[Photographs: Adam Kuban] This has got to be the shiniest pizza oven in NYC — maybe the world. Slice got a sneak peek at the oven and some of the pizza to come out of it last night at Donatella's, Donatella Arpaia's soon-to-open pizzeria on 19th and Eighth in Chelsea. We'll bring you pizza pics later today, but here are a few shots of the fire-breathing beauty for those of you obsessed with such things. Earlier ... Donatella's PIzza Oven: The Build-Out » Donatella's: The Oven Is Being Cured » Video: Neapolitans Talk Pizza (While Ed Levine Antagonizes Them!) »... More

[Photograph: Adam Kuban] I spent the first part of my morning fumbling around in the dark with Donatella Arpaia in the presence of a glorious pizza oven. How's that to set a pizza-loving guy's heart a flutterin'?... More

This week's My Pizza Oven interview is our first international edition. Matt Stuttle, from Cambridge, UK, joins us to tell us about his oven, which he uses to great effect to entertain family, friends, and neighbors. (And, no, that's not Matt in the photo at left but his son—that kid's going to have quite the advantage when it comes to the Pizza Cognition Theory. More

Last week we mentioned that Donatella Arpaia was having a wood-fired pizza oven installed in her upcoming pizzeria, Donatella's. Yesterday, Slice was lucky enough to peep a part of the oven-building process. More

Last week I got an email from today's My Pizza Oven subject, Sue Wong of Phoenix: "I just had my first wood-fired oven installed in my backyard a month ago and have been reading everything I can on pizza, and your blog is my favorite." Well, if Ms. Wong was gunning for a MPO spot, she knew just the right buttons to push. Flattery gets you everywhere, right? Anyway, without further ado, let's put Sue in the hot seat. More

Michael O'Malley built this wood-fired brick pizza oven recently on the side of the road in Los Angeles for a workshop through Machine Project. He then walked his students through the pizza-making steps, from shaping dough balls to maneuvering that peel. Since the oven was so scorching hot, the pizza was done in two and a half minutes. Watch the video, after the jump.... More

I'm happy to highlight Mark Graban's pizza oven here on the site today. Mark was actually the first Slice reader to ever contact me and send me links and info about a backyard pizza oven. This must have been back in early 2007 or so. Since then, I've checked in on his blog* periodically to see what he's up to. Without further ado, let's fire up this Q&A! --The Mgmt. [Photographs: Mark Graban] When did you put it in? Our inspiration for the oven was the world-famous (rightfully so) Pizzeria Bianco. My wife and I used to live in Phoenix,... More

When I put out a call for people to be featured in the My Pizza Oven series, I never thought I'd get a response from someone who lived a mile away from me in Brooklyn. I mean, it's New York City--not that many people have their own yards here, and of those who do, how many are crazy* enough to put in a backyard pizza oven? Nice to see an oven grow here. --The Mgmt. Mark Wilkie's oven--just finished over the weekend. [Photographs: Mark Wilkie] You put a pizza oven in the garden of your Brooklyn home. First question, then:... More

Last week I blogged up Steve O.'s backyard pizza oven in Wisconsin, asking at the end of that post for photos and stories from any other home-based pizza-makers. Not more than nine hours later, Nick Gladdis's email came in: Adam,I'll bite. Here are some shots of an oven my wife, Robin, and I built, completely, over the course of eight months in 2008. And for the weenies who say they can't, I'm 65 years old. Best thing we ever did, and it complements our olive farm (10 acres with six planted in just less than 1,900 trees). All this... More

Wisconsin home pizza-maker Steve O. emailed me these pix of his backyard wood-burning pizza oven. So I asked him some questions. Here's a Q&A with him. --The Mgmt. When did you put it in, who put it in; did you hire someone? I put it in a few years ago with the help of a good friend of mine, Corey. We did everything except for the masonary part of the oven. How often do you use it? Probably eight times a month in the warmer weather, but during the colder months, probably only twice a month. I have been known... More