The original Tartine Bakery has as much seating as they can cram in that small space.
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I have started to feel the way about anything that blows up. Why canât we have nice things and just let it be? Why does everything good have to get corporate expansion in the worst way possible?
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The worst way to expand is to sell to a corporation for a huge pile of money, like Pascal Rigo and Starbucks.
Tartine has been growing relatively slowly over the past 20 years. They backed out of the merger with Blue Bottle, which went on to raise $120 million in venture capital and then sell 68% to Nestle for $500 million. My impression is that Prueitt and Robertson, in contrast, are forming various small partnerships with friends and people they admire, which provides career paths for their employees.
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Iâve noticed that here with some conversations about, say, pho. Using lad-dee-dah meats instead of tripe, tendon, etc.
Itâs all about the Benjamins baby 
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As always, a wonderful, thorough and thoughtful review. I, too, had so much hope for this place. I trust youâll be returning in a month or so and I hope they will have gotten everything together. Perhaps Mr. Bianco might even consider making pizzas. As in, why not?
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Perhaps for the same reason that Michael Jordan tried out baseball during his basketball yearsâŠ
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It seems like Tartine Bianco doesnât yet know what it wants to be, or needs a lot more inspiration. Bianco is a huge draw to this venture, but I probably wouldnât go just for flatbread. It seems like itâll be overshadowed by Robertsonâs bread with the different types of butter. Other than the flatbread, Iâm wondering how much of Bianco is actually in this enterprise other than name.
Iâve been to Manufactory in SF a few times but itâs a smaller enterprise and a pleasant enough place.
This seems less like a destination and more like a stop-by if you happen to be at The Row. Doesnât seem to be a flagship experience or give any reason to come here rather than the other Tartine bakeries opening up around town. Itâs great for the growing neighborhood, I guess weâll have to wait for the restaurant to see how this comes together.
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Based on what @Chowseeker1999 experienced, it seems someone has a definitive âyou can do this here but not there - weâll do this but not that - you buy this here but can only eat thereâ model set up. It seems to have a bad flow, too rule-y and generally not what the respective eateries from SF and AZ are known for.
If I didnât know of the reputations of Tartine or Bianco, Iâd swear this was a half-baked result typically bungled by a government agency or corporate âbrain stormâ session - not two respected food industry entitites.
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When I heard Bianco wouldnât be making his signature pizzas here, it set alarm bells ringing.
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I donât know, it kind of seems like weâre all having pretty strong reactions to an unfinished and still developing concept. Iâd be very surprised if heâs not making pizzas here within 6-8 months.
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I wasnât enamored either but hasnât Bianco wanted to get away from dough and pizza for years now? Developed an intolerance to wheat after working with it for so long or something
Looks like pizza-less restaurants is Biancoâs new thing.
The Phoenix-based chef, whose fame and following swelled in the early 2000s with Pizzeria Bianco, returned to the restaurant game in mid-2016 with Tratto, a tiny, strip mall-located Italian restaurant where the dish that launched Biancoâs culinary ascent was curiously absent.
The roots of Biancoâs surprising move to open a pizza-less restaurant, one that seized the attention of the New York Times and the Eater among others, were actually planted six years prior when Bianco left the kitchen. A lifelong asthmatic, Bianco said years of exposure to airborne flour and wood-fired smoke to produce his artisan pies had intensified the condition, which he termed âbakerâs lung.â He told the Arizona Republic at the time: âMy doctor says I have to keep my head out of the oven if I want to see 50.â
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Then he should have trained some apprentices, and they could come to Los Angeles and make pizza for us. That is what masters do. Train the next generation to take up the mantle.
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Well this is quite disappointing to hear about Biancoâs health condition. But seriously whatâs the draw in his name if thereâs no pizza? I understand he may want to branch out but what does his name add that the Tartine brand didnât already have covered?
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Chris did. Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix has been manned by one of his âapprenticesâ for over a decade now.
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It would be nice to have an apprentice come to L.A. Would you please ask him nicely for us?
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Over a decade is a bit of an exaggeration.
Do we really have to ask? When consumer expectations < what suppliers provide, who makes the next move?
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No, itâs not.
He was out of the pizza flipping duties at Pizzeria Bianco before 2010. It was only in 2010, that it was publicized he had âBakerâs Lungâ.
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