Artisanal pizzerias warm up to wood-burning ovens

For a special breed of pizza operators, the fragrance of wood smoke beckons more than the throughput of a conveyor oven.

But I'm also an extrovert. I love people. I'm social and chatty. I never liked being in an office crunching numbers. I'm getting the best of both worlds. The two complement each other well.Jonathan Goldsmith, owner-operator of Spacca Napoli, a popular VPN-accredited pizzeria in Chicago, has a particular yen for authenticity. He shipped his wood-burning oven--including sand, brick and volcanic stone--from Naples in pieces. He also imported Italian craftsmen to assemble it.In what ways?"It gets one or two blisters and a patina of crunch that you cannot create with a deck or conveyor oven," Fugere said."I absolutely would do it over again," Goldsmith said.The buzz Have you already built an outdoor kitchen, or are you still thinking about retiring the old hibachi? Share your pictures, post a question, and get ideas in our community forums. Go to www.sunset.com/community and scroll to the "Outdoor Living" link.An eclectic job history prepared Klein for the dual role. She started waiting tables when she was 15 and continued as a server during and after college. She later managed restaurants in New York and Philadelphia. But when she became a single morn after a divorce, Klein left the industry in pursuit of steady, day-time hours. She took a job as a bookkeeper. One of her clients was Christopher Robbins, who, with partner Jonathan Schwarz, was opening the first Stone Hearth Pizza. They hired Klein last spring to work full time for Stone Hearth.I do the payroll, so I see the overtime hours. When talking to our store managers about doing the schedules, I can teach them about structure and consistency. When I go over the P&L with them, I can teach store managers what their numbers mean and how it impacts their stores and how they can manage [their staff] to keep down those costs.People do have a perspective that they are two very different worlds, and in some respects, they are. I love numbers. I like the clarity of them. It's like a jigsaw.

Not that every successful artisan pizzeria follows VPN doctrine. At Naples 45, a Patina Restaurant Group concept in New York City, a trio of gas-assisted wood-fired ovens does high-volume business. In each, the gas flame ignites the wood, bringing the oven to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. At that point, the gas shuts off and the wood burns alone, ultimately reaching 720 degrees.

Author: James Scarpa