Family brings wood fired pizza to DeKalb

Feeding With Flame

Family of Restaurateurs Brings Wood Fired Pizza to DeKalb

By: Kelley White

Family is central to the new wood fired pizzeria in DeKalb. Zana’s Wood Fire Pizza is named after the daughter of co-owner Chefli Redjepi and the beautiful birds that nest in the Macedonian mountains. While Zana’s may be a younger business in the community, it creates an incredible first impression. Before opening Zana’s, Chefli Redjepi owned restaurants in Macedonia and gained valuable experience in Italy. Redjepi’s wife Fateme recounts Zana’s beginnings and how the burgeoning business is finding success in DeKalb. “It’s my husband’s restaurant, and it was his idea,” Fateme Redjepi said. “He’s from Macedonia and we’re Albanian. There, he owned a couple of restaurants, and he worked for a little bit in Italy. That’s where he kind of learned pizza, pasta and other foods along those lines. He opened a couple of restaurants in Macedonia, and we met because my father is Albanian, and we would go back to Macedonia from time to time. We got married and came back over here and ever since, he had been looking for a restaurant. With his uncle, they found the location in DeKalb.” Like her husband, Fateme Redjepi has a plenty of experience in the restaurant business – she grew up in the food service industry in Rockford, where the couple currently lives. She said Chefli makes

Chefli Redjepi (left) and Fateme Redjepi

ZANA’S WOOD FIRE PIZZA

1406 Sycamore Road DeKalb, IL 60115 (815) 517-0733

Hours:

Tuesday-Friday 4-9 p.m. Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

the 45-minute commute each day to DeKalb because they loved the restaurant’s location. They believe DeKalb is the perfect destination for a wood fired pizza oven. Pizzerias around Chicago sprout up like dandelions in a field, but wood fired-style pizza is still somewhat of a novelty to the suburbs. “My husband really wanted to do wood fired pizza because that’s what he’s worked with overseas,” Redjepi said. “My own family never really did anything like pizzas, we were more like pancake houses. My husband did wood fired pizzas well, so he really wanted to do that in his restaurant.” DeKalb caught Redjepi’s eye right away, and it didn’t hurt that the landlord welcomed the installation of a wood fired pizza oven, a request that previously created snags for the family when searching for locations. “They were looking around the whole area, where we are at in Rockford and surrounding areas around Rockford, and nothing was really standing out to them,” Redjepi said. “If we liked something, they couldn’t put the wood fired pizza oven in it, but my husband was determined – that’s what he wanted to do and that’s what his specialty is, so when we saw the DeKalb location we thought ‘wow’, and it just so happens that everything worked out.” The community wasted no time in embracing Zana’s. Redjepi credits the community with being extremely supportive toward new businesses. “My dad’s owned a lot of restaurants, but the customers here in DeKalb are very welcoming,” she said. “They really are. The first couple of weeks that we were open, we were so welcomed – there was a couple who had owned a restaurant in the DeKalb area who said we were the first ones to open an Italian restaurant in DeKalb in a very long time. She was so thrilled we were there; she couldn’t wait to try the pizza. The community is extremely nice.” The restaurant business is an essential part of the Redjepi family, and their tireless efforts have helped shape their work ethic and values.

“It’s a great business to be in because you meet so many people and that, I think, is the best education you can get sometimes,” Redjepi said. “You can go to school for years and you can’t get a better education than sitting down and having a conversation with someone who’s lived 85 years. Sitting with them, watching them enjoy the food you’ve made them, and listening to them talk about their life is invaluable. It’s also very therapeutic to be in the kitchen with nothing but orders in front of you to fulfill.” Redjepi credits growing up in her father’s restaurants as the catalyst for nearly everything in her life. “The restaurant business is what gave me my work ethic, got me through school – everything I have is due to the work we put into the restaurant, the work that my dad put into the restaurant,” she said. “He was gone all day, and he didn’t want to be gone all day, but sometimes you have to sacrifice and work hard to achieve the things you want.” For Chefli Redjepi, the restaurant business is a place for his perfectionist nature to thrive. Fateme Redjepi said it is important to her husband that every order is the highest quality. “If he wouldn’t eat it, he wouldn’t serve it,” she said. “That’s one thing about him – he doesn’t cut corners anywhere and he wouldn’t do it, no matter what.” Redjepi said her husband’s devotion to his craft and his commitment to quality work helps set Zana’s apart from other restaurants. “I think my husband’s attitude to the food and how he wants his customers served is unique. You don’t find the dedication and the hours he puts in, and the perfection he expects from himself and the food that he makes in other restaurants,” she said. “I, myself, have worked in the kitchen and there were times when it was so busy and everyone was so tired, but regardless of how many hours he put in that day or how tired he was, he didn’t serve it unless it was perfect. I think that is what ultimately makes Zana’s unique. He’s got a dedication to it I can’t explain.” Zana’s was established by a family, and their family brings those values to their employees, creating an environment of hardworking individuals focused on the same goal. “We are family-oriented – the staff up front is very friendly,” Redjepi said. “In order to work in a place, you’ve all got to have the same kind of goals and mentality, so I would say the atmosphere is a lot like my husband. He wants to make sure the employees feel like they’re at home and like they’re a part of a family. When you make the employees feel comfortable like that, it creates a great atmosphere, and it comes across to the customers.”

Since opening, Zana’s has served countless staples of Italian cuisine, but perhaps their most famous dish is, of course, the DeKalb Pizza featuring sausage, mushrooms, and cheese. “The DeKalb Pizza goes like crazy,” Redjepi said. “Overall, the pizzas and the calzones are the most popular.” For some, success is about finding purpose while looking forward to cultivating more achievements. “What we want for Zana’s future is growth,” Redjepi said. “My husband simply wants to see it triumph.”