TROY>>The massive sculpted head in which Bacchus Wood-Fired Pizza of Troy, NY bakes its thin-crust pizzas received national attention recently when it was named one of the country’s “15 Totally Tricked-Out Pizza Ovens” by Zagat, the online restaurant guide.  The oven, crafted by local sculptor
Brian McCandless to depict the head and gaping mouth of Bacchus, the Roman god of agriculture and wine, has been hard at work providing award-winning wood fired pizzas to the Capital Region for seven years.

“While it’s a pleasure to have the oven recognized as the work of art it actually is,” said Bacchus owner Jim Scully, “it’s also a really great pizza oven.  Over the years we’ve won numerous awards for our pizzas, but none for the oven itself.  So that’s pretty exciting.”

Part sculpture, part engineering challenge, the oven was a complicated project from start to finish.  A combination of five different fired-clay pieces, it measures five feet by eight and weighs several tons.  Each of the pieces had to be measured, sculpted and fired off-site, then trucked in and assembled in the Bacchus kitchen. The entire process took several months to complete.

Bacchus has been a fixture in downtown Troy since 2008, and has made a habit of supporting local artists.

“Troy has an amazing, growing art scene,” Scully said.  “Brian is just one of several nationally-recognized artists living in or near town, we have an outstanding art center on Monument Square in Downtown, and more and more members of the creative community are finding their way up the Hudson to relocate in this affordable, extraordinary community.  Anything we can do as a local business to fuel that growth benefits everybody.  The Bacchus pizza oven is perhaps the ultimate
fusion of art and commerce. I’m honored to be a part of it.”

http://www.zagat.com/b/15-totally-tricked-out-pizza-ovens#7

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bacchus-Wood-Fired/145184168850725


Photo credit: Mary Jane O’Malley