Sedona is a town of 10,000 people in the Verde Valley region of Arizona. It's long been a tourist destination for its spectacular sandstone red rock formations, where more than 60 Hollywood movies were filmed (mostly westerns, including the 1957 Glenn Ford classic 3:10 to Yuma).
About three decades ago, Sedona acquired a mystical new-age appeal for its "vortexes" that some believe to have restorative energy. But Sedona, like Santa Fe in neighboring New Mexico, has gone upscale as wealthy Texans and Californians are drawn in, housing prices soar, and the crystal hippies are priced out. (As recently as 10 years ago, the crystals and "vortexes" were still prominent - check out the 2011 movie "Sedona" that you can stream free on the Tubi app: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLK0yoRcTXo).
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| Mrs. Quixote on Devil's Bridge |
The good news for hippies and any other visitors is that the new mix of residents and visitors has created a demand for fine dining. Leading the efforts to fulfill that demand is Chef Lisa Dahl, who oversees four restaurants in town. Three of them feature Italian food; Pisa Lisa is the most casual of them, and the only one we could get into during our May 2021 visit, because reservations were fully booked at the more formal places.
After a long morning hiking at Soldiers' Pass, we stopped into Pisa Lisa around noon on a Saturday. We were able to get seated quickly, but noticed that by 12:30 there was a line outside waiting to get a table. The interior was large, airy, and casual.
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| Modern and casual interior |
We began our lunch by sharing a "Killer Kale" salad. It was killer indeed - a Caesaresque salad with spectacular ribbons of dark kale, shaved Parmesan, Marcona almonds, "magic" mushrooms, and a creamy dressing. I have tried but I cannot duplicate this delicious salad at home, even with kale harvested freshly from my garden.
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| "Killer Kale" salad |
We had a hard time choosing from the eclectic selection of red and white pizza choices, but settled on "Da Bambini" which was a wonderful bargain at $13 for a 14" pie. This specialty pizza was topped with provolone and mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and "Mother sauce" which is the signature house-made spicy/sweet red sauce at all of Lisa Dahl's restaurants. We added hot honey for an additional $1.25.
I had done some Sedona pizza research before our trip, and Pisa Lisa was among the handful of pizza places on my list. My expectation was good pizza, but perhaps not on a level with the impeccable hybrid Neapolitans at La Porta (in Delaware County PA, for you Mare of Easttown fans), or Sorellina (in Willie Nelson's Spicewood, TX) or EVO in North Charleston, SC.
When our pizza arrived, it looked even bigger than the 14" as described in the menu. It was beautiful, deeply red/orange with a marvelous charred and puffy golden cornicione. "We'll never finish this," I thought.
I'm delighted to share that we finished it with gusto, because it was superb. I never tire of saying that great pizza requires a great foundation, and the crust was perfectly crafted and rendered. Thin, crisp, chewy, rigid enough to support all the toppings and full of its own bready flavor and aroma.
Almost as importantly, this pizza was ideally balanced in flavor and texture. The "Mother sauce" was indeed very good, but its spicy nature may have been obscured by our addition of hot honey. The cheese blend reminded me once again of why I often (but not always) prefer aged cheeses to fresh mozz on pizza; they add creaminess and saltiness without a byproduct of excess moisture.
Finally, the pepperoni was not the spicy cup variety, but its curled edges revealed a solid pedigree, and of course it added that extra dose of umami to the whole experience. No soggy slices, just terrific crunch, chew, and flavor combos in every bite. Just about flawless pizza.
The views alone are sufficient reason to visit Sedona. Add in the high-desert weather, the spectacular hiking, and general (if crowded) fine dining, and there's no mystery to why it's such as attractive destination. Now top that with destination "worth-the-trip" quality pizza, and it's hard to imagine better.
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| A look at the underside of the crust |
This pizza was so good that it makes me want to try the other Lisa Dahl restaurants in Sedona. Don't miss Pisa Lisa if you have the chance.
Of course only the rich can eat at her places. Pizza is pizza
ReplyDeleteI'm just wondering how much Lisa Dahl paid you to write this article as we all know that her staff, all of them ,walk out all at once all the time example Catchina rustica being shut down for three months because all of her staff walked out at once why because Lisa Dahl is the biggest b#*@* in Arizona underpaid staffed always degrading her staff and firing them on a whim..
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