This week's recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

Fig and prosciutto flatbread from Full of Life Flatbread.

By Noelle Carter

Oct. 6, 2012 12 AM PT

This week, Food & Nightlife writer Jessica Gelt profiles Full of Life Flatbread and its owner and chef, Clark Staub. An excerpt:

Can a restaurant be too busy? In the case of Full of Life Flatbread in Los Alamos, Calif., the answer is maybe. That’s because on weekend nights the place can pull in hundreds of people from all over the state and the world who are happy to wait in line for as long as two hours to get a taste of the restaurant’s hyper-local, organic fare.

Nestled in an idyllic sweet spot in the middle of Santa Barbara wine country, just off Highway 101 between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, Full of Life is at the vortex of a well-traveled food-and-wine pilgrimage route. It was opened in 2003 by a former music business executive, Clark Staub, and serves dinner only from Thursday through Sunday. Its magnetic draw comes both from its simple, healthful fare (which is almost entirely sourced from farms within a 60-mile radius) and through word of mouth.

Some of L.A.’s A-list chefs, including Joachim Splichal, Neal Fraser and Octavio Becerra, are avowed fans of the place.

This week’s recipes include:

When you try one of this week’s recipes or any L.A. Times recipe, let us know! Upload a photo to the “Our Recipes, Your Kitchen” gallery to share your take on the recipe and tell us about yourself. Your photo will be posted online on our L.A. Times Food page.

ALSO:

Apples 101... and 52 recipes

Go behind the scenes at the Test Kitchen

Browse hundreds of recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

You can find Noelle Carter on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest. Email Noelle at noelle.carter@latimes.com.