Revisiting BAR’s Take on New Haven Pizza

Bar is located at 254 Crown Street in New Haven, CT, in an industrial building that proudly boasts its historical heritage with exposed brick, garage-style doors that open in warm weather, and vintage prints. As you walk through the different rooms and look at the food-beer offerings, you wonder whether Bar is a pizzeria that serves great pizza with a side of beer, or a microbrewery that drafts in-house microbrews with a side of New Haven pizza. For us, we were there for the pizza, and our single question was how it would compare to the other legendary New Haven pizzas.

Bar offers four rooms, each with a different atmosphere where guests can relax with a pizza, sample an array of house-brewed beers and specialty cocktails, enjoy the music, get serious with some pool on the antique pool table or have a whirl on the dance floor. The Front Room, to the left of the entrance, features a long bar with lots of stools, several tables and the antique pool table. The Lounge and the Back Room include communal picnic tables, standard seating and a large dance floor. The last option, and the one we chose, is situated immediately to the right of the entrance, the Brü Room, which includes a second large bar, towering beer tanks along one wall, with additional tanks overlooking the activity hovering above on the second-floor balcony. In the rear of the Brü Room is pizza central, a large open prep area and brick ovens turning out BAR’s signature oblong pies.

Founded in 1991 by Randy Hoder, Kenny Spitzbard and Stuart Press, Bar opened as a bar and dance club. Five years later, in 1996, the team decided to add food, and not just any food, they decided to go all-in by focusing on the most competitive product in the area, pizza. Within a square mile where some say is the best pizza in the country, how would Bar separate its pizza from the others? Let’s start with the crust. Bar’s crust is ultra-thin, approaching transparent; there is absolutely no rise at all. This was a risky play in a town where charred crusts are expected, and overbaking this thin a crust must be avoided at all costs; great care must be taken by the kitchen.

We grabbed our table and after looking at the menu we decided on a medium pizza, with sausage and pepperoni added to one half and just melted cheese and sauce on the other (I made a mental note to try the much-hyped mashed potato and bacon version next time).

The pizza arrived on a sheet pan, its size nearly filling the tray from edge to edge. There were several items that should be noted. First, the shape was neither the traditional circular nor a free-form structure, but prepared in a nearly symmetric oblong. The second item was its thickness, or lack of thickness, the crust was paper-thin, almost transparent and topped with an equally thin layer of sauce. The cheese was the third level of thinness, applied sparingly and nicely melted. The edges had a minor level of charring, much less than its nearby brethren, but still enough to qualify as New Haven. The pie was finished with a good amount of my requested toppings.

First, I needed to taste this paper-thin crust. I snapped off a piece, it was more cracker-like than a traditional, airy pizza crust. Then, I focused on the meats, and there was no surprise with the Lamberti sausage chunks, they are some of the best in the state, very flavorful, meaty with great fennel back notes. Next was a taste of the thinly sliced pepperoni, the spiciness landed slightly above medium, and given its modest neighbors, thin was probably the best way to balance its boldness.

Now for the real test, as I focused on a plain slice. My initial thought was that it would have benefited from another minute and maybe another turn in the oven, it sagged a little in the middle and the center was less crispy than the edges, I needed to flip it over onto itself to lift. The first bite was good, the sauce was terrific, bright, sweet and tangy and very well done, the cheese was too mild and definitely took a back seat to the sauce, and the extra-thin crust could have been more present. The plain slice was good, but not up to my high expectations.

The meat-laden half told a different story. It was no surprise that it also needed a center-flip to lift. It only required one bite to confirm that the addition of the sausage and pepperoni was a huge benefit. The saltiness, spiciness and fennel notes from the meats elevated each bite; the local Lamberti sausage was great, rich, and flavorful, and when combined in a single bite with the thin slices of pepperoni, the sweet sauce and minimal cheese, the slice came together and was very good. Again, it would have benefited from another minute in the oven to crisp the crust. I thought the meat-laden side came closer to my expectations.

Overall, BAR’s pizza delivered a solid experience. I arrived with high expectations due to its reputation and devoted following. While my pie didn’t quite send me over the top, it was undeniably good. Watching other tables devour pan after pan, each with different toppings, made it clear why BAR draws such a crowd.  It’s definitely a destination spot, the kind of place where beer, dancing, atmosphere, energy, and food come together. In a city where the pizza standards are sky-high, BAR does a good job.