When Miller’s Homemade Ice Cream decided to add pizza to their menu, they also added a Peerless C131P oven to their kitchen
Since 1950, folks driving along Ohio Rt. 113 had become very familiar with the little ice cream stand located on the border of Lorain and Erie counties. The giant hot dog sign on the roof was a familiar landmark for years, and the homemade ice cream was a treat for young and old alike.
In 2010, Miller’s Homemade Ice Cream was reborn into a full-service restaurant that is open all year long. Carolyn Kater has owned Miller’s since 1993, and she was looking to expand her menu. After a talk with her son Greg, Kater decided she wanted to add pizza — and when she did, she also added a Peerless C131P to her kitchen.
“My son Greg talked to me about adding pizza to the menu,” Kater said. “He lives in Chicago. Everybody knows Chicago is really good with pizza, and he knows pizza. He said make sure you get an oven with stones, because stones are the best. You can never lose with a stone.”
In 2011, Kater had a friend, Dan Born, go down to the North America Pizza and Ice Cream Show in Columbus. Born looked around at the show and came back with a recommendation that Kater purchase a Peerless.
“Dan came back and said I should go with a Peerless, and that they were made right here in Sandusky,” Kater recalled. “I said ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ So we went over to visit the company, and it was very interesting to see how the ovens were made by hand. You know what it’s all about after visiting there. That’s when I made the decision to purchase the oven.”
Kater decided on the C131P, made her purchase and had it professionally installed and calibrated. The rest, they say, is history.
“I came back, purchased the oven and started making the pizza. Greg came to visit, and he said ‘I’m going to tell you, Mom, your pizzas are just like they are in Chicago. You’re right up there. I love pizza, and if there were a problem, I would tell you.’ I had never made pizza before, so the whole experience was new. I couldn’t believe how great our pizzas turned out. Anybody that has a pizza here says it’s the best pizza they’ve had.”
She continued: “I like how it browns on top. I do a baked potato pizza and a pierogi pizza, and it comes out just beautiful. It’s a golden brown on top, and the other pizzas we do come out the same way. They’re not burnt, and they’re cooked evenly. They come out so well and they’re so popular, it’s to the point where we may need a bigger oven!”
Miller’s provides pizzas for the Firelands football team when they come back from road games. “I do 13 pizzas for them, and they love it,” she said. “They fell in love with them. Now, I’m doing more and more pizzas. We also melt cheese on our sandwiches in the oven, and they come out really, really nice. It gets hot like it should, and it’s evenly heated and melted.”
Kater said she would easily recommend Peerless to anyone in her business looking to add an oven.
“It was really nice to visit their shop. You can go through and see how it was made,” she said. “To see that was truly great because you can tell how good the oven really is. And it’s stable and sturdy — it’s not going to fall apart in a year or so. I would recommend Peerless to anybody. I love this pizza oven. And I like that it’s built in Sandusky. It’s like it’s built in your hometown,” she added.
Carolyn Kater, Owner
Miller’s Homemade Ice Cream
52868 Ohio Rt. 113
Birmingham, Ohio 44816
(440) 965-8482