A&M Pizza-Florence, Arizona

I drive through Florence fairly often. While I often have to travel within the state, I try to avoid freeways if possible. They stress me out. And I'm curious about our smaller towns.

This can be a problem when it comes to food, however. Not a "crap, I have to eat at Arby's" sort of problem. More of a "I'm not sure there's more than one restaurant in this town; God I hope I don't have to sit at a dirty counter and be stared at by locals or die of salmonella," sort of problem.

Any economics professor can tell you that a monopoly can cause issues. The fewer entrants to a marketplace, the less competition. The less competition...the less pressure to excel.

So eating in a small town is often a fingers-crossed leap of faith. Maybe, against all odds, this will be a good meal. Maybe, just maybe, these people will cook well just because they wouldn't have it any other way. Maybe.

Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll find a place like A&M Pizza in Florence, AZ. This is one location of a chain. The other locations are in Pennsylvania. No, that does not make much sense. But God bless these people.

I grew up on the East Coast. It's hard to find pizza and subs out here that match what I grew up with there. It's totally bizarre to find some of the best in Florence, AZ. But there you go.

The pizza is fantastic. Not too sweet sauce. Hand stretched dough with surprising crackle. The sandwiches are old school. What do I mean? If you order an sub with ham, provolone and mortadella, you get one thick slice of each. A handful of shattered lettuce and slivers of onion and tomato. On a homemade bun with a bit of mayo. That's it. But what else do you need?

Nothing if the ingredients are this good. A word about the rolls. Actually a couple of words.

They make these things fresh everyday. Please do not tell them the following. But I would eat three of those rolls a day, with mayonnaise and nothing else, for the rest of my life and I would happily pay for the privilege.

I have no idea how well this restaurant is doing. Whenever I've been there over the years there's almost no one in the place. But it's still there. Year after year. Quietly doing things just the right way. With obvious pride.

Apparently, the place is going to expand in AZ. To Casa Grande. And Coolidge. So that solves the conundrum of where to eat in those towns. But what about Tucson? Because we don't have a place with rolls like that here. And we need one.

My God, do we need one.