by Luke Henley on
EACH MONTH, chef Collier Kempton and co-owner Chuck Van Drunen drive to Hayden Flour Mills, in Arizona, for a truckload of heritage grain flour, specifically grown for desert climates from seeds sourced through the Native Seeds/SEARCH seed bank in Tucson. “Our flour is not as finely sifted, so there’s a lot more natural nutrients,” Kempton says. “On top of that, the protein content is extremely high.”
The result is a two-day proofed dough with as much strength as conventional versions but with more flavor. Fired in an oak-burning oven at 850 degrees, the charred crust comes out chewy at the center with a snappy crispness around the edges.
But that is just the start. Kempton treats his other ingredients with the same care. The margherita, for example, gets topped with seasoned ricotta, roasted zucchini, and house-made mutton sausage. His omakase pizza rotates every month and features bold flavor combinations such as a chicken mole and spiced raisin pie. “We’ve got a couple things wherein the pizza is more or less just the vehicle for a different type of meal,” Kempton says of his more adventurous fare with scratch-made accoutrements, such as his recipe for hot honey.
Kempton, who holds a master’s in anthropology of development and social transformation, launched the intimate adobe pizza spot in December 2024 to bring not only his love of food but a love of Gallup to the table. “It’s a really beautiful community,” Kempton says. “I want to feed people in a way that makes them feel like they matter.”