Concrete Nido oven crafted for outdoor parties

The idea for the newly launched Nido pizza oven was born at San Francisco's Slow Food extravaganza in 2008. Former Chez Panisse chef Nico Monday asked Mark Rogero, founder of Concreteworks in Oakland, if he could improve on what Rogero terms the "chunky beast" Monday was using to whip up gourmet pizzas at the event.

A series of sketches and several brainstorming sessions later produced the Nido ("nest" in Italian), a voluptuous, orb-shaped oven crafted in concrete and painted an earthy shade of pomegranate. The original oven, which, appropriately, sits on a nest of twigs, found a home at Scribe Winery in Sonoma and is fired up for regular alfresco picnics.

The sculptural Nido, which costs $6,000 to $9,000 and is for exterior use only, can be customized according to taste and needs - change the shape or color, even integrate it with a rotisserie grill. The only constant is the interior diameter of the pizza oven itself. "Light the fire and cook, and gatherings and community happen," says Rogero. "It's almost primordial."

Concreteworks, 1137 57th Ave., Oakland; (510) 534-7141; www.concreteworks.com.

- Tracey Taylor; home@sfchronicle.com

This article appeared on page L - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle