Lived on Detroit style all my life, and while it’ll always be central to my selection of favorites, NY thin crust does it best for me, with L&B’s Sicilian style taking a special nod.
As a long time NY style preferrer, I was basically 100% certain that I’d hate Detroit style. Surprisingly, I loved it. It’s the only way I make pizza now. It’s so fucked up. How did they completely fuck up pizza yet make it so good? The sauce goes on top? What the fuck?
Anyways, I’ll probably burn out on it before long (eating a Detroit style pizza is a commitment) but it blew my mind when I finally tried it last year.
I’m going to guess the places I went had their own twist on it, but I’m offended you think I could mistake a Detroit style for a Chicago style.
Chicago styles are defined by being utterly disgusting and inedible round deep dish casseroles from a state whose entire cuisine revolves around turning everything into a casserole. The sauce goes on top as a matter of preference.
And, like you said, Detroit styles are defined by the pan they’re baked in, with Wisconsin brick melting down the sides and forming a burned cheese crust. The ones I’ve had – admittedly mostly local joints not in Michigan and only once or twice from a real Jet’s or Buddy’s-- mainly threw a couple splashes of sauce on top, but wildly unevenly, nothing at all like the even layering of a Chicago style “pizza”
I know. Most of the places I’ve been – and the recipes I’ve found for Detroit style – have the cheese on the bottom with a couple splashes of tomato sauce on top. I’ve only been to a Jet’s or Buddy’s once or twice and I guess I dont really recall where they put the sauce.
These were still nothing at all like a Chicago style, which I generally categorize as either a war crime or a lab experiment hybridizing pizza and casserole gone horribly wrong.
Regardless, even if cheese on bottom with sauce on top isn’t characteristic of Detroit style, it’s a remarkable innovation in pizza science. And I don’t mean that you should fill a deep dish casserole with dough, cheese and sausage and pour several pounds of tomato sauce on top like you need to load up on fats and protein to cope with the wind chill in Chicago
I’ve lived in the Detroit area all my life and only a couple of years ago did I realize that it was a regional style of pizza. Just always assumed square pizza was a norm. And I just don’t prefer it to a standard round pizza with a thick sauce.
For others asking: Detroit style is kind of like Sicilian pizza. Pan baked, rectangular, yeast crust, thick, chewy, crispy on the edges. Bottom layer is cheese. Then toppings and sauce that is usually a stripe of sauce.
The texture reminds me of old school Pizza Hut pan pizza. Thick, airy, oily, and my favorite part is the little crispy craggy bits on the top edge of the crust.
In Maryland we have a couple really great Detroit pizza joints. Underground Pizza in Baltimore is my favorite and quite good, but pretty pricey. Rad Pies is a little more remote but is quite good as well.
however, i was raised for 18 years in the st. louis area so that’s my preference- STL style thin crispy crust, provel cheese, square cut. pretty opposite to what you’ll find in a detroit style 'za.
As a Michigander it’s funny to me that 4 major nationwide pizza chains are from Michigan (jets, hungry howies, little Caesars, and dominos), I don’t really think of Michigan pizza as particularly noteworthy.
Long time sf bay resident I think best east bay Detroit style is fat apples in Berkeley or El cerrito. (And since it keeps coming up in the comments, best east bay deep dish/chicago style is little star over Zachary’s, I live between the two off solano and stand firm in this decision)
Detroit style is my favorite style of pizza. I live in NC, so other than Jet's (which is a decent version) my best bet is making it myself.
Adam Ragusea has a video on making it at home for anyone who wants to try: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahxKAlbp6DU. Get the special pan, it's not expensive and it definitely helps the overall quality.
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