URBN Coal Fired Pizza & Bar
New Haven-style coal-fired pizzas, wings, and other bar foods just south of Orange County
California was relatively early to the idea that pizzas could and should be more diverse than just a single style, and Southern California has plenty of pizzerias representing different regional variations. Unlike Detroit pizza, which surged in popularity over the past five years, New Haven, Connecticut-style pizza has remained under the national radar despite local love for Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana. Frank Pepe’s pizzas are essentially Neapolitan-style thin crusts with high-quality but unevenly distributed toppings, coal-fired for a lightly charred and crispy bottom.
There are currently debates over whether anyone is actually serving authentic New Haven-style pizza in Orange County, but small San Diego chain URBN Coal Fired Pizza & Bar claims to have picked up that torch, and has several locations south of us, including a nice spot at the One Paseo shopping center, and another at North Park around University Avenue.
A simple one-page menu lays out a dozen pizzas, customization options, and handfuls of appetizers and salads; there’s also a large bar at each location with a daily rotating list of beers. Dessert options vary between locations, with cookies at both places we visited, and a S’mores Pizza offered at only one of them.
Since we’ve only tried one of their pizzas – a “fresh clam” pizza that’s famous on the East Coast – we can’t speak to the rest of the options, but we thought the clam pie was OK: tons of minced garlic, plenty of cheese, ultra-thin crust with char on top but a mostly soft bottom, and critically, way too little “fresh clam” meat or flavor. This pizza is only offered in a “small” size, and though it looks pretty gigantic in the photo, the thinness and lack of other toppings make it a fine lunch for one person, or appetizer for two.
URBN’s Buffalo-style wings were neither authentic nor claimed to be – they’re grilled, rather than traditionally fried, before getting covered in Buffalo-style hot sauce, and for some reason getting a dusting of shaved cheese. We loved them, and also loved the friendly, attentive service at both locations we visited. URBN is certainly worthy of further exploration.
Stats
Price: $$
Service: Table
Open Since: 2008
Addresses
12895 Paseo Village Way, #1200
San Diego, CA 92130
858.289.4800
3085 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
619.255.7300
Instagram: @urbnpizza