Fat Olives was already on my list when I arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was boondocking among the ponderosa pines and using the area as a base while exploring Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments.
A member of my Car Camping and Living Community also joined me in Flagstaff for a meetup. After days spent around volcanic terrain, ancient pueblos, and dusty roads, we traded camp cooking for a table inside one of the city’s most popular pizzerias.
A Popular Flagstaff Restaurant With a Wait
Fat Olives is a popular place, and I recommend making a reservation. I arrived without one and waited approximately 40 minutes for a table.
The wait gave me my first indication that this was not going to be an ordinary pizza stop. Once we were seated inside, I could watch the kitchen staff spin the dough and place each pizza into the wood-fired oven. That view added something to the experience. The pizza was not disappearing through a kitchen doorway and returning on a plate. I could watch part of the process unfold.
Fat Olives began as a mobile catering company more than 25 years ago. It is also a VPN-certified pizzeria, but that certification has nothing to do with protecting your internet connection.
VPN stands for Verace Pizza Napoletana, an organization established to preserve the traditional methods used to make authentic Neapolitan pizza. Fat Olives was the first restaurant in Northern Arizona to receive the certification. Its oven was handcrafted in Italy, and the restaurant follows specific standards for its dough, ingredients, and cooking methods. Fat Olives
Trying the Ms. Piggy Pizza
When a restaurant offers flavor combinations I have not tried before, I usually move past the familiar options. Road Trip Pizza is partly about the pizza, but it is also about discovering what different places decide belongs on one.
That led me to the Ms. Piggy.
The pizza combines creamy pesto, a mozzarella and provolone blend, smoked bacon, Molinari pistachio mortadella, wood-roasted onion, and basil chiffonade. It was my first time trying mortadella, and placing it on a pesto pizza made the choice even further removed from anything I would normally
The combination sounded like it could become too rich or allow one ingredient to overpower everything else. Instead, the flavors were surprisingly balanced. The smoky bacon stood out first, while the fresh basil cut through the heavier meat, cheese, and creamy pesto.
The wood-roasted onion added sweetness without turning the pizza into an onion-heavy meal. The mortadella was mild enough to work with the other toppings, making it an easy introduction to something I had never tried before.
The wood-fired crust completed it. Neapolitan pizza has a soft, foldable center and a raised edge marked by darker spots from the intense heat of the oven. It differs from the firm, evenly crisp crust many American pizza restaurants serve. Watching the dough being stretched and cooked made that difference easier to appreciate once the pizza reached the table.
Exploring Sunset Crater and Wupatki
Flagstaff offered far more than a place to camp while waiting for dinner. Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments gave me two very different views of the surrounding landscape.
At Sunset Crater, dark volcanic rock covers sections of the ground beneath the ponderosa pines. The landscape changes again around Wupatki, where open desert and preserved pueblo structures reveal how people lived and built in an environment that can appear unforgiving.
Exploring Wupatki National Monument while boondocking near Flagstaff.
Those places made the restaurant stop feel connected to a larger Flagstaff experience. I was not driving into town solely to review a pizza. I was camping nearby, meeting someone from the community, exploring the region, and trying one of the restaurants that had already earned a place on my travel list.
Is Fat Olives Worth a Stop?
Fat Olives lived up to its popularity during my visit. The 40-minute wait is also why I would make a reservation before returning, especially when coordinating dinner with someone else.
The Ms. Piggy would not have been the safest choice for someone trying mortadella for the first time. It was exactly the kind of choice I wanted for this series, though. The combination was different without being unusual simply for the sake of it, and the smoky bacon and fresh basil kept pulling me back for another bite.
It turned an evening meal into another part of my Flagstaff travel record—and gave me a pizza I would happily order again.
Follow the Road Trip Pizza Series
The Road Trip Pizza Series documents the pizzas I find while traveling, from memorable local combinations to ordinary stops that become part of the journey.
Fueled by coffee, road miles, and Roy’s questionable assistance. Enjoyed the read? Help keep it rolling. Buy Me a Coffee →
