Bar & Bites: Third times a charmer as Willi’s Pizza Bar finds form with Detroit-style pan pizzas

Put your hands up for Detroit … Detroit-style pan pizza, that is.

After opening as a saloon bar then morphing into a wine bar, The Royal’s ground-level corner venue might have hit final form as Willi’s Pizza Bar, which started slinging slices earlier this month.

Owner John Parker, venue manager Craig Johnstone and head chef Logan Place have plotted this latest transformation for a year.

After sampling the pizza, whipped anchovy toast and a delicious martini (infused with bay leaves and tomato) from beverage guru Elise Godwin, Bar & Bites reckons this could be third time lucky.

So, what is Detroit pan pizza? Delicious, for starters.

Place, who hails from Vancouver home, says the style emerged when Italian immigrants used the blackened oil tins of Motor City to bake pizzas.

Don’t mistake it for Chicago’s deep-pan pizza. The 48-hour fermented dough is light and airy despite the delicious crust of grated cheese.

Willi’s offers five different pizzas — an Antonio Margheriti named after the fake name a character uses in Inglourious Basterds, featuring blistered tomatoes; then there’s a gorgeous mushroom pizza; one loaded with four different cheeses; a felino, tomato and hot honey flavour bomb and pork, fennel and scamorza job.

A slice of advice, the corner pieces have maximum crunchy cheesy goodness.

There’s also small plates ranging from mortadella and market fish crudo, to “bloody good” anchovies and oysters.

The wine list is, in a nutshell, fun “pizza wines” (including Gonzo goon and a chilled red) while Godwin has a lot of fun with the cocktails.

Chef Place, 35, is now juggling 50-odd dishes across the upstairs pub, fine-dining Fleur restaurant and pizza bar — not bad for a relative young gun.

FROM THE RUINS

If you are reading this, it’s because Ruinbar is dead. Almost.

The small bar, which was opened on the corner of Beaufort and Newcastle streets by Miles Hull’s Dark Horse Group in early 2022 before selling to the owners of Picabar and Percy Flint’s last year, calls last drinks on October 12 before closing for extensive renovations.

When it reopens in mid-November, the venue will have a new name, The Leadlight, as well as a fresh lick of paint, commercial kitchen, more comfortable interior and bigger, greener beer garden.

Co-owner Brian Buckley told B&B that the name refers to the fact the row of former shops made leadlights.

The Leadlight will tilt towards being an inner-city pub with “a full pub offering rather than (being) just a bar”, he said.

The former Pretty Good Pizza space will become the kitchen, but Buckley promised pizza would stay on the menu.

Ruinbar goes out in style on October 12 with Knockoffz, a closing party featuring DJs, Pretty Good Pizza slices and “insane drink deals”.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

After serving delicious Filipino soul food with big smiles for the past three years, Lola’s Filipino Diner in East Vic Park closes on October 13.

Opened by the team behind RoyAl’s Chicken and Burgers and with super friendly husband-wife team Damien and Melanie Chowrimootoo running the restaurant, Lola’s was the place to go for adobo, liempo, fried chicken and cheeseburger spring rolls.

While B&B is kicking himself for not going back more, we hear favourite Lola’s dishes may pop up at RoyAl’s venues in one form or another.

Either way, so long and thanks for all the popcorn chicken.