A pandemic pop-up doesn’t usually turn into the pizza spot everybody in East Sacramento is talking about, but Andrew Tescher and Stacey Johnson have never been especially interested in doing things the expected way. 🍕
Their shop on Folsom Boulevard opened in July 2026, and the response was strong enough that they’d already expanded their hours within a few weeks.
How is Fabulist Pizza winning hearts so quickly in Sacramento?
The groundwork here goes back much further than the opening date, because Tescher and Johnson first met in the early 1990s while opening a Piatti location out in Fair Oaks, and they’ve spent the three decades since accumulating a combined sixty years in the Sacramento food scene.
Tescher has been a chef for roughly forty of those years, and as Johnson tells it, he’s been obsessed with pizza for about thirteen of them. 😄
That obsession became Side Hustle Pizza, the pop-up he launched in 2019 and ran through the pandemic, building a following one event at a time until a brick-and-mortar shop stopped feeling optional.
When Cafe Capricho closed in January 2026 after its longtime owners retired, the couple took over the space and toned down the previous Latin color palette into something that suits a pizza and bread shop, and Fabulist Pizza officially opened in late July after a short soft-opening run.
View this post on Instagram
What’s winning people over is the ambition of the thing, because they’re not making one style of pizza and calling it a day.
The shop turns out pizza pala romana on airy half sheets, thin and crisp round Roman nonno pies, and a thick focaccia-style pan pizza they named the Sactown Square — a Sicilian mother-in-law pan pizza with cheese caramelized right into the crust. 🧀
Early customers have been unusually specific in their praise, with one calling the Sactown Square their new favorite pizza in Sacramento and another saying their slices reminded them of what they’d eaten in Rome.
The bread program runs alongside it all, with house-made filone and ciabatta baked daily, plus compound butters, sandwiches, salads, and a rotating vintage cookie recipe special each week.
Johnson summed up the whole operating philosophy pretty neatly: the goal is to make people happy and have fun doing it, and they take the food seriously without taking themselves seriously. 💛
They’ve also built the place to work as a neighborhood hub rather than just a lunch counter, hosting small events, showing local artwork, and supporting pop-ups during Second Saturdays.
Food Highlights 🍕
- Sactown Square (Double Pepperoni): The focaccia pan pizza with a light, fluffy crumb and a caramelized cheese edge, loaded with the little cup pepperonis that crisp up at the rim — this is the one people keep naming first.
- Double Margherita: Cherry tomato and passata with both fresh and whole milk mozzarella, finished with basil and arugula on that double-baked airy Roman crust, and it’s the benchmark order for judging any new pizzeria.
- Rossa Deluxe: Passata tomato with almond ricotta and a Calabrian chili green olive salsa verde, which is the most interesting thing on the menu and happens to be vegan-friendly.
- Roman Nonno with Tikka Masala: Fresh and whole milk mozzarella with spinach over tikka masala sauce on a sixteen-inch thin crisp round, and yes, it’s exactly as unexpected as it sounds. 🔥
- Spicy Sausage Nonno: Castelvetrano olives and giardiniera alongside the sausage, delivering the briny, pickled punch that keeps a rich slice from wearing you out.
- Roasted Mushroom Pala Romana: Whole milk mozzarella and goat cheese with walnuts, herbs, and arugula over roasted mushrooms, striking a genuinely earthy, grown-up balance. 🍄
Atmosphere ✨
Counter service with the slices displayed right inside the front door, so you can look before you commit. 👀
The dining room is small and cozy, with ample patio seating outside for anyone who’d rather eat in the Sacramento sun.
Staff have earned repeated mentions for being warm and genuinely helpful, which tracks for an owner-operated shop this new.
The slices come out large, and the crew will happily tell you the pizza reheats well if you’re plotting a second meal later.
Bottom Line
Three distinct pizza styles under one small roof. 🏆
Sixty combined years of Sacramento kitchen experience behind the counter.
House-made artisan bread baked fresh daily.
Vegan and vegetarian options that aren’t afterthoughts.
And a weekly mystery cookie worth building a habit around.
Address: 3269 Folsom Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95816
🕦 Open Tue–Thu, 11:30 AM–2:30 PM | Fri–Sat, 11:30 AM–7:30 PM (closed Sun & Mon)