Pied Piper

There’s a fable behind chef’s love of pizza

By James Raia 
November 2026

The lunchtime line breaks. Andrew Tescher emerges from the kitchen and sits at a small table in his new restaurant. He talks about pizza.

Rome banned daytime use of pizza ovens in the 1960s, he says. Bakeries assumed responsibility, selling individual squares by weight to city workers. It all deteriorated and, “just like in New York, it became a race to the bottom. It was all about volume.”

Stacey Johnson says Tescher, her husband, is obsessed with flour, yeast, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, herbs and mozzarella, and how it all becomes pizza.

This is good news because the couple owns Fabulist, a restaurant on Folsom Boulevard and 32nd Street. Its slogan: “Pizza, Bread & Other Things.” Fabulist opened in July, successor to Cafe Capricho, which replaced a black-and-white photo lab.

The duo’s pizza venture draws on their long careers at local eateries. They met decades ago at Piatti in Pavilions shopping center. Years of culinary work brought them to restaurants owned by the late Randy Paragary, including Cafe Bernardo, Capitol Grill, Esquire Grill, Paragary’s and Spataro.

“We just kind of went in and out of each other’s lives,” Johnson says.

Now they focus together on pizza.

Fabulist offers Pizza Romana and Sactown Square. It’s described as Sicilian mother-in-law pan pizza. The former is “double-baked, open crumb, airy, crisp crust and served in 12-by-16-inch half sheets.” The latter is “focaccia pan pizza with light and fluffy crumb and caramelized cheese crust in a 10-by-14-inch pan.”

Several variations of both are offered in whole pies or slices, which comprise one-quarter of a pizza. Servings come in squares or small rectangular pans.

“Andrew has been in love with pizza for the last 10 years or so,” Johnson says. “He became obsessed with it and then made it his job. He’ll come home from a 12-hour day and look at recipes on the computer.”

Tescher has made pizza at McGeorge School of Law’s cafe, in a food truck and for private gatherings.

Johnson left the hospitality world and worked in the mental health field. Her husband never stopped thinking about pizza.

“He always wanted a brick-and-mortar place,” Johnson says. “We were lucky. We always wanted a neighborhood setting.”

The name Fabulist was chosen for its Latin meaning as a story or fable, sometimes with overt enthusiasm, Johnson says.

It’s particularly appropriate when Tescher discusses his craft. Naturally, the conversation heads to Italy.

“Rome has a pretty unique and interesting pizza scene,” he says. “Like a lot of things in Italy, but in Rome especially, it’s all about the new generation reinventing and redoing what’s been done before.”

Tescher points to refrigerated storage racks behind the glass front counter where dough is “fermenting.” He uses blended organic flour and prefers a more hydrated dough. The resulting crust contains additional “alveoli,” Italian for holes.

Fabulist offers Italian-style salads, eggplant parmesan and filone, ciabatta and focaccia artisan breads. But pizza reigns.

“It’s been locals, the neighborhood, word of mouth,” Johnson says of Fabulist’s early success. “I just love to talk with people. Andrew? He’s the pizza man.”

For information, visit fabulistpizza.com.

James Raia can be reached at james@jamesraia.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.