Purpose of this blog

This blog will really be a true web log. I will post here about different wood-fired ovens as I find them.

If you know of any wood-fired ovens I should know about, you can send an e-mail to me. (If you build wood-fired ovens, I would like to hear from you too.)

There will lots of posts and lots of labels, since I plan to create one post for every appropriate web site that I find, and however many labels it takes to describe each one (usually at least the type of page and the location of the oven).

The accumulated information will still be found at the real Quest for Ovens web site links pages, but that is not updated as frequently as this blog will be.

If you are from outside the US and Canada, let me know what you find interesting about it. I see that I get visitors from India and Iran, and other faraway places. I'd like to know what draws you to this blog.

I received e-mail from the organizers of the BBC Two television show asking if the Saint Paul Bread Club could post a notice about their show Great British Bake-Off for amateur bakers. The information they gave me is now accessible through a link. (The organizers don't have a web page for the show itself yet.)

Please share this with any amateur bakers in Great Britain you may know, or post the link where they might see it.

Thanks.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Crescenzo’s Brick Oven Eatery & Espresso Bar, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania

Here is an oddity. A brick oven business inside a major hotel. Crescenzo’s Brick Oven Eatery & Espresso Bar appears to be part of The Woodlands Inn and Resort.

Their web page says in part, "Discover world class pizza and watch as it bakes in our wood fired brick oven. The tastes and fragrances created by the heat of the wood fire produce a pizza clearly superior to those cooked in a standard oven."

La Braceria Pizza and Grill, Singapore

A personal blog by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, a woman in Singapore, has a couple of posts (here and here) that mention La Braceria Pizza and Grill in Singapore.

One post had a picture of the oven with the caption, "Love at first sight! A brick pizza oven that made me yearn for one of my own at home."

Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano in Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

It appears a Disney-sponsored blog has a review of a Disney-run restaurant, Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano in Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

The blog post says in part, "Another alluring part of the Mama Melrose’s atmosphere is the open kitchen, which is clearly visible as soon as you enter the restaurant. The most prominent feature of this kitchen is the large brick oven in which the pizzas are cooked. Not only does the open kitchen allow you to see the food be prepared, but it also gives the restaurant a tremendous aroma as the smell of the cooking food spreads throughout the entire dining area. All the activity and noise of the kitchen also lend a sense of action and excitement to the restaurant."

GrilleStone, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

A MyCentralJersey.com article talks about the startup of a new bar and grill called the GrilleStone.

The article says in part, "the brand-new kitchen includes a Marsal and Sons brick oven."

Amici's Brick Oven & Italian Bistro

A Myrtle Beach Restaurant News recap mentioned the sale of Amici's Brick Oven & Italian Bistro in Myrtle Beach.They also apparently have a mobile oven business component as well.

Luca Ristorante & Enoteca, Millsboro, Delaware

There a page about a new Italian restaurant in Millsboro, Delaware called Luca Ristorante & Enoteca.

The page says in part, "Many of the ingredients come directly from Italy and are prepared in a traditional Italian style, head chef Joe Churchman said. The restaurant's pasta and breads are made in house daily and many of the dishes are cooked in a brick oven."

Valoriani Oven Blog Post

There is a blog post in the English language section of the Italian oven maker Forni Valoriani. The blog post describes a Valoriani oven that uses indirect heating of the cooking floor, somewhat like a Scotch oven.

ZAZA, Little Rock and Conway, Arkansas

An apparently well-known blogger has a very thorough review of wood-fired pizza place in Little Rock, Arkansas. The name appears to be ZAZA Fine Salad + Wood Oven Pizza Co. (ZAZA for short).

This is the first wood-fired pizza place I have seen for Arkansas.

The original blog post is also reproduced as a Lonely Planet travel blog.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Video about making naan in a wood-fired oven

A page in a site that would seem not to have anything to do with wood-fired ovens has a nice video about cooking naan in a wood-fired oven. Unfortunately, there is no recipe for the dough. (Note that the temperatures he talks about are in degrees C. not in degress F.) The video comes from Mediterranean Woodfired Ovens, which has locations in several places in Australia and one in New Zealand.

Historic oven returned to use in Newrybar, NSW, Australia

NBN on-line has a short video about a historic oven in Newrybar, NSW, Australia, that has been restored to operating condition. This might be the same oven mentioned in this Australian bread blog.The oven appears to operated by the Harvest Cafe in Newrybar, but I can't tell if it's the same location or not.

This oven design appears to be a Scotch oven. (There's a short description of Scotch ovens in the middle of this forum post.)

91 Wood Fired Oven, multiple locations in Ohio

A CantonRep.com Food Briefs article mentions a gift card deal from 91 Wood Fired Oven locations.

Love Lane Kitchen, Mattituck, New York

A Suffolk Times news item mentions the Love Lane Kitchen and "new gas/wood fired pizza oven, which will be a centerpiece of the new market's food court."

Pizzeria 22 and Inferno Catering, Seattle, Washington

A West Seattle blog interviewed the owner of a Seattle-based mobile oven business, Inferno Catering, about plans for his new business, Pizzeria 22, which will be West Seattle's first wood-fired pizzeria.

Bolu, Basking Ridge, NJ

The catering menu for Bolu appeared on a Google Alert. Their web site has some nice views of the wood-fired oven.

Favola, Thailand

An English-language blog (here) mentioned an Italian restaurant in Thailand named Favola.