WHAT’s YOUR TYPE?
California
West Coast chefs like Wolfgang Puck of Spago and Alice Waters of Chez Panisse are considered the inspiration for these super-thin pies that tend to be topped with themed gourmet sauces and cheeses, as well as fresh vegetables. The elaborate wood-fired style trended hard in the ’80s and ’90s at popular chains like California Pizza Kitchen and ushered in the age of the oven-centric performance kitchen.
Chicago Deep Dish
Lampooned as a bombastic casserole by the likes of Jon Stewart, the Midwest’s most celebrated contribution to the pizza lexicon traces its slightly fuzzy lineage most likely to Pizzeria Uno in the early 1940s, though it may be older. Suffice it to say that it has won legions of pizza purists over the last 80 years with its thick, buttery crust browned in a metal pan—cheese on the bottom followed by the toppings and a generous crown of chunky tomato sauce up top. Pies can take upwards of 40 minutes in the oven, so expect a wait.
Detroit
First baked up in the heavy blue steel drip pans used in mechanic’s shops, this homey spin on Sicilian-style pies dating to the mid-1940s was largely unknown outside of the Motor City until the last few years, when a nation of pizza lovers looking for something new took to it like the latest model. Cheese dusted around the edge creates an especially crackly crust, and signature stripes of sauce across a bubbly bed of brick cheese give this comforting Grandma-style pizza a nice contrast of flavors and textures.
Hand-tossed
There’s a certain satisfaction to the nofrills pies reminiscent of the pizza buffets of your childhood or the chain pizzas you’d bring home to devour after a ball game. And while there are often some finer touches to these medium-thick, puffy and golden pizzas, it’s the fact that they go so well with the watch party or family movie night that keeps you coming back when fancier pies are available. Go for a supreme to get the maximum fall-in-your-lap topping action, and order extra marinara for dipping the crusts.
Indy Gourmet
A few years after all those famous chefs reinvented pizza on the West Coast with duck sausage and smoked salmon, local restaurateur Jeff Berman was expanding locals’ notion of what could top a pizza at his Broad Ripple Bazbeaux, which opened in 1986 and is still the gold standard for innovative Indy-style pies. A handful of spinoffs with similar medium-thin, hand-tossed crusts and toppings such as Cajun shrimp, andouille sausage, and albacore tuna have helped make local pizza fans seem pretty savvy and daring for the last few decades.
Neapolitan (and Neapolitan-style)
An esoteric set of specifications governs what constitutes a bona fide pie in the Southern Italian city of pizza’s birth, and a subset of pizzaiolos in the United States has taken up the painstaking process at state-of-the-art New World pizzerias. High-protein “00” flour, natural yeast, and little else constitute the crust, while a light dusting of toppings doesn’t weigh down hand-stretched pies that emerge, usually after only 90 seconds in a lightning-hot shallow oven, “leoparded” with tiny scorch spots on the bottom and edge. Just don’t call it burnt.
New York
Do you roll it or fold it? Start with the crust or the point? However you eat your New York slices, you’re tasting over a century of heritage for this style first served out of East Coast Italian groceries in the early 1900s, simply but richly topped with
