By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published Jan 03, 2011 at 6:01 PM

The popular Bay View pizza joint Classic Slice moves on up to the East Side Wednesday night, when it opens the doors on its second location.

The restaurant takes over part of the space once occupied by the Downer Avenue Garage at 1609 E. North Ave. It will feature the same menu as the original Classic Slice located at 2797 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in Bay View, said Marisa Lange, who co-owns the east side location along with Jason Zbichorski -- who local music fans might know as jTodd from Def Harmonic -- and Leo Minor.

The Bay View location continues to be a popular spot and will remain open with a few employees joining Lange and Zbichorski at the North Avenue location.

"If anything it just helps us be able to bring pizza over here and to deliver pizza over here, too," Lange said.

The restaurant will launch with a soft opening from 7 p.m. Until 9 p.m. Wednesday night, and begin its regular hours of 11 a.m. until midnight starting Thursday.

"We are kind of just doing a quiet opening Wednesday so that people can learn what is going on and keep it a little low key until we get going," Lange said of the opening.

Lange opened the original location during summer 2007. The restaurant grew in popularity with its giant slices, laundry list of ingredients, weekly specials and friendly neighborhood feel. Zbichorski helped craft the recipes for the sauce and crust and has worked at the Bay View location from the start.

Classic Slice fills something of a void left on North Avenue following the loss of Pizza Man to fire early last year.

"There are a lot of chains up here, Zaffiros is great, but they are totally different," Lange said.

Lange said Classic Slice will offer night time delivery to start with and will likely start delivering during the day if there is demand for it.