20th Street Pizza: A vegan slice shop from Blackbird’s Mark Mebus
Mebus, whose flagship Blackbird Pizza is in Northern Liberties, is keeping the menu simple.
Mark Mebus — whose vegan sandwiches and pizzas have put Blackbird Pizzeria on the map — has thrown open the door to 20th Street Pizza, at 108 S. 20th St.
It’s a straightforward New York-style slice shop. All vegan.
He says the pizza will be different from Blackbird’s in that there will be a stronger focus on seasonal vegetables. Slices will be squares and triangles. No sandwiches or wings, either.
For the first few weeks, 20th Street will open at noon Wednesday to Saturday with four or five different pizzas, doughnuts from Dottie’s, and cookies from Crust Bakery.
Once the shop goes full time, he will add a few salads, garlic knots, and vegetable sides.
Blackbird, now operating out of 614 N. Second St. in Northern Liberties, has been around for nearly a decade, when Mebus opened at 507 S. Sixth St., between Lombard and South Streets in the building that from 1896 to 1992 housed Levis Hot Dogs.
But in March 2018, the Sixth Street business was forced to close pending repairs to the building’s crumbling facade.