Norwalk's Best Kept Secret: Magic 5 Pie Co. Makes Sicilian Style Pizza

I can’t put my finger on exactly when it was or where I first saw it, but early in 2025, I spotted a pizza at Magic 5 Pie Co. that left me both curious and confused.

Known for their charred, crispy/chewy, light artisan pizza, I noticed a different shape. This one wasn’t round like their everyday pies. It was square.

Later in the year while chatting with one of Magic 5’s owners, Shawn Longyear, who co-owns the pizzeria, along with The Spread, and El Segundo with Christopher Rasile, Andrey Cortes, and Chris Hickey, I couldn’t help but ask about it.

“It’s a Sicilian,” Longyear says. “We been doing it a while. I don’t know. You gotta ask Rasile about it. He’s the pizza guy.”

The folklore behind this style? Depends who you ask, or what you’d like to believe, but early credit for a Sicilian goes to the nuns of the Monastery of San Vito in Palermo, Italy. Known then as sfincione, some of its early toppings were béchamel, offal, peas, and later, sardines, cheese, and local ingredients were thrown on top. “It’s big around the holidays,” Rasile says.

That got me thinking. Whenever I was asked about where to get a decent Sicilian slice, I’d tell people to go to Sal’s in Mamaroneck. That was always my favorite one within a reasonable driving distance. A few friends of mine chimed in on this with their favorites like Slice of Stamford (you can thank Daniel Del Ferraro for this one) and Glenville Pizza in Greenwich, a recommendation from Jared Falco who added, “Get it with vodka sauce and ask for it well done.”

Still, Magic 5’s, a Sicilian Margherita, had a hold of me.

How are they making the dough? How are they making it in a Fiero Group 800+ degree gas powered brick oven? The R&D? And why is it not listed on the regular menu?!

CORNER SLICE!

Rasile mentioned the measurements being the toughest part, well, that, and nailing down which size pan.

“The first pan was huge. It would have been a giant pie. The end result is about 1.5 to two inches thick and the oven will create that rise in the dough. Sicilian’s are usually ‘meatier,’ but ours is almost getting into that sourdough stage. That’s what we like, and it’s easier to digest, and it tastes better to me.”

“We’ve had it like six months,” Rasile says. “I’ve always wanted to do it. I’m half Sicilian. One of my first jobs in the industry when I was like 16 or 17 was at a pizzeria, Arcuri’s Deli, the original one in Old Greenwich. They showed me how to make it. Ours is very different, but the end result is the same.”

Rasile continues: “Traditionally, you would stretch it in the pan and let it rise before you bake it. Usually that’s done around 500 degrees at most pizzerias. The ovens and the dough’s hydration, it’s right for that style. They’ll usually bake it, take it out, then when someone orders, they’ll bake it again with the toppings on it. It might take 20 minutes combined from start to finish.”

Unlike a grandma pizza, where the dough is typically not fermented very long or at all, and usually thinner, crispier, and denser, a Sicilian needs fermentation to get that rise, resulting in a more pillowy, chewier crust.

Magic 5’s Sicilian dough is not different at all from the dough they use for their round pies. It’s a long, cold fermentation for 48 hours. The end result is a more digestible, lighter version of a Sicilian, similar to focaccia.

An ode to Pepe’s summer tomato pie using fresh ones from Chris & Blair Hickey’s garden. It’s not on the menu, but if you ask nicely, and if they have the ingredients, they’ll happily oblige.

“It takes three of our regular doughs to make one Sicilian,” Rasile explains. “We roll it into a bigger ball, ferment that, then bring it up at room temp for a few hours. If someone orders one, it’s stretched into an olive oiled Lloyd Pan, then olive oil on top (of the dough). No poking hole in it, none of that. It goes into the oven about three minutes maybe. After 90 seconds we take it out, flip it, it goes back in, we top it, so, OK, maybe it’s about a four-minute pie in our oven. The way we make our dough is equipped for the high temp.” 

This Sicilian is easily one of Norwalk’s more under-the-radar pizzas and it’s still not gotten a permanent home on the regular menu. Psst! You’ll see it on Magic 5’s “specials” menu.

However, Rasile did mention that they only do a certain amount per day, like 7-10 total Sicilians, and the Margherita is NOT mandatory!

“The marg is on special, but you can get anything you want on it,” he says. “I did one last week…shrimp scampi. You can put anything on pizza. If someone wants one of the other pizzas, but on a Sicilian, sure. If you want something different, or weird, we’ll do it if we have it in the kitchen.”