The Spread and El Segundo Owners Open Magic Five Pie Co. in East Norwalk

As if Carlos Baez wasn’t slammed enough as a partner and executive chef of The Spread and two El Segundo restaurants, he has added another gig to the mix…

Pizzaiolo.

Located at the East Norwalk train station in a lower level of the new Brim & Crown apartments is Magic Five Pie Co., a name that stands for the five owners including Baez, Chris Hickey, Christopher Rasile, Andrey Cortes, and Shawn Longyear.

An inviting view from the outside looking in

Inviting inside, too. Magic Five’s mural was created by local artist, Fivefingaz. Baez said it has meaning outside of the logo standing for the five owners. “We started with wood on the walls because we were originally going to do wood-fire,” he says. “The walls were charred to represent charcoal, and the red represents fire.”

But from New American at The Spread and global street food at El Segundo, to pizza?

Baez simply wanted to challenge himself to not only to learn to make something different, but he also wanted to make his favorite food. “Pizza is my favorite thing to eat,” he says. “If I knew a meal was going to be my last, it would be a good pie.”

Six salads and roasted cauliflower are your veggie choices, but there’s also a crab stuffed avocado with Asian nuances of sriracha mayo, unagi sauce, and crispy forbidden rice.

Baez revealed that he got bit by the pizza bug when he and the guys opened El Segundo in New Haven. It was natural for them—being in what’s arguably the pizza capitol of the world—to eat at Sally’s, Pepe’s, Modern, and BAR several times over. And that’s in part their pizza inspiration.

Now with an idea to branch out into something new, Baez began to learn about pizza and mess around with dough recipes. He furthered that knowledge by taking classes and experimenting in the demo kitchen at Forza Forni in Brewster, NY.

The rest of the artwork you see on the walls are from Hickey’s online searches, from flea markets, and from his cell phone (like the photo of the LEGENDARY Fernando who you’ll usually see bartending at The Spread). The Kurt Cobain drawing was found at a flea market being sketched by a vendor. After some haggling, Hickey was able to snatch it up.

After the crash courses in the famed Forza Forni ovens and all things dough and fermentation, Baez kept it going but he, Hickey, Rasile, Cortes, and Longyear weren’t thrilled after hosting a few under-the-radar pop-ups on a mobile Forza Forni oven. It all needed some tinkering if they were going to do this and do it to their high standards.

“Lil Guy” is a take on a pepperoni pizza with fresh mozzarella, hot oil, and pungent, earthy, sweet notes from a drizzling of truffle honey. “I didn’t think a pepperoni pizza would be the initial popular one, but it is,” Hickey says.

Marg up front, Black Manhattan in the back. Longyear, who created the bar program at Magic Five, teased that we can expect a menu of spritzes in warmer seasons.

“I tried using more water, less water, different flours, different fermentation times, and I finally got a dough that I like,” Baez says. “We’re doing a 48-hour cold fermentation, which is our goal to be at 48. If we have some leftover balls from the previous night, you might eat some at 72-hours, but I don’t want to go beyond that. Higher fermentation is almost too light, like sourdough. The good thing about where we have it now, is you can eat a pie or two and it won’t feel heavy.”

Their logo stamped custom built Forza Forni can get up to 1200 degrees and rotates pizzas automatically. It’s a gas oven with baskets for blocks of wood or wood chips, but Baez opted not to use wood after pizza trials. “It has the ability for wood chips, but we noticed it doesn’t take any flavor from the chips, so we’re keeping it gas,” he says.

Now that they’re in the modern art deco space with a custom gas powered Forza Forni cranking out pies in 90 seconds at 750 or so degrees, they’re happy with the creations they’re slicing and serving. “It’s totally different than a New York pie,” Baez says. “What we’re trying to create is the char you get (on the bottom) in New Haven pizza but with a touch of Neapolitan.”

A potato pie that’s a mashup of Sally’s and BAR. If you know, you know.

The menu—that’s basically raw bar, salads, and pizza—does include New Haven tributes with a fresh tomato pie (red sauce, garlic, fresh tomatoes, oregano, basil, EVOO), a white clam pie called “The Bruce” (Copps Island littlenecks, garlic, oregano, parm, lemon, EVOO), and a potato pie with thin sliced potatoes, heaps of caramelized onions, salty bacon chunks, fontina cheese, and chives.

Pastor!

But amongst the 18-deep list of pizza creations there are a couple of nods to their other restaurants. The “Pastor” is a take on El Segundo’s popular al pastor tacos with seasoned, crumbled pork, grilled pineapple, caramelized onions, cilantro, and smoky arbol sauce. We’re guessing they don’t care if you disagree with pineapple as a pizza topping. It’s likely why they’ll further push the envelope with a nod to their flagship, The Spread, with an iteration of their beef tongue crostini with arugula and truffle vinaigrette. Only this time, the pizza crust is the vehicle.

Longyear’s drink list includes organic wine, mostly local craft beer, negroni and prosecco are on tap also. Pictured here? A beer cocktail! Beer Americano is SoNo Brew Co.’s lager with Campari and Carpano Antica.

Negroni

Baez revealed that Magic Five will continue flexing its creativity. “Burrata with peaches and arugula is one of my favorite seasonal dishes at The Spread, so why not that on a pizza?” he says. “I want to have fun, keep it interesting.”

When I posed the question about him making a Mexican street corn pizza, Baez replied with, “Yeah, we should do that.”

It’s likely you’ll encounter some wild stuff at Magic Five and that’s the point. But sure, you can still create your own pizza or go the margherita route if you wish.

Finish up with chocolate soft serve. More flavors should be on the way and Baez mentioned a few dessert pizzas could follow.

Coming soon, as in when we can wear short sleeved shirts without freezing, is an outdoor bar with patio lights, umbrellas, plenty of outdoor seating, and a movie projector for your viewing pleasure. Brunch pizzas will eventually debut on weekends as well.

Until then, pull up, sip on a cocktail, local craft beer, or a glass of organic wine, slurp some oysters, stab at a salad, and scarf down a pie. The flames of the pizza oven will keep you toasty until they roll out the patio come springtime.

230 East Avenue (at Brim & Crown); Norwalk
203.354.3109; magic5pieco.com