Chris Bianco, Tacos Chiwas team up for new restaurant
It’s always exciting when the brains behind the Valley’s most beloved restaurants try their hand at something new.
When three of those brains team up? Look out.
Nadia Holguin and Armando Hernandez of Tacos Chiwas in Phoenix have joined forces with Chris Bianco to launch Roland’s, a new restaurant just east of downtown Phoenix.
“When we were opening (Tacos Chiwas), we never thought this was where it was going to lead,” Hernandez said of the new project. “It’s an amazing feeling.”
James Beard Award-winning chef Bianco, owner of Pizzeria Bianco and Tratto in Phoenix, “is a legend,” Hernandez said. “He has so much information that he can provide to us, so for us to be a part of anything with him is kind of crazy.”
But it was Hernandez and Holguin who unintentionally roped in Bianco, and not the other way around.
The husband-and-wife team were approached by Kevin and Celine Rille of The McKinley Club, who were looking to convert the century-old Roland’s Market into an office building with a small space for a taqueria. Having previously worked with Bianco for almost five years, Hernandez turned to the famed pizzaiolo for advice and was surprised by Bianco’s response.
“It turns out he was already interested in the building himself, he offered to go in with us, and it all came together,”