By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor
The small French commune of Tain-l'Hermitage is known for its pitched vineyards that yield some of the world's finest syrah. It is not nearly so well known as the birthplace of copper ovens.
"France's soil is good for more than just winegrowing," explain Seth and Mary Jane Kircher, the husband-and-wife owners of The Copper Oven, a specialty pizza joint connected to Cayuga Ridge winery. "Our oven was born in Tain-l'Hermitage and we worked with a family in Maine who helped us with its final construction."
The oven is a marvel to behold, and that's before it fires up to 800 degrees for the task of cooking a pizza in two minutes. Visible from the main routes that line the western shore of Cayuga Lake, the oven attracts first-time visitors who simply want to know what it is.
Seth has an answer prepared.
"The oven itself is 6000 pounds of 'terra blanche', or white organic clay brick, which offers a thermal efficiency and durability that is superior to materials like firebrick or refractory concrete found in comparable ovens," he says, as if it weren't already obvious.
On a recent visit, Seth was home with their young child, while MJ was cranking away at the oven. My wife and I split a pizza topped with prosciutto, creme fraiche, parmesan, onion scapes, and balsamic vinegar for $12. We grabbed a glass of Cayuga Ridge Riesling for $6. The pizza was thin, crispy, and, while pretty to look at, it lasted just a few minutes.
Describing their efforts as "hyper-local," MJ explains, "I'm not sure we have a most popular pizza, but we do get regular requests for the 26 Mile. All of that pizza's ingredients are sourced from within 26 miles of where the oven sits in Ovid, so we'll use Lively Run Chevre, local caramelized onions, and a generous drizzle of Stonybrook Butternut Squash Seed Oil."
Copper Oven customers commonly ask the Kirchers: Why did you purchase a wood-fired pizza oven on wheels?
"Suffice it to say, during our initial business planning exercise, wheels seemed to be our best insurance policy," MJ says. "You know, in case other revenue streams needed to be considered, like catering or events."
But after opening The Copper Oven in 2010, the Kirchers have not had to go mobile.
MJ's dad is the winemaker next door at Cayuga Ridge, and she says the combination of Finger Lakes wine and wood-fired pizza is "a perfect fit." The recipes come from MJ; the expert sampling is handled by Seth. MJ credits her mother, whom she describes as "a master in the kitchen," with inspiring her to launch a pizza business.
There is also a service mentality that pervades The Copper Oven. Seth is in charge of the "social mission," which includes donating five percent of The Copper Oven's profits to Healthy Food for All in 2010. In 2011, the Kirchers shifted the focus to the Drink Finger Lakes Wine project.
"So far, sale of the specially made t-shirts have resulted in more than $450 in donations to the Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty," MJ says.
Spend just a few minutes chatting with MJ and you find that she and Seth bring a kind of existentialist bent to everything they do. They are extremely sensitive to their place in the region. They share a wicked sense of humor but are also quick to become contemplative.
More than anything, you get the sense that the Kirchers just want to establish a permanent home and identity in the Finger Lakes. It can not be easy to make much money selling pizza, but this is the kind of couple more focused on seeing the business survive. They appreciate the culinary talent in the region and they're quick to praise others. If the copper dome that catches travelers' eye can become a lasting fixture, that just might be enough.
There is one more ingredient at The Copper Oven that is often lacking in young businesses: accessibility. Seth and MJ take an inordinate amount of time simply talking to customers and answering questions. You can see the connections forming in just five minutes. It makes for longer days, but they believe it's worth it.
I wonder if eventually they will find a reason to take that thing to a thousand degrees or more. "We can get the oven hotter than 800 degrees, but there's nothing on our menu that needs more heat than that," they explain. Does no one want a pizza finished in one minute? 30 seconds? These Kirchers are a lot of things, but ostentatious about their oven, they are not. Oh well, We order another pizza. As much as I want it now, I'll just have to wait.
So stoked to go. Thanks for bringing attention to this great addition to the neighborhood.
Valhrona chocolate is also made in Tain l'Hermitage and Jean Louis Chave told me once that you know a storm is coming to Hermitage because the wind blows just right so that you smell the chocolate from Valhrona. What a great indicator of bad weather to come!
RR
Posted by: rick rainey | July 27, 2011 at 09:14 AM
Our introduction to Seth & MJ was through the "Drink Finger Lakes Wine" project. The fact that we received a hand written note of thanks with our T-shirts exposes the service mentality of this wonderful couple that Evan describes.
Posted by: Todd Eichas | July 27, 2011 at 12:21 PM
Many many thanks for your really thoughtful post on our business Evan.
Yours,
MJ and Seth Kircher
Owners of The Copper Oven
Posted by: MJ & Seth Kircher | July 27, 2011 at 07:09 PM
Though we browse around for wine news we couldn't resist the picture of the pizza. Great story and concept. Old fashioned word of mouth/customer service marketing to draw people to the copper dome. Pizza looks great and I'm sure the wine doesn't hurt business. :) Best of luck to the Kirchers.
-HWC
Posted by: Herzog Wine Clubs | July 28, 2011 at 10:24 AM
Sounds wonderful! The goat cheese, carmelized onion pizza and a glass of wine? Perfect summer day and a nice trip from Roc!
Posted by: margaret | July 28, 2011 at 10:32 PM
Surprising that this story has not been written about Long Island's enormously successful Rolling in Dough Pizza Truck company (http://rollingindoughpizza.com/). It was founded in 2008 and parks at Corey Creek Vineyards every Tuesday night in the summer to serve hand made pies for guests at Twilight Tuesday. The pizza truck is a fully restored 1943 K-6 International Harvester truck (WWII era) retro-fitted with a wood-fired brick oven. Très chic. The charismatic pizza truck owner Matt Michel has even been featured in Vogue magazine.
Posted by: Trent Preszler | July 29, 2011 at 02:52 PM
Trent: The easy and short answer is that I've reached out to Matt via email a couple times and haven't received a reply.
Posted by: Lenn Thompson | July 29, 2011 at 04:12 PM
Lenn - he's probably very busy making pizza as his company has really taken off. Stop by Corey Creek any Tuesday night so you can see what he's doing. The pizza (and the wine) is on me.
Posted by: R. Olsen-Harbich | July 29, 2011 at 05:33 PM
Rich: Very kind of you. One of these days I'll take you up on that.
Similarly though, I'm pretty busy with my day job and trying to run this site -- and I still find time to respond to emails ;)
Posted by: Lenn Thompson | August 01, 2011 at 10:14 AM
sounds delicious! I'll get there soon with a NYC guest. Question re: hyper-local ingredients. Since the main ingredient by volume is flour, are you using Farmer Ground Flour from Trumansburg?
Posted by: Glenda Neff | August 01, 2011 at 02:09 PM
Correction - I'll send my question about flour to MJ & Seth. I'm working with farmers, millers, bakeries, and realize it may not be easy to get a good pizza dough from NY-grown grains flour!
Posted by: Glenda Neff | August 01, 2011 at 02:14 PM
Dear Glenda -
Ever since we rolled The Copper Oven into the parking lot at Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery, we set out to do two things: Make good pizza and leverage the business as a platform for connecting with and contributing to the Finger Lakes community. While we take great pride in using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, it turns out that our flour comes from King Arthur who, you probably know, is based in Norwich, VT.
But the 315 miles between us is made easier by the fact that King Arthur is a like-minded employee owned business whose primary mission is community as much as it is making high quality flour. (Did you know that King Arthur is one of the first B Corporations in the United States? Learn more here: http://www.bcorporation.net/)
On a more pragmatic note, King Arthur's production volume also means that we can afford the products that we source from them. That said, we welcome the opportunity to engage with you and others to learn more about how we might work together with Farmer Ground Flour in Trumansburg, NY. Not only are we part of the same community, but the heirloom wheat varieties that Farmer Ground Flour is growing are bound to make for some great pizza dough.
Yours,
MJ and Seth Kircher
Owners of The Copper Oven
PS - Any chance you are, Glenda Neff, the agricultural writer from Auburn, NY? If so, we love the work that you are doing and we hope that this exchange might give you reason to find yourself on the other side of Cayuga Lake sooner than later. Anyway, we'd love to meet you and treat you to a Copper Oven lunch while continuing this conversation.
Posted by: MJ and Seth | August 03, 2011 at 12:20 AM
The author has made the grandest of discoveries! Good detective work.
Posted by: Silence Duguid | August 04, 2011 at 10:10 AM