Wizard of Za: Underground pizzeria opens a permanent storefront in Clintonville

Tyler Saunders
Thu, 11 Mar 2021 02:21:22 +0000
Arts & Life, food & drink, Instagram Page, News, anna kurfees, clintonville, clintonville ohio, Columbus, columbus community, comfort food, community, coronavirus, covid, COVID-19, davdi koechner, focaccia, focaccia crust, home oven, home-cooked, instagram, italian, italian community, italian-style, italian-style comfort food, jordan posner, kurfees, local business, local businesses, nina west, Ohio, ohio state, Ohio State football coach [and 26 more]

The Wizard of Za owner Spencer Saylor, putting a fresh-made pizza from scratch in the box for a customer to pick up. Credit: Courtesy of Steven Pavelka

The yellow brick road is passing through Clintonville, Ohio, bringing homemade pizza made popular through Instagram and enjoyed by the likes of Urban Meyer and Nina West.

The Wizard of Za, located at 4214 N. High St., offers Columbus residents the taste of authentic Sicilian-style pizza. In March 2020, Spencer Saylor, owner of the shop, made pizzas out of his own home oven and sold them to his close friends and family through what he called his “underground pizzeria.”

“It was kind of a happy accident,” Saylor said. “I was furloughed from my job due to the coronavirus for a couple of months so during that time it allowed me to really focus on my pizza making.”

Saylor used social media to promote his pies. He said when he started the company in March, he only had 800 followers on Instagram. Now, the page boasts over 27,000 followers.

Spencer Saylor, owner of the Wizard of Za, delivers a pizza to Urban Meyer, former Ohio State football coach, and Corey Dennis, quarterback coach. Credit: Courtesy of Spencer Saylor

Saylor has made pizzas for thousands of hungry customers, including former Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, actor and comedian David Koechner, celebrity chef Robert Irvine and Columbus-based drag queen Nina West.

Saylor said because it was a one-man show and there was such high demand, people had to reserve pizzas well ahead of time.?

“At its peak, we had more than 4,500 customers on the list that were waiting to try the pizza,” Saylor said.

After moving into a permanent space and hiring staff in December 2020, Saylor said they have been able to fulfill all the orders on the waitlist and move to an online ordering system. However, the demand is still high, and Saylor said they continue to sell out in a matter of 15 minutes from when new availability is added to the online calendar.

When Anna Kurfees, known as @behind_themenu on Instagram, saw the attention Wizard of Za was getting, she said she knew she wanted to be a part of it.

“I put my name on the waitlist, I think it was April 2020, and I got my first pizza in June of 2020,” Kurfees said. “For me, it was totally worth the wait. It was like the best pizza I’ve ever had.”

The first taste led Jordan Posner, known as @midwest_foodfest on Instagram, to visit several more times with her husband.?

“We loved it the first time and every single time that we have had it, but I feel like it gets better and better,” Posner said.

The inspiration for creating Wizard of Za stemmed from Saylor’s urge to relive his childhood of true Italian-style comfort food.?

“Ever since I have been here in Columbus, I haven’t found that same style of Italian food that I was used to,” Saylor said. “The Wizard of Za is a chance for me to showcase the style of pizza and Italian food that I grew up on.”

Saylor is from Youngstown, Ohio, which he said has a large Italian community that centers around home-cooked Italian food, and he said he can recall cooking with his family at an early age.?

“When I was younger, my dad used to always make pizza dough and sauce while my younger sister and I would get to top the pizzas,” Saylor said.?

In addition to its unique backstory, Saylor said his shop stands out from local pizzerias because he uses a base of focaccia crust — a thicker bread that is airy and fluffy.

The menu includes classics such as cheese and pepperoni pies with two specialties: the tomato and vodka pies. Each pizza features a sesame seed base on the crust and a drizzle of Mike’s Hot Honey. Saylor said each pie is made from scratch daily and with locally sourced ingredients.?

“Anything that we cannot make in-house, we try to find it locally, and part of that is to give back to the community and make sure that the local businesses are doing well,” Saylor said.?

Wizard of Za has partnered with HOMAGE and Anthology Collective to create apparel for the shop, with proceeds benefiting the Ohio Restaurant Associate Employee Relief Fund and Harper’s Corner Foundation.?

“We understand that we could not be where we are without our community, and it will continue to always be a major focus of ours to be giving back to our community,” Saylor said.