Spago, Hearth Baked, $26. ... At a recent dinner, I was offered a basket of ciabatta crowded with chunks of briny, fruity Kalamata olives; a poppy seed-crusted sourdough; ...

"I've never seen one in Tuscany," scoffs Rubel, who prefers the notion that hearth cooking takes no special equipment beyond fireplace tools. Never mind that this insatiable collector spears his ...