What a long, strange trip it’s been for chef Rebecca White, who’s now loving life in the cheerful, tiny kitchen of her Mangia Mi restaurant in downtown Calistoga. On a recent afternoon, she was getting ready for another busy evening of making her distinctive New Haven-style pizzas ($24-32).

She and her two-person team were preparing signature comfort-food dishes like sausage and peppers smothered with mozzarella and marinara sauce ($30) and her standout Roman eggplant stack — a dish you have to eat to understand its magic — stuffed with mozzarella, then batter-dipped, fried, piled high and doused with spicy marinara ($18).