Much like Susuru’s homage to midcentury Japan or Smoke & Donuts’ nod to the era of bellbottoms and Bob Barker, Nuri’s Tavern is purposefully steeped in nostalgia intended to evoke the fuzzy feels of yore. It’s a throwback to the places families would venture to once a week to feast on artery-thickening grub and gulp sodas from red pebbled plastic tumblers under the diffused glow of Tiffany-style lamps. Sportsball games would air on large projector screens, and Ms. Pac-Man beckoned the bored.
“Nuri’s is like modern Pizza Hut for millennials and I’m in love,” says my friend and fellow food writer Adam Erace, and he’s spot-on. Only the pies hearken back to the pre-personal-pan-pizza era, when the Hut’s hand-tossed, thin-crust wonders ruled the land. And the tavern-style pies devised by Team Market Group chef-scientists Jason Campbell and Nick Grecco are instant classics.
The duo behind the culinary success at Primrose Lanes, Taco Kat, The Wellborn and the soon-to-open June in Thornton Park, spent many a sleepless night experimenting and tinkering to perfect their tavern-style pizza recipe. “Over two months,” says Campbell. “We tested more than 20 dough variations between various flours, fat ratios, fermentation times, temperatures and cook times.” And their hard work is our easy eating. The thin, crackly crusts of their 12-inch rounds are party cut — “so that customers can have a beer in one hand and a square in the other without having to put either down,” he says.
Perhaps most noteworthy is the consistency of the product. In three separate visits since their February opening, I’ve enjoyed my square-cut thin-and-crispies ladened with pepperoni cups, pecorino, mozz and basil ($19) as much as the punchy, and weighty, vodka streaked with red sauce and pesto ($18), a pie my pal described as “juicy.” My favorite has to be the pepperoni and jalapeño ($18), with its slather of ranch and sheen of sticky chili crisp. What really struck me was how this seemingly delicate crust has never once succumbed to the weight of the toppings. I, on the other hand, have. I’ve eaten a lot of Nuri’s pies and, so far, I haven’t met one I didn’t like. Even the white pie with its ricotta, black pepper and lemony zing ($17) proved as gratifying as the red pie with shreds of 100% beef meatball, giardiniera and oregano ($18).
Then there are the wings ($16). I’m not sure what kitchen sorcery Grecco and Campbell practiced to make these wings so unflappably crisp — they’re seasoned, lightly roasted, then cooled before frying, I’m told — but they are absolute magic, whether coated in chili crisp, garlic Parmesan or buff-a-que. (That last is a saucy ode to Campbell’s love of dunking nuggets in buffalo, barbecue and ranch, so add a side of ranch.) Just as crispy are the fried eggplant sticks ($12), one of the many “snacks” on Nuri’s menu, which includes a chopped salad ($12) that gives off La Scala vibes and a “beef ‘roni cups” plate ($10) served with pickled peppers and ranch that may have you reaching for daaaa-fibrillator.
That is, if you can find it amid all the cool knickknacks and memorabilia festooning this worn and woodsy downtown space. To say it’s replete with distractions would be an understatement, so don’t lose sight of the sweet prize — soft-serve in vanilla ($7) or pistachio ($9) with sprinkles, Oreo crumbles, caramel and pistachio add-ons. Then let loose on the distractions — the pinball machines, the photo booth, the wall art, the phone booth. Or park your seat on a maroon leather stool at the bar and down a stiff one or two.
The place is an absolute vibe, no doubt, but it’s the exceptional pizzas that are the lure. So eat your heart out, Pizza Hut. When it comes to tavern pies, no one out-pizzas Nuri’s.
[location-1]Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
Related Stories
City approves funding to support upcoming LGBTQ-owned restaurant Outpost near Lake Eola
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2025.
