Pizza and a Bar?! Yes, in the Meatpacking District

What Pop Burger did for burgers, the new Pizza Bar wants to do for pizza--provide a lounge-y, highly stylized environment in which late night dining and (more importantly?) drinking can occur. By choosing the terrifyingly trendy meatpacking district, the owners (one of whom also owns Pop Burger) have made their mission clear: prey on the young, hungry, and drunken masses. With a full liquor license and operating hours that extend until 4am, Pizza Bar's definitely not your typical by-the-slice pizzeria.

Serving up $5 beers and $14 signature cocktails alongside $10-$15 mini rectangular pizzas (bigger than a standard slice, but not by much), patrons are paying Pizza Bar for atmosphere and location as much as for ingredients. And while Gothamist liked the toppings of the mushroom mascarpone and white truffle oil pizza, we were less impressed with a rather salty tomato, basil and mozzarella pie. Sporting a super-thin crust in the vein of Otto's, these pizzas unfortunately don't have the charred spots on the bottom of the crust that Slice has taught us to look for. The appetizers we tried were also a mixed bag: we loved the "grown-up" mozzarella sticks that contained prosciutto and sage but weren't exactly wowed by the rather puffy, thickly battered fried calamari.

So is Pizza Bar worth the extra money? Not if you already love a late-night greasy slice from the likes of gentlemen named Ray or Ben.

But if you're looking to get your Carrie Bradshaw on, your mini-pizza is waiting.

Pizza Bar, 48-50 Ninth Ave. (bet. 14th and 15th Sts.), ph.: (212) 924-0941

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Allison Bojarski in Food on July 27, 2005 9:38 AM

Comments [rss]

23

*haha*

Nice one, Brooklyn. You're just JEALOUS.

W Village

23, we do not like you. Please leave.

king

Most anti-Brooklyn statements are made by people who don't live there. While the opposite is occasionally true - anti-Manhattan jabs made by people who have never lived on the island - it's a lot rarer.

23

I live in the W Village and LOVE it.

Meghan

That pizza doesn't even LOOK good.

Brian Van Nieuwenhoven

Yeah, but I live in the Financial District. It's peaceful, 5-10 minutes away from everything south of 59th street, and rather cheap for Manhattan.

There is nothing sketchy at all about my neighborhood. It's the most accessible place in NYC. We have 24-hour pizza places and cheap 4am dive bars in walking distance, as well as ATMs for all the major banks. I pay less rent than people in Williamsburg (who only have one wonky train to get them directly to any part of Manhattan), and I have a doorman/gym/roofdeck/AC as building amenities. My morning commute is 15 minutes tops. We get FreshDirect and MaxDelivery. Life is rather nice down there on the weekends. It's fairly idyllic.

I'm not trying to bash anyone else's neighborhood - in fact, I rarely stick around mine - but I think all the Brooklyn/Manhattan sniping comes down to this: it seems the Brooklyn people always base their arguments on a best-case-Brooklyn scenario vs. a worst-case-Manhattan scenario. It always assumes you can't find anything reasonable in Manhattan, but there's always something cheap and beautiful available in Brooklyn. Brooklyn's nice, but I don't buy the hype; prices are way up there, in some sections of Manhattan prices are fairly cheap, and that ride on the F train ain't getting any shorter. Plus, Brooklyn is NOT as energetic (or convenient) as Manhattan, and that energy is what most people move here to find. Brooklyn's great if you love having plenty of space and cheap beer for you and your friends on the weekends; make no mistake, you will be paying the Manhattan prices, living in a sketchy area, and/or tacking 30+ minutes onto your Manhattan commute if you want to have the Brooklyn life.

my 2 cents...

23

You're losing focus; LINDSAY LOHAN...

Jack

The Manhattan vs. Brooklyn argument really gets to be ridiculous. Especially when you hear people constantly justify their Washington Heights apartments. Yes, you are technically in Manhattan. But it takes you LONGER to get from one end of Manhattan to another than it takes for me--and most people in Brooklyn--to ride the Subway and be in the heart of Manhattan.

Curmudgeon

23, you're way off. Greenpoint has Poles, Hipsters, Italian-Americans, Indians, Puerto Ricans, etc... pretty much everyone.

And Lindsay Lohan is the best reason by far NOT to hang out in Manhattan. I guess you like sucking bone marrow?

L'Emmerdeur

People live in Brooklyn? And they have pizza there? Unpossible!

23

Agreed.

But Lindsay Lohan...

Brian Van Nieuwenhoven

The best part about Brooklyn: it really does have more character than Manhattan, and they have electricity, running water, and bars.

The worst part about Brooklyn: it's expensive as hell to live there (relative to Manhattan with an amenities comparison, MORE expensive), the subway rides are f'ing LOOOOOONG, and the youth there are significantly more deranged than the youth in Manhattan.

vs:

The best part about living in Manhattan: it really is the place with all the energy and the great stuff to do (provided you have the money or a high credit limit), and by far the most convenient place to live on planet Earth. And there are still enough places to find a great drink special any night of the week.

The worst part about living in Manhattan: everyone's a boring tourist or arrogant loudmouthed newcomer with zero character and tendencies to be boastful and shallow. Also, the cabs and the cyclists are equally insane and deadly to pedestrians.

Winner - eh, we all lose, we all win.

23

(1) Greenpoint is not diverse - it's Poles and hipsters.

(2) Cheaper rent is the only logical reason to move to Brooklyn, although inexpensive apartments abound in Madhattan.

(3) Lindsay Lohan doesn't hang in the outer boroughs - reason enough to never leave the City.

thegamebrain

Supposed to be down in NYC next month. Thanks for the post, I'll be sure to stay far far away from this joint.

I think it's sad when people spend for ambiance and location, rather than food, drink, or value. I know, I'm not the norm.

bknyc

Yeeeeah!!!

In this corner, weighin in at 10 miles be 3 miles with the lion's share of the cities jobs and the tallest buildings, most tourists, and most expensive rent is MAAAAAAAAANHAAAAAAATAAAAAAAN. 1,537,195 people ready to ruuuuuumble.

In the other corner, weighing in at a population of 2,465,326, a cool name (Borough of Kings), a bridge named after it, and groups of people as diverse as Greenpoint, Coney Island, and East New York are apart AND cheaper (though only slightly) rent with a degree from the school of hard knocks is BROOOOOOOOOOKLYYYYYYYYYYYYN.

FIGHT!

23

Cool; back to the NYC vs. BK battle.

bklyn

Try Brooklyn for not-fake, not-bags-of-money places... tons of good pizza and reasonably priced drinks abound with not-plastic people, as noted above by threetoedsloth.

Brian Van Nieuwenhoven

Nice writeup, Allison.

Unfortunately, the Carrie Bradshaw comparison alone is enough to make me want to avoid a place like this. Sorry, but other than the goof-factor of having a night on the town inspired by a silly TV show, I can't see myself bouncing around high-design snack bars. I did that a few times and left bored and hungry. Besides, I think it's obscene to pay that much for a small portion of pizza, not to mention the drink prices. I'd only spend that much if I were on vacation.

We need more new places that are social for people who DON'T have bags of money. Not to say we need places that are cheap (those are all around us), we just need places that are not-slick, not-plastic, not-fake.

(related, we could use a few more realistic NYC shows too. Less Bradshaw, more Briscoe!)