Union Square’s New Open-Air Bocce and Pizza Bar Rolls Open

Union Square’s big, historic open-air building fully transforms into a pizza and bocce bar starting today — with pies from Charlie Bird and Roberta’s alum Tim Meyers and lots of spritzes. Bocce USQ, located smack dab in Union Square in the Pavilion, is now open for full hours for the summer.

It’s a project from Meyers and partner Jason Leeds, with some consulting help from former Roberta’s pizza chef Anthony Falco. Pies include a pepperoni with aged mozzarella and pickled chiles, a shrimp pie with white wine and garlic, and one called The Farm, with greens from the Greenmarket on top. Other dishes also pull from the farmers market, including a salad with a caper vinaigrette and a pappardelle with pesto.

Drinks lean Italian: Bocce has a total of seven spritzes, including an aperol spritz on tap, a rosé spritz with strawberry, and a purple spritz with lavender and blackberry shrub. Wines, beer, and a frozen negroni round out the menu. See both the full food and drink menus below.

Also on deck for the summery spot, of course, is a bocce court. The interiors mimic the game too, with blue banquettes intended to imitate the court and bocce balls placed throughout the space. It’s the latest restaurant effort in the Pavilion, replacing a Greenmarket-focused spot that’s been in the space since 2011.

Photo via The Pavilion/Facebook

Bocce USQ is open from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily.