Our dining writer offers a preview of the newly opened Jaybird Tavern. Owned by Jason Martin of Martin’s Downtown Bar & Grill and Sidecar, the spot offers up tavern-style pizza, Italian beef sandwiches, custom cocktails and more.
The night I walked into Jaybird Tavern, just over a week after it opened on July 12, 2024, it pulsed with an energy that seemed to match the cool light fixtures suspended above the dining room’s communal table, glowing like blown-glass embers. Together with wood paneling, stamped antique ceiling tiles and kitschy artwork, the ambiance evokes the kind of neighborhood bar-eatery you could easily see becoming a regular at. Some already have, christening it with nicknames like “the Bird” or the Tavern.”
“I wanted it to have a late ’70s, early mid-80s kind of vibe. Something with nostalgia for people of a certain age,” says owner Jason Martin, who also owns fan-favorite downtown eateries Martin’s and Sidecar.
One of the menu’s main draws is Chicago tavern-style pizza, characterized by its signature thin, crispy, crunchy crust and square-cut slices, aka party cut. “They call it a tavern pizza or a bar pizza, because it’s meant to be served in a bar, tavern type atmosphere where everybody shares,” Martin says. “Originally, they would make these pizzas and set them out and people would just help themselves, just to keep people in there drinking.”
The drinks menu includes craft beer, a small but thoughtful wine list and cocktails like a Negroni made with strawberry-infused Campari, the tropical-leaning Jungle Bird and a Sunday Funday-ready Bloody Mary garnished with a slice of pizza, backed by a Miller High Life Pony.
Signature pies include the early favorite Ace of Spades, which Martin describes as a “jazzed-up pepperoni” garnished with hot honey and Peruvian drop peppers and imaginative pies like the Shak, which riffs on shakshuka, the Moroccan eggs-baked-in-tomato-sauce dish, by topping the red sauce base with sunny-side up eggs, feta, sausage and African Bird Pepper sauce. “We’re an American pizzeria,” Martin says. “We’re trying to have a little bit more fun with it.” All pies can be substituted with gluten-free crust or vegan cheese.
You can also build your own pizza from a dedicated menu, which includes an extensive list of both classic and unique choices: base (Cali red sauce, pistachio-pesto, white); extra cheese (fresh mozzarella, feta); proteins (clams, Beyond pepperoni); veggies (capers, Peruvian drop peppers) and “finishing moves” (salsa verde, hot honey).
The overall move for ordering, as the printed menu suggests, is to share one of the 13-inch pizzas and another item or two between two people. Though the menu also makes a caveat by quoting Bill Murray: “Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself.”
“Another item” could include an order of boneless or jumbo cherrywood smoked wings which can be ordered according to your preferred sauce flavor profile and spice tolerance: Nashville, African Bird Pepper, BBQ, Buffalo or hot honey. It could also include one of the snacks, say, the hand-breaded clam strips with lemon-caper tartar and cocktail sauce, roe-topped smoked trout dip or blistered shishito peppers with soy-ginger sauce.
The menu is rounded out by an assortment of salads and sandwiches, including the Italian Beef, made with house-roasted, Virginia-raised beef from Seven Hills and topped with giardiniera (imported from lauded Chicago grocery J.P. Graziano), a tangy relish of pickled hot and fresh peppers and veggies with oil and seasonings.
Desserts will rotate between two options, “something chocolate, something not chocolate,” like recent offerings of triple chocolate layer cake and baklava cheesecake.
I can confirm that another couple pizza squares makes a fine ending to the meal too.
Learn more about Jaybird Tavern on their website HERE.
Jaybird Tavern
120 Luck Avenue SW
Roanoke, VA 24011
HOURS:
Wednesday | 4:00pm-11:00pm | kitchen closes at 10pm
Thursday | 4:00pm-11:00pm | kitchen closes at 10pm
Friday | 4:00pm-12:00pm | kitchen closes at 11pm
Saturday | 4:00pm-12:00pm | kitchen closes at 11pm
Sunday | 12:00pm-5:00pm | kitchen closes at 4:00pm
Closed Monday & Tuesday
