by Michael Klein

Vincenzo Barone - who owns Barone's Tuscan Grill in Moorestown, N.J., and is part of the South Jersey restaurant family (brother Giovanni, father Guido) behind the long-running Villa Barone in Collingswood, N.J. - longed for the oldtime method of coal-fired pizza-making, "before it took a wrong turn and became a corporate business."

Coal-fired pizza came about at the turn of the 20th century, when Italian immigrants in New York City could not afford wood to fire their ovens. Coal, the economical choice, also makes thin-crust Neapolitan-style pies. (Coal adds no flavor, unlike wood, which is used at Barone's Tuscan Grill. It's anthracite coal, too, and burns cleanly.)

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Source: http://www.philly.com/