Thirty years ago, Grandview Avenue was, as Peter Danis, owner of Figlio Wood Fired Pizza recalls, a little on the “sleepy side.” At the time, there was only one other restaurant, The Gourmet Market, which would later become Spagio.
“It wasn’t as hip or trendy and would be a place you would have to discover for the first time because people were not talking about it,” he says.
The area was still years away from becoming the destination for food and entertainment we know today. But the area intrigued Danis and would soon help him kick start a new path in life.
Long before the thought of becoming a restaurateur crossed his mind, Danis dedicated his studies and early career to practicing law.
Danis met his wife Laurie at The Ohio State University while they were both studying law in the ’80s. The two would go on to practice for several years. Peter worked in real estate with The Wendy’s Company and Laurie worked in the prison system. However, when their first daughter Kevlin was born, Danis had a sudden realization.
“I decided that life was too short to practice law, and wanted to do something on a daily basis that offered the same level of joy, happiness and passion that I felt right then,” Danis says. “What would give us that feeling would be to work together and work in an area that would bring joy to other people and do something that would allow us to be creative all the time.”
It was 1989, and that realization became the start of a two-year journey that would eventually lead the couple back to Grandview Avenue. Flash forward more than 30 years and the Danises and their restaurant Figlio are now cornerstones of the Tri-Village community.
Their longevity and success can be attributed to the restaurant’s strong focus on details and the family-oriented environment.
Danis, Laurie and their three daughters Kevlin, Cameron and Kenzie.
Law and Order Up
The Danises’ first time working in a restaurant was opening night of Figlio’s Grandview location in November 1991. Though the food industry was brand new to them, lessons learned from their previous careers in law aided them in the early days.
“The practice of law is all about details, every word is important in law. Cases are won and lost based on a single word,” Danis says. “Laurie and I are both detail-oriented and purists.”
For example, during the two years it took for the Danises to plan out their restaurant, one of the big tasks was to develop pizza dough. At the time, they read many cookbooks, and one in particular was written by an up-and-coming chef and restaurateur, Wolfgang Puck.
There was a dough recipe in his book, Wolfgang Puck’s Adventures in the Kitchen, that intrigued them, but as Danis recalls, there was one part in particular that confused the couple. The recipe was simple but the Danises thought there had to be a catch.
“Every word is important, so we decided, there’s only one way to figure out, did he mean this or did he mean that?” Danis says. “We bought plane tickets to San Francisco in search of Wolfgang Puck.”
A world-renowned pie: The Danises have graced the cover of Pizza Today magazine three times in Figlio’s 30 years. Out of thousands of restaurants across the United States, this is a noteworthy achievement.
After searching four of his restaurants from San Francisco to Los Angeles, they found Puck in the dining room at Postrio, walking back to the kitchen.
“We stopped him and had a dough conversation because every word was important,” Danis says. “There are 1,000 ways you can fail in the restaurant business and we just tried to keep that number as low as possible.”
Danis recalls the conversation not being entirely too long, but he was gracious that the chef took some time to speak to two young and eager restaurant owners.
“He explained to us that some things are very classic and simple,” Danis says. “People had been baking dough for 1,000 years in wood-fired ovens. It was that simple. So we thanked him and enjoyed a fabulous meal prepared by him and his staff.”
After perfecting their dough recipe, Danis chose to have pizza and pasta serve as the foundation of their restaurant because of the freedom of creativity it presented.
“A pizza crust and a bowl of plain noodles, we viewed as a canvas to paint on,” Danis says. “We wanted to find a way to paint in such a way that it would always be timeless. You start with a blank canvas and then build the palette of vegetables, proteins and sauces as people’s tastes and trends come and go.”
Rick Buchanan
One Big Family
Perhaps the biggest contribution to the Danises’ longevity in the Tri-Village area is the family-oriented environment they strive to create.
“Whenever you have a married couple working together, I think that alone says, ‘Challenge!’” Danis says.
The Danises have three daughters who all have worked with the restaurant in some capacity over the years. Their middle daughter Cameron is currently a manager at the Grandview location.
Although the two would like to say that business and personal life are separate, their love for cooking and the industry often follows them home.
Both are health-oriented and focus on buying local and organic foods whenever possible. In her spare time, Laurie has two beehives from which they harvest honey, and Peter raises chickens.
“It’s a hard thing to separate, you tend to take it home with you,” Danis says. “Laurie is, in essence, on the clock 24/7 because we don’t necessarily have a go-to meal at home. She’s always playing in the kitchen at home and here, too.”
Perhaps not so surprisingly, then, is that much of what you’ll find on the menu at Figlio is inspired at least in part by what Laurie is working on in her home kitchen.
“I pick one thing to start the process and like to do something outside the flavor profile of what we’re doing at the restaurant,” Laurie says. “Recently, I’ve been playing with gochujang and making different sauces out of that. Once something gets to the point at home when we think it’s good, I work to optimize and scale it up.”
30 Years of Bliss
The success of their first restaurant on Grandview Avenue led to a second Figlio opening on Riverside Drive in 1996, followed by a third in Danis’ hometown of Kettering in 2003.
2020 was a year that stuck out the most and presented the largest challenges since opening. To keep themselves and the restaurants afloat, the Danises furloughed all 175 of their employees. It was not a decision they took lightly.
“From an emotional standpoint, I will never forget the day that I sent the email out to furlough our entire staff, including our daughter,” Danis says. “That was emotionally challenging. Some of them might have only been with us for a year as a college student. I may never see 175 people ever again and can’t thank them again.”
Luckily, with Paycheck Protection Program funding and employee retention credit, the Danises were able to welcome back all employees. To Danis, that homecoming has been the most rewarding.
It is evident how much the Danis family is invested in not only Figlio but the Upper Arlington and Grandview communities. Danis and Laurie played a big part in the transformation of Grandview Avenue and what it is today.
“We brought a vibrant crowd of 20-somethings to the area who were adventurous,” Danis says. “After we opened, Spagio converted and that’s when people started noticing. Nowadays, it’s so much hipper and trendier. … My gosh, the number of restaurants.”
While the region has evolved, in the Danises’ eyes, it is the people they have worked with that influenced their success and the evolution of their restaurant.
“We have offered young people a safe space, where they feel respected, they are appreciated,” Danis says. “We listen to them and offer feedback and that’s what really makes 30 years feel like it’s been 30 days.”
Rocco Falleti is an associate editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
