Grimaldi’s Pizzeria – Scottsdale, Arizona

I don’t often refer to myself as a “restaurant critic” or “restaurant reviewer.” My preferred gloss is “observer and essayer on the culinary condition.”   Yep, that’s a high falutin bit of ego-stroking, but it’s accurate.  One of the things I’ve observed during frequent trips to the Phoenix area–both while employed at Intel and while snowbirding over the Christmas and Festivus holidays–is that middling quality chain restaurants tend to find a home in the Valley of the Sun an year or two before figuring out they would be smash successes in Albuquerque.

Another salient obseration is that some pretty highly regarded East Coast and Midwest restaurants and chefs don’t like the cold either…or maybe they’re following the exodus of snowbirds wanting to escape the miserable weather.  Ted’s Hot Dogs, a Buffalo refugee turned Valley mainstay since the 1980s was among the first.  Grimaldi’s, a New York City institution which can trace its lineage to America’s pizza pioneers, followed suit a few years later.   Strewn across the Valley are such Chicago transplants as Lou Malnati’s, Rosati’s Pizza and the perpetually mispronounced Portillo’s.  Every one of these restaurants has maintained a presence where they got their starts, but are also ensconced in the Phoenix area.

My very first visit to Grimaldi’s was in 2003, not long after the fabled restaurant’s first satellite opened in Scottsdale.  To understand how improbable it is to find Grimaldi’s in Arizona, it might help to know a bit about its history.  That history traces back to the opening of the one of the oldest pizzerias (circa 1933) in America.  Patsy Grimaldi, founder of Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, learned to make pizza in a brick coal oven at age ten from his uncle Patsy Lancieri at Patsy’s Pizzeria.  After several decades, Grimaldi decided to launch his own pizzeria.

Because Manhattan prohibited coal ovens, he launched “Patsy’s Pizzeria” in Brooklyn in 1990.  It was unaffiliated with the Patsy’s Pizzeria where Grimaldi had worked as a teenager.  Not surprisingly, a lawsuit ensued for the naming rights to the name “Patsy’s Pizzeria.” In October 1996, to disassociate themselves from the new restaurants and end the court fight, the Grimaldis changed the name of their pizza house to Patsy Grimaldi’s. In the late 1990s, Patsy Grimaldi retired, selling the Grimaldi’s name and franchise to restaurateur Frank Ciolli.  Ciolli’s son Joseph launched several locations as well as venues in Southern California and the Dallas, Texas area.

Grimaldi’s not only has history, but a legitimate claim to being among the country’s best purveyors of pizza.  Zagat reviewers (the dining public) named its pizza the number one pizza in New York City from 1997 through 2003.  City Search named it the best pizza in the country from 2001 through 2003.  There are dozens, if not hundreds, such accolades.  Several awards festoon the walls at the Scottsdale pizzeria in the heart of downtown.   Grimaldi’s bakes my sister Anita’s favorite pizza in the valley.  Her recommendation carries more weight with me than Zagat’s, Yelp or any of the other public sourced review sites.

There is one critic who ranks up there with my sister in terms of trustworthiness.  That would be James Beard award-winning author Ed Levine.  Several years ago, in celebration of the 100 year anniversary of pizza in America, aficionado Ed Levine ate nothing but pizza for an entire twelve month period, taking a representative pulse of the best from among thousands of pizza purveyors.  His terrific tome, Pizza A Slice of Heaven, provides a definitive guide to a much-loved product that in its elemental form is simplicity itself–bread, cheese and whatever toppings a pizzaioli artisan might care to add.

Levine declared his favorite Grimaldi’s (at the moment) to be the one in Scottsdale, the very Grimaldi’s that had ensnared my affections…so much so that I have yet to visit any of the other six Valley of the Sun locations. Levine praised the “Latino pizza-making crew who are creating impressive, sparsely topped pies with pliant, slightly chewy crusts.”  My own inaugural visit in 2003 confirmed in my mind what pizza aficionados know–Patsy Grimaldi’s made some of the very best pizza in America, if not the world.

The smoky taste of this fabled pizza comes from coal-fired brick ovens weighing 25 tons and filled with 250 pounds of coal.  Creating a fiery conflagration scaling to 1,200 degrees, it cooked my pizza to perfection–crisp, chewy and absolutely fabulous–in less than three minutes. Grimaldi’s pizza comes in only three sizes, a personal pan pizza (12″) a small (16″) and a large (18″) and with individual ingredients. Gluten-friendly and cauliflower crusts are available canvases for the pizza of your choice.

Fresh mozzarella, a lively tomato sauce, Italian sausage and ham made it to my first pie which I ravenously devoured.  The mozzarella comes from free range cows.  On most pizza, mozzarella is a boring topping that just sort of lies there, but at Patsy Grimaldi’s, the mozzarella has a pronounced rich, creamy, tangy taste that I couldn’t get out of my mind.  It was simply incomparable!  The only mozzarella comparable is buffalo mozzarella.  Yes, from real water buffaloes.

While toiling for Intel, I visited Grimaldi’s four times, ferrying home to my Kim the few remaining slices left over after my gorge.  She discerned what my taste buds had confirmed about the pizza, particularly the mozzarella.  Shamefully, I didn’t bring her to Grimaldi’s until the Eve of Festivus in 2023.  Because Scottsdale was experiencing an all day deluge, the kind staff wouldn’t hear of us sitting on one of the two capacious patios.  They welcomed us into the restaurant with The Dude, our debonair dachshund.  Naturally he was an instant hit among other diners and the wait staff.

22 December 2023: Red and white checkered table cloths adorn every table while overhead lighting among the rust-covered corrugated ceiling is in the form of  illuminated wine bottles.  Service at Grimaldi’s is prompt with a high-energy wait staff at your beck and call.  It didn’t take long for me to decide what to order.  The Don (traditional pizza topped with Italian sausage, meatballs and pepperoni), a meat-lover’s delight it would be.  As if that wasn’t wonderful enough, I asked for a drizzle of Mike’s hot honey.  The hot honey “thing,” by the way began in 2003, but hasn’t been widespread in New Mexico.  Without the hot honey, The Don would be absolutely magnificent.  With hot honey, it’s in rarefied air.  It elevated the best meatballs I’ve ever had on a pizza and made the fennel on the sausage even more pronounced.  All but one slice (from my 12-incher) remained, but only until hunger set in later in the evening.

22 December 2023:  My Kim, who continues to suffer from that debilitating “I can’t eat hot food” dilemma had a white with garlic pizza (extra fresh mozzarella, garlic, and an olive oil drizzle and garnish of basil. Topped with signature cheese and spice blend).  Given my druthers, I’d prefer she not like garlic instead of chile.  Predictably, this pizza had enough garlic to ward off a family of vampires.  Thankfully, it also had a blanket of the mozzarella I love so much.  The addition of fennel-rich sausage gave the pizza more personality, but my favorite part were the heaving protrusions from the crust, those magic air bubbles and the pinto pony char prevalent throughout the crust.

When the restaurant manager delivered our pizzas, he encouraged us not to fill up on pizza because Grimaldi’s was offering a seasonal dessert special–Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake (creamy vanilla cheesecake filled with chunks of Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cup, served with chocolate sauce and whipped cream).  My Kim, infinitely smarter than her ravenous husband, heeded that sage advice and saved room.  Me, I could manage only a couple of forkfuls.  Available only two months a year, this is a special cheesecake–not only because it’s on special, but because it’s quite luxurious and delicious.

During my two years of living in Massachusetts, I managed to visit a couple of the country’s oldest pizzerias, but didn’t make it to the original Patsy’s.  Still, I’m happy to say I’ve experienced a bit of Patsy’s legacy in Scottsdale.

Grimaldi’s Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria
4000 N. Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
(480) 994-1100
Website | Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 22 December 2023
# OF VISITS: 5
RATING: 24
COST: $$$
BEST BET: The Don, White Garlic Pizza, Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake, Mike’s Hot Honey