By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
Los Alamos California population 1,890. Full of Life Flatbread Pizza Restaurant… the whole darn town.
An Organic Gold 5 Star Restaurant that brings the art of food into Family Style Dining. Crave pizza and you will seek the best crust west of the Rockies if not the whole USA. Crave veggies and they’ve got you covered. Say Gluten Free and they’ve got your pizza. Say your stuffed and they bring you more.
Blink and you may have passed Full of Life Flatbread Pizza. Located at 225 Bell Street in the cozy little town of Los Alamos on land once designated as Rancho Los Alamos, home for hideouts and banditos like Solomon Pico whose famous inescapable escapades were popularized by the character “Zorro.” 
Adults beware. Pizza attracts kids like flies to water. A Mental Alert! Order lots of beer. They have the best on tap or bottled. Try Figueroa Mountain Ale. And chill out!
Did you know that drawing while hungry is said to stop a child’s tantrums… that’s why owner Clark Staub is so successful. Not only does he feed the hungry and sometimes whiny little tots but he nourishes them with REAL FOOD. An oxymoron in todays over processed supermarket bingo game of coming up with nothing…. real.
Child obesity is off the charts. Ask Michelle Obama. She grows an organic garden at the White House and encourages healthy eating. But I think she got the idea from people like Clark Staub who knows the truth about real food. It’s his secret to success.
I love his self-starter back story and how he got wheat to rise. A baker by trade, ambitious with a well rooted philosophy. He believes that his customers enjoy the atmosphere and are satisfied by tasting real good food that is nutritious but carries with it a sense of the place and the people who grow and prepare it. He’s got that right!
Clark Staub sells his frozen pizza nationwide and is opening a second Full of Life Flatbread Pizza restaurant in Santa Barbara. Photo credit ONJ for LEL
Step into Flatbread and you enter a cornucopia of locally grown organic, farm to table quality food that tastes sensational. This is a pizza that puts Italy on its toes. Don’t think you’re in Rome. Just know you are in the good graces of people who really care and love getting you fixed on the good life… the real stuff.. that extends lives.
Dining with best friends, Olivia Newton-John and her husband John Easterling while celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary, we were treated to an incredible meal. Bursting with flavors we looked at each in disbelief after having sampled 4 different pizzas, soup, salad and wanted more.
We tried the Pepperoni pizza with Central Coast Sausage, Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa, Smoke-Dried Tomato, and an offering called Shaman Bread, which featured fresh garlic, Cuyama organic pistachios, and charred red onions, lightly topped with a local version of raw milk serena-type cheese. We moved on to a fabulous Celery Root Soup with fresh Tarragon and Mustard Créme Fraîche with Rosemary Croutons. So delicious. Then the Mojama & Heirloom Tomato Salad. Wow! A Smoked Steak Salad with Arugula, Cherry Tomatoes, Pickled Beans, Radishes, in a Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette. Followed by Santa Barbara Mussels with Fennel Sugo, Fresh Basil and Grilled Bread.
Clark appeared mysteriously and asked if we wanted to try some more dishes. We said yes! The Oven Roasted Root Vegetables were shoved aside to welcome the Oven Roasted Santa Barbara Spiny Lobster with Romanesco Florets, Sweet Peas, Leeks, Black Kale, Mint & Smoked Mora Pepper Sauce with Pea Tendril Salad. Mouthwatering sauce. Still craving more smokey morsels.
“Hey! It’s your anniversary! Let’s try desert.” Our best of friends slightly misjudged our need to keep our waistlines looking respectable. Bring on the Walnut Torte with Molasses and please, one of those s’mores… the desert you call the BEAST.
The Belly needs the Beast. Try it! You’ll come running back for s-mores. Photo credit ONJ for LuxEcoLiving.
The real joy of eating at Clark’s Full of Life Flatbread place in Los Alamos is you can see the moon, feel the heat from the 900 degree wood fired pizza oven, which by the way is as attractive to kids as any Disney ride. Adults like it too.
Depending what time you arrive at Full of Life Flatbread Outpost (I recommend getting their early on a Saturday or Sunday night…5PM) you may be seated next to a family style wooden table (built of recycled wood from area barns) and get to observe smaller banditos (great for kids and grand kids) slopping down pizza slices like Cheerios and begging for more.
“Look mom! Here comes our pizza, ” little Billy, sighs away his hunger in exchange for another thin, crispy, crusty, real organic flatbread smothered with, c’mon, kids hate onions and weird tasting herbs… but at Full of Life Flatbread…. they lov em.
Editor’s Notes:
Special thanks to ONJ for her spectacular photos.
Full of Life Flatbread Pizza is located at 225 Bel Street, Los Alamos, 93440 and they do not take reservations. To reach them here’s how. 805-344-4400. Only open Thursday-Sunday. Take-outs are available. Patio seating with pets too.
In celebration of our anniversary I would like to dedicate this review in memory of Helen and Scott Nearing authors of Living The Good Life. Take a moment to watch this video:
Â
