Frank Pepe’s Pizza Fires Up Its Oven in Warwick

WARWICK —Before Pepe’s Pizza opens its 10th location at 21 Universal Blvd., it’s going to need the family restaurant chain’s iconic coal-fired pizza oven, which Gary Bimonte, owner of Frank Pepe’s Pizza and grandson of the epononymous pizzeria’s founder, fired up on Monday.

The oven is a critical element in the build out of every Pepe’s restaurant. Building it takes about 10 weeks, modeled after a blueprint of the original 1925 oven in the New Haven Pepe’s location, according to the company’s spokesperson, Aylssa Stevens.

Getting it started is a slow and steady three to four-week process of getting it to the right temperature to ensure the pizzas have the proper crunch, char, and chew.

The oven needs to heat up for several weeks before pizza can be cooked and served from it, so it will be a little while yet before Warwick residents get a local crack at the highly regarded pizza.