Scott Riebling hasn’t slept much over the past five weeks. He’s been on the road non-stop – in his food truck.
Stoked Wood Fired Pizza Co. opened early this spring as Boston’s first and only food truck selling wood-fired pizza. A true pizza lover, Riebling has been making his own pizza ever since his college years at Berklee. Now in his 40’s, Riebling is realizing his dream to share his favorite food with the world. We asked the bassist-turned-producer-turned-food truck owner five questions to get to know him a little better. Check out what he had to say below.
Alexa Tietjen: Why do you like pizza so much?
Scott Riebling: First off, pizza is amazing. I love Thai food, Vietnamese food, Indian food. I love ethnic foods, but everybody loves pizza. We’ve got a narrow scope of styles here in Boston, and up until recently, there haven’t been a whole lot of options. There are so many different types of pizza across the country. There’s so many things you can do with it, and I’m not just talking toppings. I’m talking cheese, bread, sauce. There are so many different ways to put that together and have it be completely different, but completely amazing.
Crust, sauce, cheese. Is one more important than the other?
If your crust isn’t perfect, no matter what, your pizza’s never gonna be perfect. You have to have that crispy outer crunch, and then a soft middle. To be able to achieve that is really hard. Anybody can have killer sauce, but perfect crust? That’s tough.
What was it like playing bass for Letters to Cleo and Weezer?
Awesome. Two awesome bands. Pinkerton came out and my jaw hit the floor. I was completely blown away by that record and the rawness. I got a call to audition, and every other bass player from Boston I knew was there. I still can’t believe that that happened. Cleo was awesome because it was a bunch of fun people who were really good friends. We had a blast. We drove around the country for years living the rock star life.
How did you get the 6,000 pound oven into the truck?
Well, we had to find the right truck, and that’s not easy. We knew we wanted a step van because they just look way cooler than a box truck, but there are very few step vans that can handle that type of weight. I went online for days researching. There was literally one available in the entire United States. I dug so deep – through 200 pages on Google – and there was one. The guy who was selling it was a reputable dealer, and did a lot of work on the truck before he sold it to us. It just so happened that the truck was only a couple hours from where the oven was, and the oven was forty-five minutes from a truck builder who had done a build like this before. So it all fell together. Of course, we went three times over budget, but it worked.
Do you have any tips for pizza makers?
Go to pizzamaking.com. I was on there for maybe ten years, writing for hours every day. There is so much information on there. Every secret, trick, anything you could want to learn is in there. If you can dedicate your life to reading about pizza, this website goes beyond any book.
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