A city committee moved plans for a new pizza restaurant forward and came closer to removing liquor license conditions from a downtown bar at its meeting Wednesday night.

The owner of Ian’s Pizza, Madisonian Ian Gurfield, will be opening a new restaurant called S2 Pizza Bar on the 500 block of State Street.
The committee recommended S2’s liquor license for approval, meaning the restaurant now must be approved by City Council in order to obtain its liquor license. 

Although S2 Pizza Bar and Ian’s Pizza are both owned by Gurfield, he said the two restaurants will not be similar. S2 Pizza Bar will provide a different experience, he said. 

There are currently three Ian’s Pizza restaurants located in Wisconsin with two residing in Madison and one in Milwaukee. A second Milwaukee location is set to debut in the near future.  

Gurfield said he wanted to do something a little different with the new restaurant, citing ideas such as a wood-burning oven, differing pizza crusts and a different, more expanded menu. 

“I was looking for a challenge,” Gurfield said. “It’s a passion project.” 

Gurfield said the restaurant will be named after his wife and grandmother, both of whom have names beginning with the letter S.
On the application submitted to the Alcohol License Review Commission, Gurfield listed the anticipated opening date as Nov. 1. 

ALRC also voted to recommend removing restrictive conditions placed on Segredo’s liquor license following two incidents involving guns that occurred last spring.
According to a Madison Police Department statement, the first incident involved an employee who found a loaded gun on the club’s floor and failed to report the situation to authorities immediately. 

Segredo’s owner, Michael Hierl, said this was the result of “an inexplicable lapse of an employee doing something very stupid.”

Yet another incident took place outside the bar last summer during which two men shot and injured three individuals.

“The thought of someone shooting on the 600 block of University never occurred to me,” Hierl said. 

In order to remove conditions of Segredo’s liquor license, Hierl was required to issue a weekly incidents log to MPD outlining any incidents. Hierl was also required to create a new employee handbook and attend Wednesday’s ALRC meeting to state his case. 

MPD Captain Carl Gloede gave a favorable report on Segredo’s incidents log. Hierl said within the past few weekends, the club had many big shows with crowds of more than 600 people and only around two or three minor incidents resulted. 

Hierl said he reviewed drafts of the employee handbook and was confident it was almost finalized. 

Since the serious incident, Segredo’s has changed staffing, made a safer environment, increased relationships with the community and has continued working with police on the street, Hierl said. Segredo’s is proving its positive development with behavior instead of words, he said.

“Segredo’s has taken a great music venue and made it great,” he said.

City Council will discuss ALRC’s reccomendations concerning Segredo’s liquor license and, ultimately, make the decision on whether the conditions will be removed when its meets next in October.