A tavern pizza, not a New York one
Bar Pie
A twelve-inch cracker-thin tavern pie cut in squares, with the cheese taken right to the edge so the rim caramelises against the pan.
The bar pie is the one pizza in this shop we roll rather than open by hand, and Sal made his peace with that a long time ago. It is meant to be flat, even and cracker-thin — there is no rim to protect, so a rolling pin is the right tool rather than a lazy one.
The trick is taking the cheese all the way to the edge of the pan. Where it touches hot steel it fries, browns and turns into a thin caramelised ring that is somewhere between cheese and a crisp. Any pizza with a crust to protect could not do this; this one has no crust to protect, and the ring is the reason it exists.
It is a New Jersey and Connecticut tavern tradition rather than a New York one, so we make no claim to it being ours. It is on the menu because it is very good and because it goes with a beer better than anything else here.
What goes on it
The dough
Fifty-five per cent hydration — the driest dough in the building — rested a day cold and rolled thin.
The sauce
A thin scrape of the same uncooked crushed tomato. Any more and the base cannot stay crisp.
The cheese
Whole-milk mozzarella laid edge to edge and slightly over, so it makes contact with the pan.
The finish
Nothing on top. Crumbled fennel sausage or pepperoni is $3 if you want it.
How it is made here
Rolled
The only rolled dough here. It is meant to be uniformly thin and a hand-opened base never is.
Cheesed over the edge
Deliberately past the rim of the dough onto the pan, which is where the caramelised ring comes from.
Nine to ten minutes
At 600°F, and watched — the margin between the ring browning and the ring burning is about ninety seconds.
Cut in squares
Party cut, not wedges. It is too crisp to fold and squares are simply easier to pick up.
Bar Pie — what it costs
- 12" bar pie$21
- With sausage or pepperoni+$3
Prices include every topping listed above. Extras are $3 for vegetables and $4 for meats. Prices change when our costs do; the menu here is the menu in the shop.
Before you order this
A shared flour kitchen, and what that rules out. Our kitchen handles wheat flour in open air all day, along with milk, eggs, soy, tree nuts and fish. Flour becomes airborne every time a dough ball is opened, and it settles on every surface in the room, including the peels, the oven floor, the cutting board and the wheel. We can tell you what we put on a pizza, and we will tell you honestly. We cannot tell you that anything leaving this kitchen is free of an allergen, and we will not say it. If a reaction would send you to hospital, this is not a safe kitchen for you, and we would far rather say so than take the order.
The kitchen is one room. Every pizza here is opened on the same bench, baked on the same floor and cut with the same wheel, and that is true of this one as much as any other. The pages on allergens and cross-contact and vegetarian, vegan and dietary questions set out plainly what we can and cannot tell you, including the things most shops leave you to assume.
The rest of the menu
Other things worth ordering
New York Cheese Pizza
The plain pie the whole shop is judged on: a thin, foldable base, a thin bright sauce and low-moisture mozzarella browned in patches.
From $3.75
Pepperoni Pizza
Small-diameter natural-casing pepperoni that curls into cups and chars at the rim, over the plain pie.
From $4.50
Sicilian Square Pizza
A thick square pie proofed in an oiled steel pan: an airy open crumb, a fried golden base and a crisp cheese edge.
From $4.25Asked at the counter
Bar Pie — questions
Why is it so small?
Because it is a bar snack by design — a twelve-inch pie meant to be eaten by two people alongside a drink, not a dinner for four.
Can I get it in eighteen inches?
No. Rolled that thin, an 18-inch will not come off the peel in one piece, and the ones that do sag in the middle. We would rather make you two.
Is it the same as a St Louis or a tavern pizza?
It is a close cousin of a tavern pizza. It is not a St Louis, which uses a different cheese entirely and no yeast in the dough.
Twelve to fifteen minutes, and worth the wait
Order a pie
Telephone the shop and we will tell you honestly how long the kitchen is running before you commit to anything. Collection is always quicker than delivery and the pizza is always better for it. If you are ordering for a crowd, the catering page has the trays and the notice we need.