Late last week my wife and I had the chance to try the newest neighborhood restaurant, J Bar Pizzeria, occupying the former Indigo spot in Hyde Park Square. While we always enjoyed the food at Indigo, the atmosphere definitely needed some work. Fortunately upon our first steps inside the restaurant spot shares very little resemblance to its past.

Inside

J Bar has lots of dark wood work throughout, and the space feels very open. There is a newly added bar along the left wall, which meets up with the kitchen at the back of the room. A window allows customers to see back into the kitchen and watch as all meals were prepared fresh and from scratch. There are a couple dozen tables throughout the space and there were plenty available during our 7pm visit on a Thursday.

Potato and Ricotta Dumpling

We started with the potato and ricotta dumpling ($10). The dumpling also features small pieces of house made sausage. Fried Brussels sprout leaves, crispy kale, Parmesan, and pine nuts are served on the side. The dumplings were very tasty, and I actually preferred the bites without any sausage in them. I would order these again but I think next time I’d go for a salad, some of which looked amazing.

Half J Bar Pie, Half South of South

The large size pizzas can be split half and half ($21.50 for our choices). We went with the J Bar pie (red sauce, cheese blend, pepperoni, truffled gremolata) and the south of south (house made chorizo, chihuahua cheese, spicy red sauce, jalapenos, onion, cilantro, avocado). While the J Bar pie was fairly simple as far as ingredients go, the taste was excellent. And the south of south was like nothing I’ve ever had, especially with avocado served as a pizza topping.

Both pizzas were excellent choices and I saw a few more selections from the menu that also caught my eye, not to mention all the paninis that looks great too. I know for sure that I will be back soon.