Perfection

There are very few things in life that are perfect -- a baby's skin, a sunset over the ocean; the timeless note played on a finely tuned guitar.

Sometimes people mistake pure perfection with manufactured perfection. They think that only by changing and refining something can it be truly pristine. That's true in some cases, but real perfection isn't made, it's found.

I've written before about American Flatbread, a frozen pizza originally started by an organic foodie in Vermont and sold in supermarkets around the country. After blogging about them, I received an email from Clark, who owns Food Remembers, the West Coast version of the bakery/restaurant. He invited me to come by if I was ever in Los Alamos, a town 50 minutes north of Santa Barbara.

Some people may think it's crazy to drive an hour to try some pizza, and though I believe that most of the time life's more about the journey than the destination, in this case, the destination makes the journey.

The restaurant is on the main street at the edge of town (the town is only 1 mile long). A dog sits on the front porch, greeting customers. The place is only open two nights a week -- the rest of the time it's a bakery cranking out hordes of frozen pizza for distribution in 20 states west of the Mississippi.

The first thing you notice when you enter the "dining room" is the open hearth oven in the center of the floor. A group of people assemble pizzas off to the side (Clark was in charge of assembly on this night) and smiling waitresses bring the custom-made pizzas, salads and deserts to the tables.

I can't really explain how good the special heirloom tomato pizza tasted. It was a combination of flavors I have never had before. Same goes for the crisp salads.

After 40 minutes, it started to get hot in the dining room, so they opened some large barn doors to the outside patio, letting the sun and a gentle breeze carry the smokey smell of the wood-burning oven into the air.

The great thing about American Flatbread is that they don't disguise the main ingredients of the food with other tastes. It's food without distraction -- pizza without noise.

The same was true with the desserts. Homemade Apple pie (1/4 of a pie) with organic ice cream, chocolate and angel food cake with berries. All amazing.

So if you find yourself traveling an hour north of Santa Barbara on a Friday or Saturday night (or if you need to remember what food really tastes like and feel like a drive) stop by and see Clark. You'll wonder why you waited so long.