Those who attend Wine on the Fox at Hudson Crossing Park next month will get a taste of what Billy Bricks Pizza will offer when it opens its restaurant in downtown Oswego later this year.

Billy Bricks Pizza is one of the food vendors at Wine on the Fox, which will be held May 2-3. The wood-fired pizza restaurant and its Moo Joe’s ice cream shop is opening in a vacant building at 5 S. Madison St., next door to Freddie’s Off the Chain restaurant and across Jefferson Street from the Oswego Public Library.

“We’re really excited,” Billy Bricks Pizza CEO Ric Gruber said. “This is going to be a big opening for us.”

Previous tenants in the building include Jinxy’s Studio Boutique, Dusty Road Merchants, The Garden Faire and Keith’s Car Care.

The restaurant will be open seven days a week.

The Oswego location will be the chain’s first southwest location. Billy Bricks Pizza has restaurants in several communities, including Naperville, Wheaton, Lombard, Oak Park and Highwood.

“I could not be more excited about it,” Oswego Village President Ryan Kauffman said. “We’re really looking forward to them being open and I’m going to be one of the first people there grabbing a slice of pizza and some ice cream.”

Patrons will literally be able to watch as their food is being made.

“We have an open kitchen concept, so you can see everything,” Gruber said.

His stepdad, Bill Wilson, started the business in 2005, opening the restaurant’s first location in Lombard.

Wilson retired from the business in 2023. Last year, Billy Bricks Pizza celebrated its 20th anniversary.

“I think longevity speaks volumes,” Gruber said. “When we can go this long and be this successful in as many places as we are, you know that we’re doing something right. We use the highest quality ingredients we can. We still make almost everything fresh onsite, including our dough. This is going to be a destination location with unique food.”

As Gruber noted, everything is made fresh. Besides pizza, Billy Bricks also sells a variety of sandwiches.

“We’re looking forward to being the go-to lunch spot,” he said. “We’re the busiest lunch spot in Lombard, and we have been for 20 years.”

The restaurant also sells pasta dishes and other items. Along with inside seating, Billy Bricks will also feature an outdoor patio deck.

Gruber plans to have a visible presence in the Oswego location, just like he does at the other locations. He started out in the organization making sandwiches and still is involved in food preparation.

“When we do the opening, I’ll be in the kitchen,” he said. “I don’t want to be behind a desk. The fun is being on your feet, moving around, staying active, talking to people, and making the food. That’s the fun part.”

The Moo Joe’s ice cream store will encompass its own space within the building. Moo Joe’s sells super-premium ice cream made from a 14% butterfat mix, 35-40% overrun, cane sugar and small-farm Wisconsin milk.

“Our ice cream is the cherry on top of what we do,” Gruber said. “At this particular location, we’re also going to have our ice cream sandwiches, floats, and fizzy shakes, which are soda based milkshakes.”