A REAL bar pie from Eddie's Pizza Truck.[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Well this is just bizarre. Reported in the NY Daily Times today, a new pizza war has broken out in Long Island. This time it's over the usage of the term 'bar pie'. Apparently Eddie's Pizza in Hyde Park, LI is taking their self-proclaimed title "Home of the Bar Pie" to heart, claiming that since being featured in an episode of HBO's Entourage, other pizzerias in the area are trying to capitalize on their style. The owner even went so far as to register the term:
Eddie's Pizza in New Hyde Park, L.I., registered the phrase -- describing a pie with a cracker-thin crust -- in federal court in 1992.
Now owner Joseph DiVittorio is suing three other Italian restaurants, arguing they are copying him and could confuse customers of his eatery and food trucks.
Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine was called to weigh in on this one by the NY Daily Times reporter. (And Ed of course has tried Eddie's writing in Slice of Heaven that even though he's not crazy about cracker-thin crusts in general, he can get behind the pies at Eddie's.) In response to the lawsuits Ed replied that he'd "describe 'Bar Pizza' as a genre. Eddie's is a bar and they make pizza." A bunch of hooey. Obviously.
I think a lawsuit over a term like 'bar pie' is absurd. If Uno's tried to claim they had proprietary rights to the term 'deep dish' you'd laugh, right? But isn't the easy way around it to use the Ray's approach (ie Famous Ray's, Original Ray's, Original Famous Ray's)? Just tack "style" onto the end of bar and your good. So bar pie become bar-style pie. Easy. Or call it bar pizza instead of bar pie. I rest my case. Make pizza not war, man.
About the author: Meredith Smith is the Slice editor. You can follow her on Twitter: @mertsmith.