Does Bar Pizza Exist Outside of New England?

New England, and Boston in particular, has a number of places that serve a personal-sized, thin-crust pan pizza called (by many of us locals, anyways) bar pizza. Generally, the crust is crispy and cracker-like, the sauce is a bit zesty, usually with some garlic in it, and the cheese tends to be chewy with a slight bitterness.

Some places in the Boston area that make particularly good bar pizza include the New Brown Jug in Chelsea, Doyle's in Jamaica Plain, the Lynwood Cafe in Randolph, and the Alumni Cafe in Quincy.

Are we the only place in the country that has bar pizza? Or maybe it's called something else in other areas?

I can remember certainnorthwoods bars in wisconsin doing this when i was a kid. they generally had little mini pizza ovens and served a pre-nationally available version of tombstone pizza. i remember this being abig treat. i dont know if it is still done

At the Fireside Bowl, Hammer would microwave you a Tombstone pizza for $5. Does that count?

Isn't that what Yak-zie's did? (The Chicken Tang pizza.) I remember years ago (more than twelve) the River Shannon on Armitage had a little pizza oven which was reproducing the Chicken Tang pizza. I think there is still a Yak-zie's around - maybe you want to try there?

Hidden, some would say that the most pervasive, old-fashioned and established pizza in Chicago is bar (tavern) pizza very much as you describe it. Not personal sized, but cut into small squares for easy noshing and, some say, given away to bar patrons originally (which has a ring of plausibility, since many urban foods originated as give-aways at taverns). That's the cracker-crust of, say, Marie's Liquor & Pizza (1948) or Vito & Nick's (opened 1932, pizza since 1949).

JeffB wrote:Hidden, some would say that the most pervasive, old-fashioned and established pizza in Chicago is bar (tavern) pizza very much as you describe it. Not personal sized, but cut into small squares for easy noshing and, some say, given away to bar patrons originally (which has a ring of plausibility, since many urban foods originated as give-aways at taverns). That's the cracker-crust of, say, Marie's Liquor & Pizza (1948) or Vito & Nick's (opened 1932, pizza since 1949).

After reading the original post, I was inclined to say nearly the exact same thing.

One of my guilty pleasures is the Taco Bar Pizza at Michigan's Pub in Racine, Wisconsin. It is quite spicy for a feed the masses type of product. They get it from DeRango's pizza I believe.

It's not small and it's not free, but the pizza at Emil's Pub in Mundelein, is thin, crispy (on second thought, perhaps not so crispy, but thin, anyway), cut into squares, very tasty, and a very nice bar dinner.

Oh man, I remember getting pizza at a place called Tony's just off Columbian Square in Weymouth, MA. Great bar pizza.

The Other Side Bar on Clark Street (which is the "other side" of the quite decent Pasta Bowl) puts out a bar pizza for its drinking patrons from time to time. If there is no freebie to be found, their good pizzas can also be ordered at the bar.

Morton's Steakhouse in Rosemont clearly tops the bar pizza effort by putting out trays of mini-steak sandwiches for it's bar patrons at happy hour.