Black Pony Pizza Opens Detroit-Style Pans in the Short North
Ryan Murphy and Ken Shick opened at 1001 N. High St. on Sept. 17 with rotating house recipes and thick, crispy crusts.
Short North just filled a Detroit-style gap on High Street. Black Pony Pizza opened September 17 at 1001 N. High St., on the corner of High and Starr, with thick, crispy pans and a menu built from friends-and-family favorites.
Owners Ryan Murphy and Ken Shick split the work the way longtime partners often do. Murphy runs the pizza and culinary side after more than a decade in commercial kitchens. Shick handles operations. The concept grew out of Murphy bringing pies to parties until the hit recipes became the house list.
Details in this story draw from 614Now coverage of Black Pony Pizza and Chili Chili reporting on the Short North opening, plus the restaurant's own site at blackponypizza.com.
What is on the board now
Black Pony leans Detroit-style, with a handful of rotating house recipes and a special that changes through the year. Current examples include I'll Have Another (red sauce, house cheese blend, Ezzo cup and char pepperoni, herbed ricotta, balsamic, basil) and Dark Star (white sauce, ricotta, herb balsamic mushrooms). The featured special is Fusaichi Pegasus: olive oil base, house cheese, char siu, strawberry sumac jam, charred scallions, and burrata.
Popular pies are expected to cycle back more often as new experiments land. That rotation model matters for regulars who want a reliable square-cut option without a static one-page menu forever.
Hours, and the Short North pizza context
Posted hours are Thursday 4 to 9 p.m., Friday 4 to 10 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The opening lands days after Pie of the Tiger finished its run inside Short North Tavern. That exit is already covered on Bestof614; Black Pony is a different brand at a different address, not a relocation of the tavern pans.
For corridor orientation, start with our Short North page. Square-cut newcomers can use the first-timer Columbus pizza guide to compare Detroit pans with Neapolitan and thin-crust rooms nearby. Food crawl listings live under Things to Do: Food & Drink. If the night shifts from pans to smoke, 2026 Best BBQ is the other comfort-food lane.
Black Pony is open now at High and Starr. Bring an appetite for thick crust, and watch the special board for whatever Murphy bakes next.
