The Dolce Diavolo at La Piazza Al Forno
Over the weekend my bro Tommy, Jax and I continued our mission of eating our way through local joints that have been featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and/or Travel Channel’s Man Vs. Food. The jaunt took us to La Piazza Al Forno in Glendale, AZ.
For the love of all that is delicious – I’ve been before and apparently was not ordering the right things, I’ve always enjoyed the fare but this trip was a revelation! We started with fried ravioloi (skip it to save room for the pizza and dessert). Tommy and I each ordered our own pies and swapped a slice to sample each other’s.
The Italian Stallion – magnificently meaty and addictively awesome.
I had the meat fest on a crust called The Italian Stallion. It was wondrously wonderful and featured an impressive selection of Italian meats, including pepperoni, Schreiner’s sausage (Schreiner’s is a local sausage company), prosciutto di Parma, and sopressata. The crust was perfection, chewy without being rubbery and the slight char from the brick oven married perfectly with the robust meats and sweet San Marzano tomatoes. Fan-friggin-tastic!
Tom ordered the Dolce Diavolo (pictured at top of post) and when he read the description aloud I kinda wanted to gag – San Marzano tomatoes, house-made mozzarella, sopressata, calabrian chiles, basil and HONEY!
“Gross”, I thought, “who puts honey on a pizza?”
La Piazza Al Forno does and they are geniuses for doing so. The chiles were pretty hot and the honeyed sweetness melded beautifully with that heat. I only had one slice of this pizza and I was smitten with it. I can’t say I liked it more than my meaty pie but I am definitely going to order a Dolce Diavolo all for myself next time. And I can’t wait to be selfish with it.
Jax enthusiastically ate our scraps – the spiciness of the sausage on my pizza was a bit too much for her and she would have keeled over if she even had a sniff of Tommy’s, so I grudgingly gave her my “bones” (crusts). She loved them and had not a care she was eating table scraps.
I was ready to pop after devouring the goodness but I didn’t stop there, we splurged and had cheesecake too. Creamy, lusciousness with a buttery crumb crust and caramel drizzle. It was divine. That’s all you need to know about that.
Um, yes. please.
This little mission of our is pretty awesome and I just may gain 15 pounds by the time the tour de taste ends – but I’m doing it for you, people, my readers. The sacrifices I make (heeee).
La Piazza Al Forno is by far the best pizza I have ever had in AZ or anywhere for that matter. If you live here or are planning a visit (wait until October or risk dying of heat stroke) to AZ it should definitely be on your list of places to gorge!
Jax would like to order one of everything on the menu!
Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way to write this post. All opinions are 100% my own.
It’s everything you described! Jax is super cute and happy (I guess I would be happy too, if my momma was taking me to all these fabulous places).
Thank you Heather! You still need to meet my Jax someday. I’ll introduce her over pizza.