Our first book, Food Truck Road Trip: A Cookbook, will be out very soon on Nov. 4, 2014, and we wanted to give y'all a more in-depth preview. Each chapter starts with an intro followed by a story on one of the food trucks. Here’s the story on The Urban Oven in Los Angeles, CA as seen in Chapter 1, American Comfort: Classics with a Twist.

The Urban Oven - Scott Tremonti - Los Angeles, CA

Chef Scott Tremonti blames his single-minded pursuit of wood-fired pizza perfection on a pie from Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Arizona. “I had good pizza before, but when you had Chris Bianco’s pizza, it was almost like a religious experience,” he says. “That was my first experience with a wood-fired oven.” Having had an authentic, artisanal, Napoli-style pizza, Scott couldn’t go back.

After moving to Seattle, Scott began to experiment with recipes to recreate the experience, going so far as to jimmy the lock on his home oven during the cleaning cycle to reach that elusive 800°F (427°C) temperature. He eventually purchased a wood-fired oven and spent a couple of years baking pizzas for a group of very lucky friends before starting his own food truck, the Urban Oven.

Now, the Urban Oven can be found roaming the streets of LA, bringing perfectly charred crusts, high-quality ingredients and an authentic experience to the masses. “It starts with the crust,” Scott explains. “The crust is everything. That, to me, is the foundation. You talk to people that have had an experience with pizza, they always talk about the crust first. It’s your canvas, it’s where you start, it’s 90 percent of your whole experience.” Scott ferments his dough for no fewer than 24 hours, and he’s careful not to overhandle it to create a light, airy, crispy dough perfect for showcasing the locally sourced, well-balanced toppings, such as the unexpected but delightful combination of prosciutto and grape.

You can find The Urban Oven’s Prosciutto and Grape Pizza in Chapter 1 along with some of these other amazing recipes.

Rockin’ Hero Burger
Mix’D Up Food Truck - Brett Eanes - Atlanta, GA

BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos
Hill Country Barbecue - John Capelo - Redwood City, CA

FoPo Cristo
The Egg Carton - Sarah Arkwright - Portland, OR

Oxtail Mac n’ Cheese
Flat Iron - Timothy Mark Abell and Caleb Patrick Orth - Los Angeles, CA

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, or Indigo for our Canadian readers.