So you're the owner of a new pizza place called Delancey. You're also a classically trained composer. How is tinkering with a pizza oven similar to tinkering with a piece of music?

They both require you to pay attention to many things at once. When I was in France, I told a man about my education in music and he said, "Of course! Music school is perfect training for the restaurant industry!" When I tell people here, they don't seem to understand the connection. Picking out different instrumentals is just like picking out different flavors of food.

How does the weather affect the tinkering of pizza dough?

I have a pad of paper filled with notes on how long to leave the dough out to cool, but none of the notes factored in the hundred-degree weather we experienced when we first opened. I had to rush the dough into the refrigerator, then bring it home to my basement to cool for 12 to 20 hours before baking it in the oven.

I read on your wife's blog, Orangette, that you're going to be offering your recipes online. Are there any recipes you refuse to cough up?

I have no problem posting all of my recipes. We'd rather this restaurant feel like an open, overgrown dinner party than one with nameless chefs and secret recipes. If you're going to re-create one of my pizzas, you're going to do it your own way, and it's not going to end up the same as in my restaurant. I've been told what type of flour to use, how long to ferment the dough, and how to build the pizza oven by many different chefs—and yet the pizza here still tastes unique.

This article has been updated since its original publication.