Ballpark Commons in Franklin has added Brick Pizzeria & Ristorante to its growing roster of food and beverage offerings.
Situated adjacent to Luxe Golf Bays driving range, the wood-fired pizza eatery opened Tuesday, offering a menu of Italian-inspired dishes including fresh-made pastas, sandwiches, salads and entrees. It also features a classic Italian wine list and chef’s table seating for groups of six to 10.
It’s the second Brick location for restaurateur Leopoldo Demusis, who first opened the restaurant in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in 2016. Several years later, it was there where Demusis met Mike Zimmerman, owner and chief executive officer of ROC Ventures and developer behind Ballpark Commons, who had frequented Brick during annual trips to Steamboat with his family.
Upon meeting Demusis, Zimmerman floated the idea of potentially partnering to bring a Brick location to Franklin.
“I obviously was very, very excited,” Demusis said in an interview with BizTimes Milwaukee.
Soon after, Demusis made the trip out to Franklin to check out the sprawling Ballpark Commons mixed-use development district, discuss details of the potential partnership and learn about local “pizza culture.” That trip was his first-ever visit to Wisconsin.
“Once I was out there and saw how beautiful the campus was and everything (Mike) was doing for the city of Franklin and the community, I was extremely excited to be involved in it,” he said.
Demusis’ background in pizza making is rooted in family history. His father, Giovanni, immigrated to the U.S. as a young man from a small town outside of Naples, called Sant’Angelo all’Esca. Years later, Giovanni brought his own family to spend every summer in his hometown.
“I really got to grow up in a culture that just loved food,” Demusis said.
He opened his first restaurant, a ski-in ski-out breakfast and lunch spot called The Paramount, in Steamboat about 17 years ago but it was always his dream to open a traditional Neapolitan pizzeria. When the opportunity came along to purchase real estate for another restaurant, he jumped on it and went to build a brick oven for what would later become Brick.
“My family and I looked forward to visiting Brick as a ‘must do’ on every annual Steamboat trip,” said Zimmerman. “We’re beyond thrilled to have such an amazing and authentic Italian eatery right here in Franklin.”
Demusis is part owner of Brick’s Franklin location, with Zimmerman and Jim Pekar, ROC Ventures partner and chairman, as majority owners. The pair are also the local franchisees for the nearby Dog Haus, which opened at Ballpark Commons late last year.
Having a minority stake in Brick Pizzeria & Ristorante allows Demusis to remain actively involved in the concept without the responsibility of running day-to-day operations. While planning for the restaurant got off the ground, he and his wife lived in Waterford for two months. Now that it’s open, he’ll stay for a week at a time and relies on technology to stay in constant communication with the team while residing full time in Steamboat.
“They can send me pictures, we do video calls to look over the food to make sure it’s where we want it. … Even this morning, I’ve already talked to three people from Brick and Ballpark Commons,” Demusis said on Tuesday’s opening day.
Brick Pizzeria’s 20-person team is made up largely of workers who were already employed at other Ballpark Commons establishments like Luxe Golf, which opened last summer and has a bar on every floor, two restaurants and a year-round brewpub called Hinterhof. Demusis said it’s been helpful to have, essentially, a pool of employees from which to recruit for front-of-house positions.
Brick is open Tuesday through Thursday from 4-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 4-10 p.m. and Sunday from 4-9 p.m. Delivery is available throughout the Ballpark Commons campus.
Located at West Loomis Road and West Rawson Avenue, Ballpark Commons includes Franklin Field (the 4,000-seat ballpark where the Milwaukee Milkmen and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball teams play), residential development and office and retail space.
