Despite being known for spinning round Motown Records, Detroit-Style pizzas are decidedly square
By John Lehndorff
Even to the beat of rhythm and blues, Detroit-style is not the kind of pizza you would mindlessly gulp while walking down a sidewalk.
You want to sit and savor every last crispy, cheesy bite. A new generation of bread-loving Colorado chefs have turned their talents to elevating the humble tomato pie to greatness. They geek out about slow fermentation and superior ingredients from flour to cheeses and sauces. They are even serious about the grated cheese and chile flakes sprinkled on their creations.
The square slice at Longmont’s Urban Field Pizza and Market overshoots the edges of the plate. Its dark crust sports a collar of crispy mozzarella, provolone and cheddar. Creme fraiche, fontina and Gorgonzola cheeses, extra virgin olive oil and black pepper top the sourdough crust.
Every cacio e pepe-infused forkful is an eye-opener, but the corner pieces are blushingly good. Lovingly referred to as “butts,” the four corner pieces on the rectangular pie are a crust crush that makes you fall in love with pizza all over again. It’s enough to make a veteran dining critic sigh at the table.
Waiting was the hardest part. These are no 3-minute pizzas like some chains bake these days. It takes time to caramelize.
Less than a decade ago, Colorado menus rarely featured squares. Denver’s Blue Pan Pizza introduced the state to the joy of Detroit-style pizzas. Motown-influenced pizzerias are popping up along with shops featuring other square pizza variations.
Chef Nick Swanson is the perfect square pizza explainer since the pies he serves at Urban Field and Market are influenced by the Big Three: Detroit, Sicilian and Roman pizzas.
“Between growing up in the Boston area, living in New York and New Jersey, and studying in Italy, I feel like I’ve eaten my fair share of good pizza,” Swanson says. Detroit became his new inspiration.
Motown’s pizza hit originated at Buddy’s Pizza in Detroit in 1946. Baked in a square pan, cheese—usually higher-fat brick—covered the pillowy dough corner to corner.
“It’s a really thick crust, and that cheese melts into the edges and becomes this nice crispy lattice,” Swanson says.
Like their Sicilian counterparts, Detroit pizzas are typically not baked beforehand. However, at Urban Field as well as Blue Pan Pizza and Broomfield’s Rock City Pie and Ice, the slow-fermented dough rises in the metal pans and is pre-baked. “They’re always pre-baked, and when you’re ready, you sauce it, cheese it, and toss it back in the oven,” Swanson says. “Otherwise, it would be a big soggy mess and deflate.”
The simple tomato sauce is ladled on just before serving. Untraditionally, Swanson puts the sauce under the cheese to ensure the crispy cheese edges. Roman-style rectangular pizzas generally have an airy crust made with olive oil. “The sauce goes over the cheeses and toppings when it’s served,” Swanson says.
Swanson is confident about what he and his fellow square pizza chefs are not producing.
“People call our pizzas ‘deep dish,’ and I’m quick to correct them,” he says. “These are nothing like those Chicago-style pies with that heavy crust. I don’t want a gut-bomb pizza where you eat one slice, and you’re full. I designed our crust off a focaccia recipe, so it’s light and moist in the middle and crunchy on the edges.”
Despite the recent boom, square pies are far from new in Denver. Squares of “tomato pie” were served long before the first local pizzerias put round pizzas in square boxes. Colorado’s first tiny Italian eateries opened in the early 1900s when Italian immigrants arrived. They baked bread and offered grab-and-go, cheese- and sauce-covered squares. A typical lunch item in Italy, simple tomato pie is still on the menu by the slice at Dolce Sicilia Bakery in Wheat Ridge.
North Denver’s Carl’s Pizza opened in 1953 and may have been the state’s first authentic pizzeria. Colorado has no home-grown pizza style since “mountain pies” are just a variation of deep-dish Chicago pizzas.
Those raised in Chicago and Detroit regularly howl about the authenticity of the pizzas served in Colorado. New Yorkers dismiss anything called “pizza” that isn’t a foldable triangle sold in one of the boroughs.
“Pizza has always evolved, and different styles have developed all over the world. It has never stayed the same,” Swanson says.
Get Yourself a Square
Urban Field Pizza and Market
150 Main St. Ste. 202
Longmont
720.633.8838
urbanfieldpizza.com
Blue Pan Pizza
Denver and Golden locations
bluepandenver.com
Rock City Pie and Ice
1386 U.S. Hwy. 287
Broomfield
720.649.4831
rockcitypieandice.com
Dolce Sicilia Bakery
3210 Wadsworth Blvd.
Wheat Ridge
303.233.3755
Carl’s Pizza
3800 W. 38th Ave.
Denver
303.477.1694
The grandson of a Sicilian grocer/sausage maker, John Lehndorff is the former dining critic of the Rocky Mountain News. He hosts Radio Nibbles on KGNU-FM.
