OGDEN — The Oaks restaurant is preparing for a new chapter after being closed since 2021. The historic Ogden Canyon landmark, that was open more than 100 years, is almost ready to welcome the public again.
“People in this community love the Oaks, and I want to bring it back — make it my own, but bring it back,” said new owner David Neal. “But that same memory of what it was that they have in their head, and that’s going to be really hard.”
Neal is no stranger to Ogden and has cherished memories of the Oaks. He grew up in Clinton and attended Clearfield High School.
As the oldest of five children, he recalls family outings up the canyon to Pineview reservoir, when stopping at the Oaks for ice cream became a special reward.
“My dad would use it as a carrot for us,” he said. “We would go up the canyon to Pineview, and he’d say, ‘If you guys are really good, we’ll stop for some ice cream at the Oaks.'”
Neal hopes to keep the restaurant’s history alive. The ice cream shop at the entrance will exclusively offer Farr’s ice cream — a tradition dating to the 1930s when the locale served hot dogs, pink popcorn and Farr’s ice cream through a takeout window during summer months.
With a background as a statistician, math professor and culinary instructor, Neal’s journey has taken him from Alaska to California and back to Utah. Neal teaches math at Weber State University and culinary arts at Ogden-Weber Technical College. Despite a successful career at Wells Fargo, his ultimate passion is in culinary arts.
“When I retired, I said, ‘I want to do something different.’ I had gone to culinary school in California. I just didn’t finish the program because … I had a choice: Quit my very high-paying job in San Francisco, or go set myself up to make $50,000 a year as a line cook (or) chef somewhere. And I just opted out.”
When Neal opened his first restaurant in the Bay Area, juggling his career at Wells Fargo and the restaurant was too much for his wife, Cora Neal.
“My wife gave me another ultimatum, and said, ‘You have to quit the restaurant … or quit your job.’ And I opted to sell the restaurant there,” he said.
Once the couple returned to Utah, Cora Neal began working as a math professor at Weber State, and David Neal quit Wells Fargo and pursued cooking.
“People find it hard to believe, but … I just want to do something different,” he said. Although Neal still teaches, that didn’t stop him from jumping back into the restaurant game.
“We actually looked at another restaurant down the hill … called Gray Cliff. But it scared me too much,” Neal said. “And my real estate agent said, ‘Have you ever thought about the Oaks?’ And I fell in love.”
The couple closed escrow in February and began work on remodeling and fixing the restaurant, which had been abandoned for years. Neal described spending months sanitizing, cleaning and repairing it after finding the restaurant in a poor state.
Now the restaurant is in its final stages, with the pressure on Neal to complete things before the doors open to the public — there’s a tentative opening date set for Nov. 15.
The excitement surrounding the Oaks was evident one recent morning. Drivers passing through Ogden Canyon noticed vehicles outside, and cars repeatedly pulled into the parking lot, despite “coming soon” signs still in the window. One young man, eager to work there, even knocked on the door, hoping for an immediate interview.
“I want it to feel like the Oaks once felt — but me. And I feel like we’ve done it,” Neal said.
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