The atmosphere at Enoteca is very laid back, yet slightly sophisticated. It’s kind of the pizzeria equivalent of the tuxedo t-shirt; it looks fancy, but it’s still casual and comfortable. The kitchen is openly visible to the left of the dining area, and there’s a small bar with a few tap beers to the right. Their menu featured standard Italian fare, mostly salads, pastas and pizzas.

My brother and I decided to try the “Quattro Formaggi,” which I’m pretty sure is Spanish for “Here I Am, Rock You Like A Hurricane.” This za featured two standard cheeses (Mozzarella and Ricotta) and two not-so-standard cheeses (Gorgonzola and Taleggio). Neither of has had even heard of Taleggio before, and could only assume it was a cheese by process of elimination while ordering. In a few minutes, a strange smell began to waft through the restaurant, and we both knew we were in for a bit of a surprise.

Quattro Formaggi

THE GOOD: The combination of cheeses on this pizza perfectly complimented their sauce. The taste was extremely hard to put into words; I couldn’t figure out if it was something about the sauce or one or both of the less common cheese selections. But I’m fairly certain that all of these pieces are required to make this pizza what it is. The flavors created this enigma in my brain that I just couldn’t solve. Considering it was a four cheese pizza, there seemed to be a lot of crust/sauce exposed, but honestly I think much more would have been a bit overpowering. The service was excellent; prompt and friendly. Their outdoor patio area seems nice; you’ll probably hear locals complain about how cold it is when it’s 60 degrees in December, wearing their winter coats and hats. Fucking pussies.

THE BAD: The smell of this thing cooking was a little confusing. While the taste of the za definitely benefited from cheese selection, the other patrons in the restaurant might not have been too happy with that smell infiltrating their brains. The music playing was a little off as well; it was mostly terrible covers of popular songs. At one point a version “A Horse With No Name” came on that sounded like they just took the original America recording and sped it up a bit, causing the entire rhythm of the song to be ruined and the vocals to get a little bit chipmunky. Now I’m not really that interested in what music is playing when I’m eating pizza, but this just seemed like the most irritating option available. I almost would have preferred Christmas music. Almost.

TRY: My brother came here on a lunch break and recommended some of their lunch specials. Apparently they have a kind of cafeteria-style lunch setup and you can get by-the-slice combos for relatively cheap. The Quattro Formaggi was definitely a roller coaster of flavor and would probably need to be experienced first-hand in order to really understand it.

Seeing as this was my first time in Arizona and the first pizzeria I had the chance to visit, I’d likely try a different option on my next trip. But I would definitely recommend checking this place out.

RATING: A Rubik’s Cube of flavor