Hit the Dish

Full of Life Flatbread

Wood-fired oven + local ingredients makes this spot worth traveling for

• Rating:  
• Address: 225 W. Bell St. Los Alamos, CA 
• Phone: (805) 344-4400 
• Hours: Fri - Sat: 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm 
• Hours: Sun: 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm 

Los Alamos, California is a small, unassuming town located 155 miles north of Los Angeles, near the Santa Ynez Valley.  It lays smack dab in the middle of a rich agricultural area that enjoys an enormous variety of produce, not to mention proximity to the ocean and the fresh seafood that is harvested just offshore.  Here the visitor will find Full of Life in the company of wild rosemary bushes, rustic wood picnic tables and a handpainted sign boasting “Eat Good Food.” It is not until you step inside that you can fully understand why fanatic Angelenos migrate hours north every weekend for a single meal.

The restaurant is housed in the production room of the “Full of Life” Flatbread facility, where 200 certified organic pizzas are created every hour during the day. Full of Life ships their frozen pizzas to cities throughout the United States they can be found primarily at Whole Foods.  On weekend nights, however, Full of Life opens their wood-fired oven to the people. Chef Brian Collins (formerly of Chez Panisse) and sous chef Evan Klein (formerly of Bouchon) delight in fresh, local, and unusual ingredients—a recent sampling included pink lemons, nettles, and wild boar. The restaurant patronizes local farmers and producers quite strongly—they buy eggs, pork, lamb, beef, cheese, wine, oysters, and more from friends and neighbors. Drinks are also largely local--each uniquely illustrated menu includes nearly a hundred local beers and wines.  Even soda pop offerings are made with local wine grapes, Meyer lemons, and Valencia oranges.

The owner, Clark Staub, is the former VP of Marketing for Capitol Records gone rogue. Staub has a clear understanding of what many in the food business--even the local, organic, sustainable food business—miss; namely, that an ecosystem includes people.  Both staff and customers enter the sphere of the restaurant and are included in the deep, thoughtful, relational ethic that is foundational here.  As Staub puts it,

"Full of Life is my own quest for simplicity and my own demand for quality food. Food made with and inspired by friends. Food that has a sense of place. Food made by real people without pretense or fashion. Food shared with our neighbors. Food that we ourselves eat. Food that is real and good and is part of the world that surrounds us."

The menu changes constantly to reflect the growing seasons, but here’s a sample of the kind of scrumptious dishes you may be forced to choose between: zucchini flatbread with basil-spinach pesto and goat cheese; pumpkin pisto; coal-roasted artichokes; whey-fed rinconada pork leg in a fennel seed sauce with pomegranate and roasted grapes; and a platter of local cheeses accompanied by persimmon slices, local sage honey, black pepper, and whole honeycomb. Desserts might include a blood orange creamsicle, strawberries soaked in hibiscus syrup atop a meringue, or the Los Alamos S’More with homemade marshmallows and chocolate espresso cookies. (The last is a universal favorite.)

The restaurant is open for dinner on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with simple menus on Friday and Saturday and a more extensive one for “Sunday Supper”.  You can’t make a reservation at Hearth in the Cottonwoods—even the VIPs must put their name on the list (and as popular as the restaurant is, there always is one) along with the hoi polloi. The atmosphere is casual and friendly, so dress to match.  This is the place for anyone with the desires to explore great food and create great community.  Or in other words, everyone.

Photo Credit:  Wil Fernandez (yours truly)

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