Craft 64
Margarita – Fresh Mozzarella – Tomato Sauce – Basil (Half with Prosciutto)
Nutella Indulgence – Plantains – Hazelnuts – Butter – Fleur de Sel – Desert Honey
Located in Old Town and widely celebrated since opening for a beer and wine list supporting the diversity of breweries and wineries throughout the state of Arizona it was admittedly with other interests in mind that this diner approached Craft 64, an 8pm arrival finding not a single table open with one lone seat remaining at the bar.
Owned by Josh Ivey and Roger Carpenter, both well known locally for work in the world of adult beverages, and tapping Chef Horacio Hernandez – he of 17 years pizza making experience with Chris Bianco – to head up the kitchen, Craft 64 looks much like any other bustling Scottsdale Bar but what those merely walking by may fail to realize is that through a small window to the right of numerous taps the is something truly special taking place, the man known as “Lachos” turning out some of the city’s best wood-fired dough.
Bustling to the point of bursting, several folks merely passing through as part of a bar hop and therefor never sitting down, it was n front of a jovial bar man that I spent the evening and deferring EtOH in favor of H2O it was after perusing an expectedly well-culled menu that an order progressed, one pie and one calzone delivered in two well timed courses presenting a conundrum as to which was best.
Making dough, cheese, sauce, and every meat except imported prosciutto from scratch, it was perhaps ten minutes before the still-bubbling Margarita arrived before be and opting to add the Italian pork to half in order to experience both base and upgrade the flavor of the crust came across with a robust yeastiness enhanced by char, the tomato sauce a dead-ringer for the purity and balance at Bianco while the cheese was not quite on par to imported Mozzarella di Bufala, but creamy with a good amount of stretch.
Onward to something sweet, the same crust here folded over and baked golden with a molten center of Nutella, Butter and Banana, suffice it to say that the “Nutella Indulgence” undoubtedly lived up to its name even before a liberal drizzle of honey, both myself and the barman agreeing that only ice cream could have made it better – an option unavailable since everything at Craft 64 is so fresh that they don’t need a refrigerator or freezer.
http://craft64.com/
