Lee DeSanges is the brains behind Baked in Brick, a street food pop-up turned pizzeria which has opened in Birmingham’s Custard Factory development.
The 60-cover site offers eight varieties of pizza with toppings including pork and fennel meatballs with yellow pepper ketchup; and goats cheese, caramelised red onion, grape chutney and wild rocket.
Also on the menu is a beef shin ragu and wild mushroom calzone with a Colston Bassett cheese dip, which was voted ‘Best Main Course’ at the European Street Food Awards in Berlin in 2017.
Baked in Brick also won the ‘Best Street Food in Europe’ award at the same event.
DeSanges started Baked in Brick three years ago, cooking out of a revamped 1964 Mini Cooper. The chef fitted a wood fired oven in the back and a charcoal fire pit under the bonnet and went on to pop-up at Birmingham’s Digbeth Dining Club throughout 2015.
He has since run residencies in London, Manchester and Liverpool.
The design of the new restaurant is inspired by Baked in Brick’s journey to date, and includes a full size Mini Copper ‘crashing’ in to the wall, alongside a mural telling the story of the concept’s journey to a permanent site.