Chef Chris Bianco runs the farm at Carneros Resort in Napa
Pizza legend Chris Bianco is set to make his Bay Area debut, but his famous pies won’t be the main event.
Bianco, who was the first pizzaiolo to win the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southwest, has partnered with Napa’s Carneros Resort & Spa to overhaul the upscale Farm at Carneros restaurant. The updated menu, which will coincide with a new Italian farmhouse-inspired design, will incorporate California and Mediterranean elements, reports Robb, who first broke the news.
Dishes will be simple and straightforward, inspired by produce sourced on-site in the resort’s culinary garden and from local farmers. Bianco plans to repurpose some dishes from Tratto, his upscale, rustic Italian restaurant in Phoenix, using Napa Valley ingredients. This may look like pasta with Sonoma ham. pork chops with local plums instead of dates; and focaccia with wine grapes. In a surprise development, Farm will no longer serve pizza, a rule that also applies at Tratto.
However, Bianco’s pizza will be served at Market, the resort’s informal general store that is also undergoing a renovation. But it will reportedly be different from what fans are used to at his other restaurants, as he looks forward to working with a local mill and making it exclusive to Wine Country. The market will also continue to serve salads and sandwiches.
Bianco, who is credited with igniting the country’s modern artisan pizza revolution, opened the first Bianco’s Pizzeria 35 years ago in the back of a grocery store in Phoenix. Today, the 61-year-old owns three Pizzeria Bianco restaurants in Phoenix and Los Angeles. One Pane Bianco location in each city; Bar Bianco in Phoenix; And Trato. In 2022, he appeared in the Netflix documentary series “Chef’s Table: Pizza” and won another James Beard Award for Best Restaurateur.
Wine Country has a history of attracting famous chefs. Bianco’s announcement comes one month after the iconic Robert Mondavi Winery revealed its collaboration with another James Beard Award winner — Southern Smoke’s Chris Shepherd — on the menu of the winery’s new downtown tasting room. Michael Mina opened Wit & Wisdom at the Lodge at Sonoma in 2020, while Chris Cosentino joined Acacia House in Napa Valley (now Alila Napa Valley) as chef partner in 2017.
Charlie Palmer has a long-standing presence in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, and plans to open the first hotel in his new brand, Appellation, in Healdsburg. Masaharu Morimoto chose Napa as his first West Coast restaurant in 2010 and opened a second restaurant, Morimoto Asia, in the same building last year.
Farm in Carneros. Reopens fall 2023. 4048 Sonoma Highway, Napa. Farmatcarneros.com
Contact Jess Lander: jess.lander@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @geslander
