LIBN: Pie Craft opening new restaurant in Wantagh

A new Pie Craft pizza bar opens this weekend in Wantagh.

This is the second Pie Craft restaurant on Long Island, following one in Island Park that opened in Dec. 2014.

The new Pie Craft was built in the 3,400-square-foot space formerly occupied by Friendly’s in the Willow Wood Shoppes shopping center on Wantagh Ave. The restaurant, a build-your-own pizza concept, also features a 1,500-square-foot outdoor patio on the south side of the building. There are 65 seats inside and another 45 seats outside.

Longtime restaurateurs Chris Dolan and Tom Corning are planning to open five Pie Craft restaurants on the Island. The next site is likely to be located in Commack, Dolan said. The partners opened their first eatery, Café Laguna in Long Beach, in 1997, which they eventually sold.

Dolan describes Pie Craft as a “hip family restaurant,” and chose the Wantagh site because of its impressive demographics. The restaurant lets patrons design their own pizzas and offers 55 different toppings. What sets Pie Craft apart from similar build-your-own pizza chains, Dolan says, is its focus on healthy ingredients. The restaurant has two ovens, with one of them designed to specifically bake gluten-free pizzas.

Pie Craft in Wantagh will have a soft opening on Nov. 5 and an official grand opening on Nov. 19.

Robert Delavale of Breslin Realty brokered the lease for the new Pie Craft restaurant.