Woodfired pizza, Italian accents and history lessons – what could be better?

Bruce Kyes greatly enjoys the one-on-one interaction he gets while making eye-level pizzas at his fully licensed and inspected pizza station. To keep his fresh ingredients cool, Bruce uses catergator coolers, so people can choose what toppings they want on their woodfired pizza. Adding to the fun for Bruce, is seeing kids’ excitement of getting to personally build their own pizza and of learning about the history of food from him.

By Ginna Young, Courier Sentinel

“You can’t get more Cadott than me.”

Any local will agree, Bruce Kyes and the family name have reached legend status in the Cadott area. Now, more so than ever, with Kyes Guys Pizza, his mobile woodfired catering business, which Bruce operates as a night, weekend and holiday gig.

Bruce started the venture about nine years ago, after he came up with the idea of building a pizza oven, out of the blue.

“I wanted to do something different – something I’d never done before, something no one else has been doing around here,” he said. “My wife says, ‘Why do you want to build a pizza oven, you’ve never made a pizza in your life?’ And that’s where you start, the adventure, the journey, I guess I would have to call it.”

Once he made up his mind, Bruce researched the history and construction of a Pompeii-style oven, then had the brainstorm of making the oven portable. So, he found an old military trailer.

“The next thing you know, I’m engineering as I go,” said Bruce.

He then poured a cast refractory oven, instead of using fire brick, and poured a large dome and wrapped it in insulation, making the exterior cover stainless steel, with a Ben Franklin woodfired stove for the front.

“Which gives it a lot of character and functionality, as well,” said Bruce, although, he admits many mistake it for a bulk tank pulled behind his truck.

After all the engineering was settled, Bruce realized he would need insurance, so he had to get an LLC, but he really struggled with what name to put on his new catering venture. Enter his twin nephews, Adam and Isaiah Kyes, also known to Bruce as Mario and Luigi. The twins helped Bruce early on with the pizzas, so they became the “Kyes Guys.”

“The pizza thing became a family thing, as well,” said Bruce.

Bruce travels all over for parties and he especially likes wedding barns; in fact, his first gig was at the Barn on Stoney Hill, between Cadott and Cornell, for a wedding. The couple wanted a snack for guests after the meal.

“That’s kind of a new concept,” said Bruce. “People were eating them up like crazy.”

Of course, Bruce had to discover how to price out a meal.

“From there, it’s been a learning curve,” he said.

As their business expanded and Bruce continued to try to learn from those with more experience, he even took his nephews with him to New York, for a convention, where they turned 15 years old with their uncle on Times Square. The twins, while having moved on from Cadott, now work at a pizza place in the city they call home.

“So, I have some legacy now in the family,” said Bruce.

Bruce also took the twins to Chicago, Ill., to test a new oven. While they were extremely impressed with the new oven, what really stuck in Bruce’s mind, was when Bruce told Adam and Isaiah to grab their bags, and follow him. Turns out, they didn’t bring any overnight bags, which still makes Bruce laugh out loud.

“I have to add these stories, because that’s part of the pizza making…the stories I find,” he said.

Although he is generally a shy sort, when Bruce dons his big, floppy, straw hat and gold neck chains, he becomes 100 percent Italian, right down to the accent, even though he doesn’t have any of that heritage in his lineage to speak of.

“It’s almost an entertainment thing I go into,” said Bruce. “It isn’t just serving food, it’s bringing an attitude, a liveliness to the street vendor feel.”

Before Bruce can head out to make his much-sought after pizzas, he first has to prepare the dough, which he’s developed on his own. Using a three-day cold-rise, he imports one flour, along with one from the U.S., mixing them together, and uses a pre-ferment, known as Poolish, to start the dough, as a shortcut to sourdough, which enhances the flavor.

“It takes a lot of trial and error to get something to work,” said Bruce. “It has character, is what I’ve learned. I’m quite confident in my dough now. It’s taken a long time.”

Bruce readies his dough, then makes the pizzas on demand where his venue is that day. Rather than being in a food truck, up above the crowd, Bruce is on an eye level while the pizza is built to the patron’s choice. The pizza is considered a Neapolitan-style, which Bruce calls Cadottopolitan. Adults, but especially kids, love the excitement of picking their own ingredients.

Purchasing the high-end ingredients from local sources as much as possible, Bruce sprinkles Semolina over the pizza board, as it doesn’t give a burnt taste when put in the oven. He then covers the bottom of the dough with Stanislaus pizza sauce. He’s been told he should make his own, but time is a factor, since he has a full-time job with Rural Mutual Insurance and is the rec director with the Town of Lafayette.

Next up, is whole-milk mozzarella, or, as Bruce calls it, “mootzarella.”

“It’s part of the humor,” he said.

Bruce does offer a Korean barbecue short rib option, but has found that pepperoni, sausage, onion, mushroom and peppers are still the preferred ingredients.

“People are not comfortable stepping out on the food platform,” said Bruce.

His wife, Marcia, preps food for him and one of his two daughters, Sarah, helps out when she’s able, but Bruce hires local help when he can. If he’s alone, Bruce can make about 25 pizzas an hour, on demand, but if he has help, that increases to 50 or 60, per hour.

He’s also added grilled Mexican street corn on the cob, called eloté, to the menu, in which the corn is slathered with a lime-flavored mayo, and rolled in Cotija cheese and spices. Bruce says many people haven’t heard of it, but really have embraced the street corn.

“It’s a traditional food,” said Bruce. “Learning different foods is a lot of fun.”

Now that he has a new truck, with a new oven built in, it’s been a little easier to get out the door, but his time is still limited, so those who want catering, should book him well in advance, by emailing bkyes@charter.net or calling 715-225-9912.

“It’s a hell of an adventure,” said Bruce. “This is who I am and how I do it.”

[caption id="attachment_188638" align="alignnone" width="300"] A new utility truck, with a new oven built right in, helps Bruce not to forget anything at home and is more efficient than his old diesel truck.[/caption]