I swear to God, the staffers at Phoenix Business Journal must have a real hard on for the staffers at Thrillist, especially when those smug east coast hipsters compile another one of their “…before you die” lists!

Case in point – the recently-published compilation provocatively titled “The Great American Bucket List: 50 Restaurants to Try Before You Die”. Much to the dismay of Patrick O’Grady and Tim Gallen, (see July 10th and July 15th online editions of PBJ, respectively), Pizzeria Bianco was the sole entrant on the list from Arizona.

What?! No Matt’s Big Breakfast? No Barrio Cafe? …how can this be?

Oh, please. …enough with the feigned outrage. After all, there were entire states missing from this list, so get over it. I’ve said it again, and again, and again, Phoenix is not a foodie town.

Why not lament the lack of establishments from Tucson instead of bemoaning spots within a 10 minute drive of PBJ’s offices here in Phoenix? I mean c’mon, Tucson was named a City of Gastronomy in the Creative Cities Network by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) back in December. …and it was the first city in the U.S. to receive the designation. Yeah, that’s right. First. In the nation. Ever. Impressive.

Hey, where’s the hew and cry from those talented chefs located 120 miles to the south, (read “…those talented chefs in Tucson”)? Nope. Not a sound. Don’t hear a thing. Oh, that’s right, they’re busy doing what they do best – cooking – and not complaining about the apparent lack of representation on some crappy website like thrillist.com.