Dining can be one of the great joys of traveling. Sometimes you find wonderful spots just by chance; other times they require planning.
A recent road trip to Los Angeles provided an opportunity of a lifetime: dining in two of the country's best pizzerias.
I should preface this by noting that the most frequently asked question I got during my 15 years as a restaurant critic (and many more times since I retired from that job) was: What is your favorite food? That one was so easy for me. The answer was — and is — pizza.
In other words, I'm a pizza fanatic, and this trip provided a dream opportunity for tasting and comparing the creations of Chris Bianco at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix and Nancy Silverton at Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles.
For a pizza lover, it doesn't get better than that. With a little planning, it was actually easy to work in both spots. And that's the lesson here. Great joy doesn't have to come at great expense or great difficulty. Just plan for meals the same way you plan for any other adventure on your travels.
This section — Dining Afar — not only recaps that pizza experience but captures many other great spots I've found while on the road, and it just might help you in planning your next journey. Entries are filed by state, so you can find them right before your own trip. (For destinations within a day's drive of Santa Fe, see Will Drive for Food.)
