Craft 64, Scottsdale, Arizona

Craft 64 is a small pizza place located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Before I get into my review, I would like to begin with full transparency. My family and I were breaking Passover when we ate here so it is possible that my review may be a bit biased because I did not eat any bread for the eight days prior to this dinner. Anyways, into the review! For dinner I ordered a caprese salad and a margarita pizza with arugula on top.

I’ll start off with the caprese salad. I have to say, a caprese salad is not something I

would normally order. I don't really like cheese on its own and am not a huge fan of

tomatoes on their own. So, why would I order this? To be honest, I don’t really know, I was just in the mood for something different I guess. Anyways, for a caprese salad it was not half bad. The trick here, I think, is that they seasoned the tomato and mozzarella very thoroughly with salt and pepper, ensuring that each bite was flavorful. The tomatoes were cut very thickly which provided some nice structure and helped make the salad easy to eat. The mozzarella was also cut thickly, and it had the perfect texture: firm but not chewy. Together, the tart tomato and the milky mozzarella created a great combination.

The next thing I ordered was the margarita pizza with arugula on top. Fun fact: if you order arugula on top of pizza, the pizza automatically becomes healthy (not really but that’s the kind of mindset you need to have in life). This pizza was a little different than any other arugula pizza I’ve had because it was rather salty. I am not

sure if this is something particular to life in Arizona, because all the food I had on my trip there was rather salty but, I’ve ordered a lot of arugula pizzas and none of them have ever had salt on top. I liked the addition of salt because it brought out the natural, bitterness of the arugula which contrasted nicely with the pizza. The structure of the pizza was great! A solid crust with a thick, doughy outer edge. The sauce was also a little salty, which was nice because the cheese was rather flavourless. I am not sure if I just convinced myself that by adding arugula the pizza would no longer be oily but I do not recall the pizza having much oil - which could have also been because there was little cheese. Overall, the pizza was delicious and I would definitely order it again!

The environment at Craft 64 was a little deceiving for the type of food they served. The restaurant gave off the vibes of an old, New Jersey Italian restaurant inside, unfitting for the modern food they served, but it then opened up to a modern, patio area with nice wooden tables. The restaurant was tight but comfortable and located in the art district of Scottsdale, it was the perfect place to walk around after your meal. I would overall rate Craft 64 a 8.3/10 and recommend you at it to your itinerary if you are ever in Scottsdale.