Tratto Puts the Bianco Magic into Upscale Italian
Tratto
Pizzeria Bianco has been an institution in Phoenix for a long time, and Pane Bianco is the other Bianco thing that’s way less famous, but still has those craft vibes. Even when things aren’t very exciting, there’s magic happening. Maybe it’s the ingredients. Maybe it’s the Bianco mystique. Then, one day, Tratto opened and it was billed as a Bianco thing, but “we’re trying for real this time” (that’s not a real quote). And we all went. And we all realized they weren’t kidding. Tratto is like Italian food if Italian food was better than Italian food. I sound drunk. With flavor!
Downtown - 1505 E Van Buren St
Awards + Accolades
Phoenix Magazine
2024: Best Italian
2023: Best Italian
2021: Best Rapid Relocation
2019: Top 100 Restaurants
2018: Best Use of Local Grain
Phoenix New Times
2024: Top 100 Restaurants
2020: Best Italian Restaurant
2019: Best Italian Restaurant
2018: Best Place to Eat at the Bar
2017: Best Arizona Terroir-Driven Cocktail | Heritage Grain Old Fashioned
2017: Best Bartender
2016: Best Italian Restaurant
Reviews
As Phoenix chefs grow more thoughtful and confident, it’s restaurants like Tratto that make me feel we may finally be on the brink of our moment. Though my professional obligations demand otherwise, it’s the kind of place where I wish I could look forward to a standing reservation for dinner once a week.
- Dominic Armato, AZ Central
Talented chef de cuisine Anthony Andiario left Arizona early in 2017. Is his replacement holding the line at our 2016 Restaurant of the Year?
In a word, yes – which we probably knew intuitively, given owner Chris Bianco’s universe-beating pedigree. Still, a strategically unnecessary return visit to Tratto was just too enticing to turn down, and it proved edifying enough. Following Andiario’s departure, Bianco pegged Cassie Shortino – all of 24 years old – to lead the kitchen, with specific orders not to reinvent Tratto’s rustic Italian wheel.
- Phoenix Magazine
No matter what, like most dishes at Tratto, it will be simple and refined, and there will probably be a delicate balance at play designed to register pure pleasure and satiety. It is not a bad time to eat and drink in Phoenix.
- Patricia Escárcega, Phoenix New Times
What to Get
Cacio e Pepe
Since opening in 2016, Tratto, Chris Bianco's trattoria, has helped set the pace for Italian fare in Phoenix. But among the five-star restaurant's Arizona-flecked creations, one of the simplest — a classic pillar of Roman cuisine — has proven to be a popular favorite.
This shouldn't come as a surprise. The cacio e pepe at Tratto is a killer dish.
- Dominic Armato, AZ Central
Chicken
There is also a very good Two Wash Ranch chicken dish, whose juicy smokiness is beautifully paired with a bundle of slightly shriveled Arizona grapes, the fruit rippling with concentrated sweetness. Like much of what comes out of the Bianco kitchen, it’s a simple dish, but simple is not the same thing as easy.
- Patricia Escárcega, Phoenix New Times
Chicken Livers
The first dish Cassie Shortino created as the new chef at Tratto back in 2017 was an instant hit: butter-sautéed chicken livers, caramelized at the edges, piled on grilled house-made sourdough, topped with dollops of seasonal jam and a fried sage leaf. Shortino is gone, but her simple, sublime classic remains.
- Phoenix Magazine
Tagliatelle
Shortino adds lemon juice to cooked tagliatelle at the end, tossing the strands. It’s made the same kind of way one makes carbonara, using steaming noodles to cook the eggs and create the famous Roman sauce. In this tradition, Shortino tosses newly baptized tagliatelle with lemon juice, olive oil, and Parmesan that meld into a sauce that glues to the pasta, tightly coating each strand.
- Chris Malloy, Phoenix New Times
