Slices bigger than your head: Mary’s swaps the grunge for giant pizzas to awe all ages

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The schoolkids cheer loudly when their order arrives at Mary’s Hot Pizza in Moore Park’s Entertainment Quarter: is it because the floppy, NY-style slices are bigger than their actual heads? Nearby, three boys are awed by what’s landed on their table. The pizza’s half-metre stretch inspires a “thanks” that’s as reverent as anything heard in a temple.

Children also contribute to the pizzeria’s art: a steaming pepperoni slice with a comically angry face is drawn onto a paper plate that says “hot pizza”. Credit the daughter of Jesse Warkentin for that adorable masterpiece. The chef (Odd Culture, Vin-Cenzo’s) is “head of culinary” across the Mary’s restaurants: the empire Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham built from burgers, trashcan bacon and fries. It started with their Newtown location in 2013 and has expanded across the city – including the Entertainment Quarter site.

Smyth and Graham previously experimented with crusts and toppings during their 2017-2022 takeover of The Lansdowne, Chippendale. That pub’s dark grungy charm, bathroom ceiling decorated with vintage Playboy clippings and menu featuring the Spicy F---er, Mushroom F---er and Detroit pizza with “shitloads of pepperoni cups” reflected the subversive, tongue-in-cheek energy of their first Newtown burger joint (known for its graffiti-heavy look, murky lighting and “Slayer Juice” serves). But it’s a world away from the kid-friendly offerings at Mary’s Hot Pizza, with its butter-yellow walls, warm wood tones and welcoming outdoor space.

Smyth wants to “open up the doors as wide as we can” and make this pizzeria accessible to all. It’s combating Mary’s initial reputation as a loud joint known for constant queues. “It was pretty confronting for a lot of people,” he says. “As we’ve gotten older, we’ve realised it’s joy we want to spread.”

They’re successfully doing that with their PizzaMaster electric oven. Since the pizzeria’s February opening, they’ve been slinging giant New York pies formed from a sourdough base fermented for 48 hours, and Detroit square serves with lacy, bronzed borders generated by deep mozzarella crusts (they trialled “25 cheeses or so” for the right effect).

While inspired by diverse experiences (from New York’s Emmy Squared to Rome’s Antico Forno Roscioli), they’re translating them in a way “that’s uniquely us”, says Smyth.

So there’s the “hot and cold pie”, which contrasts a spicy layer of meaty 𝄒nduja with the cool relief of Vannella stracciatella cheese and sprinkled chives. The right pepperoni (which took seven months to find) is showcased with a good slathering of vodka sauce. An ingenious topping of roast onion cream, cheese, basil and sliced lemon was an early favourite. It’s been replaced with what’s essentially the pizza version of Mary’s excellent mushroom burger: a blitz of Swiss and field varieties flavoured with porcini powder, various cheeses and a garlic-charged hit of mayu (burnt oil typically reserved for topping ramen).

Smyth and his team flex the same ingredients in clever combinations (roast onion cream with Italian sausage and greens; hot honey drizzled over tomato and stracciatella), but you can stack on your own options: pizza salad pressed on a cheese-crusted Detroit square is a good move.

Like Sydney’s best slice joints (from Appizza to Oltra), there’s a nod to red-sauce classics, but the original flourishes stand out. Mary’s Hot Pizza has a similar all-ages charm to Marrickville’s MMC Slice Shoppe, which is run by Huss Rachid and Sal Senan (fun fact: they previously worked the door at Mary’s Newtown!) Like MMC Slice Shoppe, the NY pies here are supersized. Diners who innocently order a whole pizza before a gig at nearby venues (such as Smyth and Graham’s Liberty Hall) often call defeat. No surrender necessary: staff will box up slices to pick up after your show. Simply dropping by for an Arnold Palmer zinging with Earl Grey tea and peach flavours or an olive oil martini is an option too. Mary’s Hot Pizza ultimately serves everyone – cheering kids and all.

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