AOA Bar & Grill, New York, New York

My Google alert pulls through again, this time finding a mention of the AOA Bar & Grill in New York City.

This looks like a real beer and pizza place ("25 craft beers and over 50 bottled").

In addition, they have a regularly scheduled pizza-making class. (Now I know why people were thinking the price for my all-day oven-building class was not out of line with New York prices.)

I did find a limited-time offer for the class at a significant discount (but check out the fine print).

Portable Oven Classes, Staten Island, April 14 & 15, 2012

I have a person who really wants to take my portable oven-building class, but lives on Staten Island (part of New York City).

Update 3/29/2012: Not enough people registered for this trip to work out on these dates. We are going to see if we can find another set of dates that work further into the future. If you are interested, drop me a note.

If we can get all the materials and enough people registered, we would hold two classes, one on Saturday, April 14, and one on Sunday, April 15.

The costs to the students would have to be high enough to cover my normal class fees plus travel expenses.

If you are interested in learning how to build a brick oven in a day, or going from bare ground in the morning to wood-fired oven pizza for lunch, you can use the information in the announcement linked to below to sign up for the class.

This class is especially for people who love wood-fired pizza, but thought that building their own oven would be too hard and too expensive. These ovens are easier and cheaper than you might think.

The details of the class have now been set, and there is an announcement on Craig's List.

Olio Pizza e Piu, New York, New York

A New York Times article reviewing a different restaurant mentioned Olio Pizza e Piu, New York, New York.

Their home page says in part:

Olio Pizza e Piu brings the West Village something it hasn’t had in a long time, an authentic Neapolitan restaurant. Unique amongst Italian restaurants, Olio is at the intersection of two cities of great cultural and culinary wealth, Naples and New York. Synonymous with pizza for many, Neapolitan food has reached the four corners of the world like few other cuisines. However, the farther it has reached, the food has strayed from the cuisine that originated in Italy, which brought it fame and admiration For this reason, Olio preserves the true richness and character of pizzas, antipasti and pasta, conjuring the smells and tastes that fill the streets of southern Italy. Our love for true Neapolitan food inspires us to make gourmet pizzas and genuine Neapolitan dishes in a wood-burning brick oven as they have for generations in Italy. The only way to truly match our generous menu and exquisite service is to buy a plane ticket for Europe's gorgeous boot.

They also have a Facebook page.

Forcella, New York, New York

A New York Times on-line article reviewed Forcella, New York, New York (and Brooklyn, NY).

The review says in part:

Rather, Mr. Adriani has a fryer. If you follow the pizzarazzi, you might know about his montanara ($10), a margherita made with a crust shaped and flash-fried before being topped and finished in the wood-burning oven. Yes, pizza that’s fried and fired. As the kids put it: double rainbow.

The montanara pulls it off. The fryer lends a crisp airiness to the crust, not to mention a thin coat of oil that has the naughty pleasure of street food; the oven gives it color and adds a little smoke.

The review is not entirely positive.

The business also has a Facebook Restaurant/Cafe page.

It looks like an interesting departure from normal wood-fired pizza.

Community Oven, Cambridge, New York

My Google Alert brought my attention to a blog post about the community oven in Cambridge, New York.

I have some information about the Cambridge oven on my Quest for Ovens web site on the Community Ovens page.

There are additional links about the Cambridge oven on my Community Oven Links page.

It was very nice to read a first-hand account of using the oven; they are amazingly hard to come by.

Goodfella's Pizza, Staten Island, New York

Apparently I was in the middle of posting about Goodfella's Pizza, Staten Island, New York, but got distracted and didn't finish. (We have been having thunderstorms here in the upper midwest; I disconnect my computer when there is lightning about.)

I was reading the Facebook group, Brick Oven Builders, where Scot Cosentino posted a picture and a link to Goodfella's Pizza.


After following the link, I discovered they also had a Facebook page.


It certainly looks like award-winning pizza.


There is no doubt that they have a wood-fired oven.

Wide Awake Bakery, Mecklenburg, New York

Sometimes I find new brick oven places the long way around.

I found the Facebook page of the Wide Awake Bakery, Mecklenburg, New York, by chasing some information from the Yahoo! Brick Oven group. (On Facebook they say they are in Trumansburg.) There was a somewhat technical discussion about different kinds of ovens, which led to some pictures of bread and an oven, which led to the Facebook page of one of the group members, which led me to the page for the Wide Awake Bakery. (Here is their own page about the oven.)

The Facebook page didn't mention their home page in the info section, but it was mentioned in passing on one of the comments on their wall; I updated this post to link to it. (Their home page says they are in Mecklenburg.)

Oven builders appreciate their craft for itself, but for many it's only important insofar as an oven can be used to bake good bread (or pizza).

It appears that the Wide Awake Bakery has created an oven that will enable the production of a lot of good bread (and whatever else they decide to bake).

Uncle Mario's Brick Oven Pizza, New York, New York

Today seems to be the day for finding brick oven pizza places on Facebook.

A rather scant page pointed out by my Google Alert pointed me toward Uncle Mario's Brick Oven Pizza, New York, New York.

Again, a Google search did not turn up a web site, but it did turn up a Facebook page.

Looks interest, but the ovens do not appear to be wood-fired.

Pizza Moto, Brooklyn, New York

I found a hospitality jobs listing on Craig's List for a pizza maker.

It was for a business named PizzaMoto. The listing says in part, "We make lovely Neapolitan brick oven pizza outdoors every weekend at the Brooklyn Flea and in Central Park for all the Summer Stage shows throughout the summer."

That sounded intriguing.

They didn't provide a web address with the listing, but I found their home page and their Facebook page. Both pages have some pictures of their oven.

They have several reviews on their listing on yelp.

Dee's Brick Oven Pizza, Forest Hills, New York

The Slice pizza blog at Serious Eats has an entry for Dee's Brick Oven Pizza, Forest Hills, New York.

I had come across Dee's before (that is, before I started this blog).

The blog entry says in part, "What a nice surprise, then, that the pizza is so good—and so interesting. It's fired in a wood-burning brick oven that, the pieman claims, gets up to 900°F, cooking the pizzas in three to five minutes."

That almost sounds slow to me, for an oven that hot. Our Twin Cities-based wood-fired pizza place, Punch Neapolitan Pizza, has a line on their menu, "800 degrees, 90 seconds."

Nonna's Brick Oven Pizza & Restaurant, Yorktown Heights, New York

Now the Yorktown Patch makes its existence known with a review of Nonna's Brick Oven Pizza & Restaurant, Yorktown Heights, New York.

The review says in part, "Although they are relatively new, having opened in 2008, Nonna's Brick Oven Pizza has already distinguished itself. They start their thin crust pizzas with quality, fresh ingredients and cook them perfectly in a large traditional brick oven." There is a picture where you can see a case full of pizzas and part of the brick oven.

Apparently Nonna's does not have a home page of its own. Also apparently, a feature of the Patch site allows place pages to be created, and Nonna's now has one.

Bertucci's Italian Restaurant, Multiple Locations

An article that's part of Braintree Patch discussed healthy menu choices at Italian restaurants.

The article says in part, "And so I began my quest for lighter (but still delicious) Italian fare at Bertucci’s, a local icon known for its signature brick oven style of cooking.

"After scanning the menu, I happily discovered vegetable-rich soups, nutritious side dishes and plenty of tasty protein options; all perfect components of a balanced meal. I then assessed the nutrition information available online...."

Bertucci's Italian Restaurant has numerous locations in the Northeast US.

The Brick Oven Pizza, Dobbs Ferry, New York

Sometimes a site just gets something plain wrong. In this case an online directory listing for something called the Riverstown Patch ("Covering the villages of Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry and Irvington") had a listing for "The Brick Oven Pizzeria."

Their listing says, "This Dobbs Ferry staple serves a number of creative pizzas like the chicken, bacon ranch...."

The only problem is that the business lists itself as The Brick Oven Pizza.Their site has some delightful pictures of pizzas and their oven.

Ember Room, New York, New York

The Scallywag & Vagabond blog posted a review of the new Ember Room, New York, New York. (The Ember Room site is Flash-based and not possible to easily link to.)

It's another Todd English restaurant.

The review says in part, "[T]he sous-chefs diced scallops in front of the brick oven in the center of the restaurant."

Grana, Riverhead, New York

There is a restaurant review of Grana, which does not seem to have a site of its own.

It's not clear if it is in Riverhead or Jamesport, New York.

The review says in part, "And last, but not least, is the wood-fired oven pizza staring customers in the face on the far side of the open kitchen upon entering Grana. The clay composing the interior of the oven was imported from Tuscany, Plath boasts, and the oven itself is instrumental in giving Grana's pizzas a unique taste the chef took years to fashion. Indeed, before building an oven in Grana's kitchen, Plath honed his pizza-making skills at home in his own wood oven – which cooks around 700 degrees – for years."

Flames Brick Oven, Westchester, New York.

According to a restaurant review, the owner of the Old Stone Trattoria had previous worked at Flames Brick Oven in Yonkers (also with a Facebook page).

Old Stone Trattoria, Chappaqua, New York

A restaurant review in a food blog for the Lower Hudson profiles Old Stone Trattoria, Chappaqua, New York.

The review says in part, "If you’re in the mood for a warm brick oven and a cozy neighborhood trattoria, come down to Angelo Tradito’s new place in Chappaqua."

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, Carle Place, New York

While trying to find information about a place called Anthony's Brick Oven, I found Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, Carle Place, New York.

I don't know anything about it, but there it is.

01/24/2011 Wood Fired Pizza Class, Brooklyn, New York

Most of the time what I see are businesses where you get to eat food prepared in a wood-fired oven, and maybe even watch it get made and cooked.

Here is an opportunity to get some hands-on experience: 01/24 Wood Fired Pizza Class

The description says in part, "This Interactive class will cover Wood-fired cooking in the pizza oven with our friend at Best Pizza. Anthony Falco and Angelo Womack will teach how to do everything and more in the wood fired oven.... This small class will really give you the know how not only to use one, but to build your own wood fired pizza oven, on a trailer, or in your yard!"

Of course, you have to pay the fee and go to Brooklyn Kitchen, but that's not so bad.

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."