

We were both stuffed by the time we finished our meals, so neither of us had room for desert. All in all, our experience with North was good, and I'd definitely visit again as there were several other dishes I wouldn't mind trying.

For lunch today, Moody, Nathan and I decided to try out Capistrano's Italian Deli on Warner Road in Tempe. We hadn't been there before, and had been interested in trying it out ever since spotting the place a few weeks ago. We're always up for trying something new, and a good sandwich shop is always a plus.

Unfortunately, Capistrano's turned out to be one big disappointment. The deli is housed in what can only be described as a warehouse. While this works fine for brewpubs, it doesn't really seem to work for a deli. The space was industrial and felt, well, like eating in a warehouse. Moody remarked that he kept waiting for a forklift to drive on through.

Decor aside, the food wasn't any more impressive. Deli is a loose term here. The place consisted of a small counter for ordering where they had a very small selection of Boar's Head meats and cheeses on display. We all opted to try the soup and 1/2 sandwich combo. I was in the mood for a turkey and Swiss on marble with a little mayo. While they had turkey, Swiss cheese, and mayo, they did not have marble bread. In fact, they didn't have any bread at all. They only had a choice of white or wheat rolls for all sandwiches. The rolls aren't made on site, and they were pretty small to boot. What kind of deli doesn't have bread? When I opened my sandwich, there was barely any meat on it - certainly not what I would expect from a deli sandwich. It tasted ok, but then again, it's pretty hard to mess up a simple turkey sandwich.

The soup of the day was tomato basil with ravioli. Both Nathan and I had the soup. I didn't detect any basil. The ravioli tasted just like Chef Boyardee from a can. In fact, the soup tasted like a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli from the can with some water added to thin it out. Totally tasteless.

Nathan had a three cheese sandwich. When I asked him what cheeses it had, he replied that as best he could tell, it had three colors of cheddar. He wasn't impressed either.

Moody opted for a hot pastrami sandwich with a side of coleslaw. Again, the sandwich was served on a roll, and was stingy on the meat. He described the coleslaw as the worst he had ever had - as if it had been made with Crisco instead of mayo.

There is absolutely nothing to distinguish this place from the deli counter at your local grocery store. In fact, there isn't anything about the place that distinguishes it from my refrigerator. We were trying to figure out how they stayed in business with such disappointing fare when a perfectly good alternative, Jason's Deli, was less than 2 miles down the street. The only thing we came up with was Moody's suggestion that having a large Honeywell plant directly across the street was probably the answer. I guess people will eat crap when it's right in front of them rather than seek out a better alternative only a short drive away.

Moody and I met up with Adam and his son for dinner the other night at a Pizza place Moody had spotted and wanted to try out. From the outside, Picazzo's looked just live every restaurant in strip-mall sprawl laden Phoenix. Once inside, however, I was pleasantly surprised. The restaurant was nicely decorated and well laid out. For a Wed night around 8pm, the place was doing a brisk business. Almost every table was filled.

I'm pretty tough on pizza places in Phoenix. I find that the majority of them make pizza's that are difficult to distinguish from cardboard, or the assembly line pies that come from the likes of Domino's and Pizza Hut. Knowing from the sign out front that Picazzo's bills itself as a gourmet pizza place was setting me up for disappointment. I fully expected to be handed a menu with 5 or 6 "gourmet" pizzas, followed by all of the standards. I was completely surprised and delighted when I open the menu to almost two full pages of what I would consider true gourmet pizzas. The menu was divided up into categories. In addition to appetizers and salads, the pizzas were split out into Meat - Red Sauces, Meat White and Peanut Sauces, Vegetarian Red Sauces, and Vegetarian White Sauces. In addition, there was a section for create your own pizza with over a dozen sauces and cheeses, and close to three dozen toppings. Picazzo's also features Collazzo Grande, described as "homemade pizza dough stuffed with toppings and baked into a moon shaped grande croissant". This sounds like a calzone to me, but I'll take their word for it.

Besides the food, Picazzo's also has an extensive drink menu and wine list. Moody and I opted for cocktails while Adam stuck with water. I ordered a Lemonade Cooler, made from fresh lemonade, Chambord and Absolut Kurant. It was good, but a little too heavy on the Chambord. Moody went with a Prickly Pear Rita. I had a sip, and thought it was ok, but nowhere near as good as the version at the Roaring Fork.

Deciding on exactly which pizza's to try out was tough as there were more than a few interesting ones. Some of the highlights included Chipotle and Beef (Barbacoa and chipotle peppers), Leaning Tower (alfredo sauce, mozzarella, chevre, fresh spinach, mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, and homemade Italian sausage), and Spicy-Spicy Veggie with Glazed Walnuts (olive oil, fresh and roasted garlic, broccoli, spinach, jalapeños, red chile flakes, red and yellow bell peppers, and candied walnuts). In the end, we decided on three smalls so we could all sample. We chose the Anchovy Lovers (olive oil, fresh garlic, red sauce, parmigiano, anchovy filets, and Roma tomatoes), the Mykonos (hummus, olive oil, fresh garlic, French feta, artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, Roma tomatoes, and oregano), and the Thai Chicken (Bangkok peanut sauce, mozzarella, chicken, red and yellow bell peppers, green onions, red chile flakes and sesame seeds).

All three pizzas had an excellent crust. The crusts were crisp on bottom, and had just the right amount of chewyness, without having a raw dough taste. The Anchovy Lovers came with a decent amount of anchovy that balanced well with the cheese. My only complaint here is that they kept the anchovy filets whole, while I would have preferred them coarsely chopped, but that's just my personal preference. The Mykonos was interesting. We wondered how hummus would play out on pizza, and to our surprise, it was quite good. There were a few sections of the pizza where the hummus was a little thick, but otherwise, it was very good. The Thai Chicken was my least favorite of the three. I'm very partial to my own version of this pizza, so I find other restaurant versions usually lacking. It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, I just like mine better. Picazzo's was very light on the peanut sauce, which I find is one of the key elements in a good Thai Chicken pizza.

Overall, I was very impressed with Picazzo's and am already thinking of coming back to try out some of the other offerings. They also have a lunch combo (slice and salad) that may be worth checking out.