Josh Nordin can’t quite part with the VHS tapes. Nor, perhaps, the crayoned-over paper plates. If you set foot in Yeah Yeahs Pizza’s Barrington Street or Ochterloney Street shops over the past six years, chances are you aren’t ready to part with them, either. They’re part of the lore of the place—the literal walls, as they were. And when it comes to the Halifax mainstay (which Nordin co-owns) that has swept the “Best Pizza Slice” three years running in The Coast’s reader-selected Best of Halifax Awards, they’re like the cheese to a pepperoni pizza: It’s what lends Yeah Yeahs its warmth; its personality. And now, that special sauce is coming to Halifax’s west end—and better than ever.
It was just two weeks ago that Yeah Yeahs announced over Instagram that it would be moving into a shared taproom and pizza shop with 2 Crows Brewing on Oxford Street. Ask Nordin, and the timing of it all was serendipitous.
“We’d been looking to move the shop to a more similar set-up to what we have in Dartmouth: Very neighbourhood-focused,” he says, speaking by phone with The Coast. “I think at our core, we’re a neighborhood pizza shop—we’re for the kids, and after school, and lunch, and moms and strollers, and dogs… and we wanted to get back to that.
“When I heard that the 2 Crows crew were looking for someone to partner up [and provide] food for their taproom, it made sense. They get to focus on what they do really well, and we get to focus on what we do really well.”
“They get to focus on what they do really well, and we get to focus on what we do really well.”
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The Oxford Street taproom (near the corner of Cork Street) will mark 2 Crows’ second Halifax location, after its high-ceilinged Brunswick Street brewery opened in 2017. And it’s coming soon. According to Nordin, the pizzeria and brewery are “inside two weeks” from being ready to open.
“We’re taking the time to make sure everything’s right,” he tells The Coast. “We’re like 90-odd percent done now. The 2 Crows squad has been in there since the summer doing renos, and when we came onboard in September, we took over the back area… and now, it’s just finishing touches.”
The VHS tapes that covered the wall of the Barrington Street pizzeria have been carted over to the Ochterloney location. As for the paper plates? Nordin’s still figuring that out:
“We want to make sure the kids have something to colour on, for sure. My business partner has been talking for years about a little children’s book with our pizza guy. Maybe we’ll do the old-school placemats with the little cartoons on it.
“This space, it’s a bit more grown-up than what [we’ve done before]. Between us and the 2 Crows team, we’re finding our voice [together].”
What’s far more certain? The partnership feels like a no-brainer. And setting up in the west end has its perks, too.
“I think people will be surprised how big it is inside,” Nordin says. “We’ve got a takeout counter for pizza and beer to go, built in at the front of the space. And the rest of the main room is filled out with a very long bar—and towards the rear, which is semi-open, you can see your pizza being made. There’s a side-kitchen back there. We’re in the final [stages] of building it.”
All of the Barrington Street crew have moved to the new location, Nordin tells The Coast. (We reached out to 2 Crows for comment on what their portion of the space will look like, but couldn’t arrange an interview before publication.)
If you want to be the first to get in and try it, you’ll have to keep on the lookout, Nordin adds.
“We’ll probably open the doors without saying anything for a couple of days.”
Update: 2 Crows and Yeah Yeahs will host a grand opening on Saturday, Dec. 16.
