Meet Misti and Mark Pendergrass / Owners, I Fall to Pizzas

We make handcrafted, Neapolitan-ish pizzas, in homage to our fave female country stars! Our most popular pizzas are named Patsy, Kitty, Dolly, Loretta, June, Valerie June, and, most recently, Emmylou. We love all pizza, especially Neapolitan style, and we’re proud of our dough, sauce, flavor combos, sides and sauces, and our breakfast sandwiches and burritos. We’ve spent a lot of time developing our dough and sauce, as we think they’re the most important aspects to good pizza. We use Ooni ovens and are on their street team,called “Powered by Ooni.”

We’re a real mom and pop running a mom-and-pop business, pursuing our dreams, and we have four kids and a kitty named Phoebe Jolene. Lotta mouths to feed! They help us with all aspects of the business. Our oldest, Lou, helps with dough production and is the egg cook for our breakfasts, in addition to whatever pizza event help we need. Elliott, the boy, does all the cheese grating and helps his dad with loading and unloading. Dee, our third kid, helps us with dishes and checkout at our events, especially our events at The Station. Zelda, our youngest, also helps with events, dishes, and occasional prep.

We got to where we are with lots and lots of hours of hard work- from workshopping items and ingredients, to booking back to back to back events sometimes. We try really hard to make a high quality, tasty product that we would like to eat ourselves. That said, in some ways, it was also easy in that our customers and friends “showed us the love” from the very start. We have such a supportive and loving community and we would not be here doing this without their help. We are extremely grateful to the community for the opportunity they’ve given us. Even if we’re super tired, it brightens our days to arrive at our next stop and see our customers and friends. I’ve never had a job where I received so many hugs in a shift. It’s truly wonderful!

We’re food lovers, so we’ve got several favorite restaurants here in the high desert, and we’re trying to visit every single one, from Morongo Valley in the west to Wonder Valley in the east and everywhere in between. We’ve eaten at a lot of them, but we still have quite a few left to check off on our list. Our favorite restaurants include: La Copine, The Palms (we call it “church” for Sunday brunch), Grnd Sqrl, JT Country Kitchen, Campbell Hill Bakery, Spaghetti Western, Tiny Pony, Kitchen in the Desert, Giant Rock Meeting Room, Crossroads Cafe…

For drinks, we’re loyal to Out There Bar and Mas O Menos, because they have the best bartenders! But we also like The Copper Room, Red Dog, and Kitchen in the Desert for their scenery and vibes. The Virginian in 29 is an institution for drinks too! Lotta fun shops to visit… White Label Vinyl, Hi Desert Daydream, Scorpion Lollipop, and Desert General in 29, Hey There Projects, the Shops at Zannys and Brewja Elixir in JT, Cactus Mart in Morongo…

I’ve long wanted to segue into more food and less medical work, and I would never have been able to start something like this without the love and support of my husband, Mark. From juggling young kids around when I attended cooking school in Chicago after work to now cooking pizza in our ovens better than me, he’s always believed in me and supported my dreams. Our kids have also been amazing and supportive. We really didn’t give them a choice, but they seem to have really embraced working in the family business. They can all cook for themselves now too, which is a parenting win, I think!

We definitely wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing if it wasn’t for Out There Bar, for the owners, especially Ian Raikow, who believed in us and our food. We are incredibly grateful to him and them. We’re also very grateful to several other businesses and residents of the high desert who have had us out for events, early on and currently… In Joshua Tree, there’s Steve and Glen of The Station and Christian and Mel at Mas o Menos. In Yucca Valley, there’s Bill, Carmen, and Allison from Desierto Alto and The Tiny Pony. In our adopted hometown of 29 Palms, there’s Stephen and Amey from White Label Vinyl and Corner 62, Chelsea and Andrew from Hi Desert Daydream, Mike and Joel at Grnd Sqrl. Tayler and Gubby had us out to several Old Town Get Downs in Yucca early on, too! We love all these folks and believe in the good things they’re bringing to their respective communities.

We also have to give a huge shoutout to ALL of our wonderful customers, we love cooking for them and talking with them. We’ve made so many new friends, and some of them have even become our “chosen family” that we can’t ever think of living without now!