Do you ever stumble upon a restaurant randomly and its surprisingly the best thing ever? Well that exact thing happened to me and Dan when we were in Arizona earlier this year. We found ourselves in Phoenix, Arizona for our friend’s wedding and decided to spend one night in Flagstaff for a quick visit to the Grand Canyon. Arriving in Flagstaff in the evening, we were pretty tired and totally without dinner plans (super odd for me not to pick a dinner spot in advance), we almost ordered room service and called it a night. But, I happened to look on Trip Advisor and found a good looking pizza restaurant that seemed to have a legit wine list only a 10 minute drive away. Perfect. Done.

The adorably tiny Pizzicletta!

We found Pizzicletta in a bit of a hipstery part of town and luckily grabbed two of four seats remaining. The dining room is very small, with one large family style table and a few bar seats. The centerpiece of the restaurant is a beautiful brick over pizza oven that is proudly on display.

Super cool oven.

The menu at Pizzicletta is small: a few Napoli style pizzas with good ingredients and a few real Italian style side dishes. Pizzicletta also has a fabulous Italian wine list that is super impressive for such a small venue (and its half price bottles on Monday nights!). We played it safe and ordered the Corvina (a great wine!) but I really wish we had splurged on the Paolo Bea 2007 Sagrantino, especially after speaking with the staff (we’ve had more recent years that we didn’t love, but this one is supposed to be fabulous).

Regular menu. SO GOOD.

That amazing wine list.

Since we had been eating and drinking all weekend, and day, we opted to split two pies: ‘Nduja sausage with red sauce, mozzarella, and Calibrian chilies and a white pie with rosemary, brussel sprouts, and salami. Both pizzas were absolutely amazing and I seriously cannot wait to go back for more pizza. The dough was cooked perfectly, and the ingredients were top, top notch. Definitely one of the best places we have “stumbled upon” in recent memory!

‘Nduja sausage with red sauce, mozzarella, and Calabrian chilies!

Their special of the evening – white pie with Rosemary, Brussel Sprouts, and Salami!

And, how exciting, the pizza maker knew our local brick over restaurant in New Jersey – Brick x Dough (visit them if you’re in the area)!! This was certainly the cherry on top of our perfect, unexpected evening!

Brick x Dough in NJ – friends with Pizzicletta!

STEAL OUR DINNER

Pizzicletta: 203 W Phoenix Avenue, Flagstaff, AZ. T: 928-774-3242. Easy parking directly across the street. Just go here if you are in Flagstaff.

Brick x Dough: FOR MY NJ FRIENDS – 218 48th St, Union City, NJ 07087.  Generally open Wednesday – Friday. Check their Instagram page for the most up to date opening information. No reservations. Dine in and take out only. BYOB. In sum, excellent Napoli style pizza with a true NYC/NJ flair. I tell everyone to go here and take all my guests.