Somers Oakfire Restaurant owner: Still passionate about pizza

Oakfire restaurants founder and owner David Scotney has been through a lot of changes since opening his first eatery a decade ago in Lake Geneva.

But one thing has stayed the same: His passion for food.

In particular, his passion for pizza.

He studied Neapolitan pizza making for more than a decade with "a master pizza maker, who worked in Naples," he said. "He trained me on all the original recipes. At the heart of our concept is authentic, Neapolitan pizza."

While that pizza remains at the heart of the Oakfire concept, other aspects of the Somers restaurant are changing.

A few weeks back, the venue's "Oakfire Reignited" event officially launched the restaurant's new menu and renovated dining space.

With an expanded menu featuring more pasta offerings, "we'd like to be known as a full Italian restaurant," Scotney said.

The menu expansion is reflected in the restaurant's new name: From Oakfire Pizzeria Napoletana to Oakfire Pizza & Italian.

The look of the dining area has changed, too, with a new, custom designed mahogany bar on the north end and more booths in place of tables and chairs.

Scotney and his crew spent about four months working on the new menu offerings, with an eye toward continuing to be "an elevated dining experience. We offer traditional favorites with a modern twist," he said.

Coming soon: Sazón

Visitors to the Somers location will notice an even bigger change ahead: The northern section of Oakfire is being renovated and will become Sazón: Tacos & Tequila, a venue with "a taco bar feel," Scotney said.

"It's our first time focusing on Mexican-style food, which gets back to my heritage," said Scotney, whose mother was from Mexico. "We're working on making this a fun place with an elevated food experience. We're still exploring what will be at the heart of the menu and are aiming for unique offerings in the new space."

The venue, which Scotney calls "a laid-back cantina," will open in early 2025 — assuming they have a place to cook.

"We have to build a second kitchen for this space," Scotney said, standing in what will eventually be that kitchen. "It's one of the things that's been taking a long time."

And if opening a Mexican eatery in Somers isn't enough of a challenge, Scotney and his partners are working on a supper club concept, too.

"We have to look at what works for each market," he said. "In Lake Geneva, we have a more streamlined menu because people go in and out of that restaurant quickly. It's a tourist town, and they're stopping in for a quick meal before doing other things. Here in Somers, we rely more on repeat customers, and they want a more relaxed experience."

His restaurant group also opened an Oakfire restaurant in the northern Wisconsin tourist town of Minocqua, "but it didn't fit that market," he said.

That property will reopen in the coming summer as a supper club, which Scotney said is more in keeping with the area's Northwoods vibe.

Oakfire restaurant prepares for grand reopening

OAKFIRE REIGNITED

If you go

What: Oakfire Pizza & Italian restaurant

When: Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

Where:

More information: Call 262-214-1913 or log on at oakfire.pizza.

Quick bites

In a wide-ranging talk at the Somers Oakfire location, founder and owner David Scotney talked about everything from pepperoni to the Chicago music scene:

His favorite pizza is the Verace Dop, the venue's signature Margherita pizza, topped with imported Bufala Mozzarella cheese.

"We fly that cheese in once a week from Italy," Scotney said. "It's five times more expensive than any other cheese in our building, but it's worth it. They've tried to replicate that cheese here in the U.S., but it just isn't the same."

The most popular dishes with Oakfire customers are the pepperoni pizza and the cheese curds appetizer.

He and his team are "always tweaking menu items, tying to take them from good to great. We listen to our guests and make even tiny little changes based on their feedback."

On a busy weekend in Lake Geneva, those Oakfire pizza ovens will pump out about a thousand pizzas a day. Over the past decade, he estimates "we've served more than 3 million guests in Lake Geneva. I love that."

How serious is Scotney about crafting authentic Neapolitan pizza? Serious enough to have a dedicated dough room. "We built it to replicate the traditional dough rooms, where it's always 60 degrees," he said.

Scotney prides himself on running "a family-based business" — for his customers and his employees.

"We listen to our guests, and we want to keep our employees happy, too," he said. "If the people working here are happy, that radiates through to the guests."

"We have families who work for us, with the kids starting here during high school," he said. "We had one woman who worked for us, and all her kids came to work here, too."

Being a part of the community also is important, Scotney said. Oakfire's Lake Geneva and Somers locations regularly donate to projects and groups including the Safe Harbor animal shelter, school reading programs and food pantries. "Wherever we are operating," he said, "we make a big commitment to the community."

Before getting into his graphic design work (which he still does) and, eventually, operating restaurants, Scotney was a Chicago musician. His band was called Janus and recorded five studio albums from 1994 to 2012. The band was known to mix alternative metal with non-traditional rock instruments, such as auxiliary percussion and electronic sounds.

The band gained popularity on rock radio stations across the U.S. due to the hit single "Eyesore" and toured the country. On May 3, 2019, the band released its first single since 2012, a cover of the song "Drive" by The Cars, with all of the proceeds going to a charity for bipolar disorder research.

"I had two young kids, and touring all the time and playing music was fun, but it wasn't sustainable," Scotney said. "I took all that creative energy I had poured into music and shifted it to food. Ten years later, I am still passionate about food."

The bottom line for him is "putting people in the right spot to be successful. We're always looking for ways to constantly improve our product. Even a tiny little thing — like upgrading the tomatoes we use — can make a huge difference." That's spoken like a man who hasn't lost his passion for food.

Features/GO Kenosha