Wood Stone Travels – “We are not afraid of Wood”

Regional Sales Manager, Phil Eaton

“We are not afraid of Wood”

Those were the words that Robert and Corey Nyman countered when I asked them if they realized that the Fire Deck 9660 (WS-FD-9660) they inherited at Aperitif restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota was entirely wood-fired.

Robert and Corey are the principals of The Nyman Group a Scottsdale, (Arizona based management – concept development – consulting agency) who inherited an unopened restaurant space in Minnesota. The restaurant came with a collection of Wood Stone solid-fuel equipment including the Fire Deck oven already mentioned and a rotisserie/ broiler.I spent two days with them and their staff before opening night on Saturday, Jan 30th. A family atmosphere filled the entire restaurant during my time there. Robert and Corey are seasoned operators who assembled a skilled and enthusiastic staff to open a restaurant in this challenging economy. They inherited the only completely wood-fired Fire Deck 9660 that Wood Stone has ever built. Talk about intimidating. I had no idea how this piece of equipment would respond but I should have known, its a Wood Stone and an amazing piece of equipment to stand in front of.The oven held a consistent temperature of around 575 degrees with a medium sized fire on one side of the oven. Consistent 3-4 min pizzas, artisan breads, whole Asian snapper, salt crusted bass, it was an awesome display of diversity in the oven. The chefs were excited to use the oven and their creative juices started flowing as the day went on. It was really neat to see someone be excited about cooking with wood. The restaurant was built and outfitted by another group and the Nyman group came in to get it open and operating. They inherited a lot of challenges and rose to the occasion. Check them out!