The first thing you notice at Fabio on Fire is the oven.
Set between the two dining rooms, the imported Mugnaini wood-fired oven is impossible to miss. It’s the heart of the restaurant, burning ash and mesquite as it turns out puffy, blistered pizzas, gives lamb chops a smoky char, and finishes gnocchi alla Sorrentina beneath a blanket of melted provola. For chef-owner Fabio Ceschetti, it’s also part of a family story that began an ocean away.
Ceschetti is a third-generation pizzaiolo, following a family tradition that began with his great-grandfather. The family came from Puglia and eventually settled in Domodossola, a small town in northern Italy at the foot of the Alps, where Ceschetti was born and raised. His grandparents, Rocco and Marianna Persio, had started with a pizzeria al trancio and gelato counter, and eventually grew the business into three restaurants, including Il Barcantonio, the restaurant they opened in Domodossola.
Ceschetti grew up in the middle of it, working alongside his mother, Felicetta, and watching his grandparents turn recipes into a livelihood. “I remember being 8 or 9 years old and washing dishes, going to see my grandpa make pizza, and watching mom in the kitchen to learn all the secrets,” he recalls.
He went on to culinary school in Italy, adding formal training to what he had already learned at home. “It was always my dream to be a chef, cook food for people, and make people happy,” he says. From there came stints at five-star hotels, two years cooking in London, and nearly 15 years aboard cruise ships. At sea, he met Jenny, who would become his wife and eventually bring him ashore for good. The two returned to Domodossola for a time, where Ceschetti spent two years at Il Barcantonio, running the kitchen while Jenny worked the bar.
In 2006, they moved to Phoenix, and Ceschetti began finding his place in the Valley’s restaurant scene. He was waiting tables at Tutti Santi when I met him (and made an impression even then), and I’ve followed his career ever since, visiting him at the restaurants where he went on to work or consult, including Davanti Enoteca and Vivo! Ristorante. By 2013, Ceschetti was ready to work for himself. He built Fabio on Fire—a wood-fired oven on wheels—and started hauling it to private events, festivals, and farmers markets around the Valley, quickly developing a devoted following. And in 2017, he saw his long-term dream come to fruition with the opening of Fabio on Fire as a restaurant in Peoria.
“My cooking style is traditional northern mixed with a little bit of southern cuisine,” says Ceschetti. His grandparents remain a constant presence at the restaurant, their photograph hanging on the wall as a reminder of where it all began. “They were old-style,” he says, “just making pizza, fresh pasta, and desserts. That’s the way I want to keep my restaurant.”
Pizzas are dressed with prosciutto and arugula or fontina and gorgonzola, and pockets of pasta come stuffed with lobster, braised short rib, or ricotta and butternut squash. Porchetta, first served at Il Barcantonio, delivers slow-roasted pork scented with garlic, sage, and rosemary, while cioppino crowds sea scallops, clams, shrimp, mussels, and calamari in garlicky pomodoro. Specials include fig and prosciutto bruschetta on warm ciabatta Pugliese and sea scallops with chickpea puree. On Wednesday nights, linguini carbonara gets a tableside presentation, tossed in a 16-year-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano wheel.
“Everything is made in-house,” points out Ceschetti, “the pasta, the bigas—the starters—for the dough, desserts, everything. Honestly, it’s the only way I know how to cook, and it’s more genuine,” he says. “If you cook with quality ingredients, there’s not really much you need to add because that’s the way it’s supposed to taste.”
That commitment starts with sourcing, both locally and from Italy. For fish and shellfish, Ceschetti relies on local Chula Seafood, “because it’s the best.” From Italy, he brings in ingredients like organic flour from Molino Denti; cheeses such as truffle Pecorino, stracciatella, and buffalo burrata; and San Marzano tomatoes. “They’re grown near Mount Vesuvius, outside Naples,” he explains, “so that volcanic soil gives them a flavor you can’t get from tomatoes grown anywhere else. They’re the only ones I use in my sauce.”
In 2023, the family expanded nearby with Fabio on Fire Panini & Gelateria, where sandwiches are made with puccia, a fluffy, wood-fired bread made from 72-hour-fermented dough with a “110-year-old fermented yeast that I brought from Italy,” says Ceschetti. Then there’s the gelato, with nearly 200 recipes behind rotating flavors from stracciatella, pistachio, and hazelnut to seasonal lemon-basil, peach, and strawberry.
For Ceschetti, it all comes back to sharing the food and traditions he grew up with. “It’s very important for us to continue here in America what my parents built over the years,” he says. “This is the way it’s supposed to be. I love when guests say, ‘Fabio, we’ve been to Italy, and the way you cook is just like that.'” He laughs. “And I say, ‘Of course!'”
written by: christina barrueta
photographed by: luke irvin
𖡡 8275 west lake pleasant parkway, peoria, az 85382
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