Cibo

On the east side of Downtown, crowds line up nightly for handmade, craft pizzas at the famous, celebrity-acclaimed Pizzeria Bianco. A mile to the northwest, Cibo keeps a lower profile but attracts a steady, loyal, and mostly local clientele for individual pizzas, salad, antipasti, and desert crepes. If Cibo was once perceived as a second choice for those unwilling to endure the long wait at Bianco, it has since emerged as a destination based on its own merits.

Cibo may not have media attention from Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and innumerable food bloggers, but for many diners, it can be a better overall meal experience. Like many restaurants on the edges of Downtown, Cibo is located in a renovated historic house. The restaurant is situated on the northeast corner of Fillmore and Fifth Avenue, just under half a mile from the Roosevelt / Central Avenue station and the Van Buren / Central Avenue (northbound) and Van Buren / 1st Avenue (southbound) stations.

The Cibo menu manages to offer customers ample choices at all stages of the meal. Beginners include a broad selection of antipasti: a caprese salad; a house salad with greens, assorted vegetables, and pine nuts; and even an interesting pesto salad with roasted potatoes. Antipasto platters are as visually impressive as they are tasty. The mixed vegetable platter (center photo below) features several types of olives, grilled zucchini, and roasted sweet potato, eggplant, and bell peppers. The roasting brings out the sweetness of most of the vegetables, and the accompanying olives and capers offset that taste with a salty note.

Pizza is the main event here, though, and Cibo's individual pies are grouped into categories of "rosse" (with red sauce) and "bianche" (without). Both categories have their stars. The funghi matches mushrooms and sauce effectively, while the salmone (right photo below) allows smoked salmon to assume center stage on a white, tomato-free pizza. The brick oven at Cibo produces a crust that is relatively consistent from top to bottom and from edge to center. It's good crust through-and-through, although it does not always deliver the signature char associated with some artisanal pizza crusts. The upside is that customers who complain of "burnt crust" at other local pizzerias may actually find Cibo to be smoother eating.

While it would be easy to fill up on pizza and salad here, Cibo is one of the few pizzerias where it's advisable to leave room for dessert. At Cibo that usually means two words: "crepe" and "Nutella." The thin pancakes are the essence of the dessert menu, and two-thirds of them showcase the chocolate-and-hazelnut goodness of Nutella. The crepes are absolutely worth leaving room for, even if means taking a slice or two of pizza home.

At lunch, Cibo is tranformed into an Italian-themed sandwich shop. Hot and cold sandwiches, impressive in their own right, make up the menu; pizza does not make an appearance until 5 PM. At all times of day, however, the beverage selection is the same impressive assortment that values quality over quantity. Cibo does not have a full bar, but the restaurant features an all-Italian wine list with most selections available by the bottle or glass. For beer drinkers, the emphasis turns more local, with the full range of Nimbus brews from Tucson available by the bottle. Even the selection of teas, all loose-leaf style, shows attention to detail and quality.

Because Cibo occupies a renovated bungalow-style house, the dining room can be tight during peak hours. The restaurant graciously accommodates families with high chairs, but due to the cramped quarters, parties that include very young pizza eaters are better off sitting on the patio during peak hours. The patio is mist cooled and well-shaded with mature trees, resulting in the unlikely scenario of customers happily dining outdoors even when daytime highs are in the triple digits. For private parties, there is a separate room off to the side that can be booked ahead. In the main dining areas, Cibo accepts reservations only for parties of six or more. Cibo is open weekdays for lunch and dinner everyday except Sunday.

603 N. 5th Ave., Phoenix, AZ, 85003
(602) 441-2697
http://www.cibophoenix.com

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602 Much Good Food
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