What was the inspiration for the mobile wood-fired oven? Why not just open a restaurant?
I’ve had wood-fired pizzas in different cities, and wood-fired pizzas, compared to other ovens—the taste is just incredible. It’s so much better than any other way to cook a pizza. Part of cooking for me is the entertainment factor. Being stuck back in the kitchen, there’s no entertainment in that. Being in front of people is more fun to me. Where did you get the oven? The guy who built it was about to move to Italy when I met him at Tall Stacks in ’99. He offered to sell it to me. I thought about it, came back, and bought it. I took it home, still smoking and everything. I actually made a pizza in my garage that night. How much preparation does it take for an event? I usually take the oven to the location three hours ahead of time. It takes at least two hours for the fire to get hot enough. The oven needs to be 700 degrees. A regular oven can be 500 or 550 degrees; the wood-fired pizza oven can get up to 800 degrees. Higher temperatures cook faster, but it’s that charred taste—that’s
