DAYTON — On Tuesday, Nov. 15, The Wizard of Za will open up its doors to the Dayton community. The pizza concept opened its first restaurant in 2020 in Columbus where it quickly grew to become a Sicilian-style staple and was voted “Best New Restaurant ” in its inaugural year.
The family friendly eatery is a concept of Paceline Restaurant Partners, which owns and operates FUSIAN, a fast-casual sushi restaurant, as well as Hunny Bee’s Crispy Fried, a hand breaded fried chicken restaurant.
“With the addition of The Wizard of Za, we will have all three of our restaurant concepts operating in Dayton and the Brown Street corridor,” said Stephan Harman, co-founder of Paceline Restaurant Partners. “We’ll only need four more options, and we’ll have something tasty for every day of the week!”
Dylan Jones, The culinary wizard and operating partner has been spending the past 10 months discerning dough, chasing cheese and perfecting pizza.
“We can’t wait for you to meet “Oscar,” the name of our mother dough,” said Jones. “No joke, we found him in Sicily and he’s been producing authentic focaccia in some capacity for over 75 years!”
In truth, Sicilian-style pizza is unlike most local pizza restaurants and The Wizard is excited to add another style to the table. The Wizard produces a focaccia bread, with a sesame seed crust and adds house made sauce (red or vodka) and topped with familiar and traditional toppings, like cup-and-char pepperoni and house made sausage.
As they’ve found their footing in Columbus and started to grow, Wizard of Za is excited to officially announce their opening in Dayton, where they will begin serving their famous pizzas, appetizers, salads and locally made desserts on Nov. 15.
During their grand opening the first 100 people to visit the Wizard of Za on opening day, Tuesday, Nov. 15, will receive a free slice of pizza.