An otherworldly pizza-pasta creation has landed in New Jersey. And it was inspired by a pizza chain.

Bagels by Jarrett, the West Orange bagel boutique acclaimed for its bagels, sandwiches and chili, has been dabbling in pizza for years. But the shop got into the pizza business full-time in February when it opened The Slice Shop by BXJ directly next door.

Along with classic pies like pepperoni, buffalo chicken and margherita, the pizzeria has unorthodox toppings like corned beef and cabbage, chicken Francese and drunken meatball.

But the standout is a stuffed pie — a pizza that might look familiar if you’ve ever spent time at Sbarro, the chain pizzeria found in mall food courts across America.

READ MORE: New Jersey’s 101 greatest pizzas, ranked

This stuffed pizza features a traditional crust plus a thinner layer of crust over top. Stuffed in between is house-made mozzarella, vodka sauce, grilled chicken and rigatoni. An additional light layer of cheese tops the upper crust, providing an impressive pizza visual.

Most New Jersey pizza makers wouldn’t dare welcome comparisons to a lowly pizza chain. But owner Jarrett Seltzer isn’t most pizza makers.

“I pay homage to a lot of the food that I like. When we were opening the slice shop I thought, ‘Yo, we need to do a stuffed slice like Sbarro used to have,‘” Seltzer told NJ Advance Media. “The funniest part is my mom would never let me get the stuffed slice from Sbarro. And to this day, I’ve never had it.”

The bagel shop owner and former rocker (he played bass in Rockaway-based rock band Houston Calls) is fulfilling his childhood fantasy with the delicious pizza-pasta combination.

At first glance, the pie is a bit intimidating. I thought it would be impossible to finish more than one slice without needing a nap. After all, it has nearly double the dough of a classic pie, plus the pasta, vodka sauce and cheese.

Surprisingly and fortunately, the pie didn’t deliver an immediate knockout punch. The vodka sauce, which I thought might be overbearing, was rich but not overly creamy. It played well off of the fresh mozzarella and grilled chicken. There was a lot of crust involved, but not enough to make it feel dense or overly bready. And while the stuffing was hearty, the pie was not as jam-packed as a calzone or stromboli.

“When we were testing some stuff before we opened we made (a stuffed pie),” Seltzer said. “It was oddly not too much.”

You might scoff at the idea of a New Jersey pizzeria emulating Sbarro. But before you do, try a slice of this thing. Because this is proof New Jersey pizzerias can make even chain pizza taste great.

“I’m always creating. Now that we have the slice shop fully open I’m doing even more. My brain is just always moving,” Seltzer said. “We will definitely do some more stuffed slices soon.”

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• Elite N.J. pizzeria expanding to Jersey Shore town, quickly becoming foodie destination
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Christopher Burch can be reached at cburch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SwishBurch. Find NJ.comon Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips/.