Our Story

The story of Carmelo’s Brick Oven

With a passion for preparing unforgettable events, Chef Peter Seminara has always enjoyed dazzling his guests with flavor. Born and raised by Sicilian parents, Peter has always been at home in the kitchen. The business is named after his father and grandfather, Carmelo Seminara, who immigrated to the U.S. exactly 100 years ago and was a chef at the renowned Des Palmes hotel in Palermo, Sicily, and for the exiled Duke of Orleans. Today, Peter continues this family tradition and is often helped by his son, Sammy, shown in the photo.

A huge fan of wood-fired, brick oven pizza, Peter was introduced to the concept of the portable, wood fired oven in the Fall of 2009 by a good friend and ex-client, Joe Pergolizzi, who started producing the current Fire Within oven trailers. Peter seized the opportunity and purchased his oven, trained at the Fire Within cooking workshop and opened his doors. The rest is history still being made. . . .

Chef Peter loves the entire concept of entertaining, making pizza, friends and satisfied customers. He’s busy catering to the customized requests of clients ranging from farmer’s markets, concerts & private parties to neighborhood cookouts, business promotions & corporate functions. Peter notes that “brick ovens have been the community center stage for Sicilian villages for thousands of years. It’s only natural that people are still drawn to the hearth for cooking, friendship & fellowship.” He explains, “I just bring the hearth right to them!”

Chef Peter adds, “I enjoy the entire interaction of creating someone’s custom, hand-tossed pizza, then oven baking it over a wood fire & watching their face after that first bite.”

Freshness
& Quality
Since 2009