A Slice of the Good Life
At Smoked Tomato Pie, Chef Rob and Miss Kay Mix Flavor, Fire and Heart…
Cheesy garlic bread on a fresh made baguette; a smoked barbecue pulled pork plate; a fully-loaded pizza; and pistachio and/or black cherry cannoli… it’s practically impossible not to look at the Smoked Tomato Pie menu and keep your mouth from watering.
Recently celebrating its fourth year in business, Yreka’s favorite pizza joint/music venue is thriving, thanks to its main proprietors Miss Kay and Chef Rob Gebhardt. The two met years ago at a restaurant on the East Coast called Three Tomatoes Trattoria in Lebanon, NH.
“The owners of Three Tomatoes were wonderful people, but we had enough of the East Coast, so we packed our stuff up and drove out west,” Kay said.
They wanted warmer weather and a fresh start, so put down a deposit on a place in Igo and drove out to the unincorporated part of Redding in the middle of summer 2007.
“It was crazy hot,” Kay recalls. However, the place in Igo Ono fell through, and seeing how high the temperatures could reach in the valley, they ended up settling in Yreka along the banks of the Klamath River. “We wanted to be more in the country, closer to trees, mountains, and hiking,” she adds.
Kay formerly worked as a teacher, but her heart was always in the restaurant business. “I started at 14 as a coat check girl at the restaurant my sister worked at,” Kay says.
Meanwhile, Rob grew up learning to cook in the kitchen with his grandmother. “He was cooking with her since he was little, and is very good at putting flavors together,” she adds.
When Rob and Kay met at Three Tomatoes, Kay was a server and Rob was in the kitchen, acting as executive chef. They were there for 17 years before moving out west.
“On our cross-country road trip to move out here, Rob and I asked each other, ‘Who do you want to be?’ This was the chance for us to reinvent ourselves,” Kay remembers. Kay told Rob that she wanted to work at a little hippie shop, and she soon found Nature’s Kitchen in Yreka. She worked there from 2007 to 2018 before opening Smoked Tomato Pie with Rob in 2021.
“Chef Rob always wanted to open his own place,” Kay says. They went into launching Smoked Tomato Pie with two other owners – Zach Richer, who is “the pit master,” and Nick Morris, who is their construction/maintenance go-to.
Specializing in pizza and barbecue, Kay says the most popular item on the menu is their signature pie, the PPP. “It’s pork, pineapple, and jalapeno peppers,” Kay says. The restaurant makes all its own dough, and the sauce is made from smoke-roasted jalapenos, the pizza topped with cheese, pineapple and pulled pork with a drizzle of Carolina hot sauce.
“It is soooo good,” Kay says. “I was always a ‘no pineapple on a pizza’ girl for a long time until I tried this.”
They also make their baguette bread fresh every morning, adorning it with butter, garlic and cheese in a dish patrons love.
“Chef is a master soup maker, too,” Kay says, describing his tomato bisque and artichoke jalapeno bisque. Smoked Tomato Pie’s salads are made to be a meal for one person, the blue apple chicken concoction served on a “heaping beautiful dinner plate,” she adds.
“But the PPP is stupid good,” Kay reiterates.
Chef Rob has been making pizza professionally since 1992, and when asked what his favorite dish to make is, he replies, “I love cooking and baking, but I’d say especially soups, sauces and stews.”
Chef Rob says they are hitting Smoked Tomato Pie’s goals by providing a welcoming place for the community. “We wanted to change the perception of the food scene in Yreka, show that quality is available, and support local musicians. We have very popular events. I think that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Smoked Tomato Pie has live music every Wednesday from 6-8pm and hundreds of bands have played there, from single songwriters to full bands playing everything from bluegrass to rock. Even Chef Rob is
in a band called Honey Glove that plays there often.
“The bands get to stop and make a couple of bucks, and we feed them,” Kay says. She adds that overall, managing Smoked Tomato Pie is a blast. “It’s like throwing a party every single day. Our friends come in, we laugh and talk and have a good time.”
And just read the reviews. One on Facebook says: “The owners and staff make this place amazing! Everything is made from scratch and is so fresh, you can tell they pour their heart and soul into everything they do. They support local businesses and artists too. Go for the pizza, stay for the good vibes.” •
