Luke Wetzel

Luke Wetzel is the Founder of Oven & Tap, a restaurant established in May of 2015 in downtown Bentonville.  The restaurant aims to exhibit a simple, delicious cuisine much like he cooked during his stint in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Wetzel spent most of his time in the Bay Area working up the ranks at Alice Water’s restaurant, Chez Panisse, where he fell in love with wood-fired cooking…and pizza.  His love of pizza led him to a consulting job where he designed the menu and orchestrated operations of a successful pizza restaurant in Mill Valley and to chef at a popular pizzeria in Oakland before moving back to his native state, Arkansas.

In 2012, Wetzel accepted a position with 21c as Executive Sous Chef where he worked side-by-side with Matthew McClure to open The Hive restaurant. After two years with McClure and 21c, he decided to pursue his dream of restaurant ownership.