February 18th, 2018
Hazel Park, MI
We concluded our mini-pizza road trip with a drive from Cleveland past Detroit to Hazel Park, MI. Apparently, we like to end our road trips with Detroit-style pizza. Loui’s Pizza was listed on the 2016 list, although didn’t also make it on the 2017 list. We still wanted to go and try it out, and to see how it compared to Buddy’s.
Buddy’s is the pizza place that is probably most famous in Detroit (ranking in the top 10 on a few of the lists), but it isn’t the only pizzeria serving authentic Detroit-style pies there. Loui’s is probably it’s biggest competitor. It was opened in 1977, and has a very similar interior/exterior feel to Buddy’s. The decor inside hasn’t been updated, although it did have a flat-screen TV so that we could watch the cross-country skiing, and the exterior is nothing really special or enticing, so we almost drove right past it.
The main decoration here at Loui’s is the straw-wrapped Chianti bottles, which hang from every wall and fixture, signed by customers. There must have been hundreds in total. If we didn’t have a long drive ahead of us, we could have contributed.
But OK, on to the pizza. We ordered two small sized pizzas (4 slices each). One was a plain cheese and tomato, and the second was topped with pepperoni, onion, and mushroom. As we’ve discovered with Detroit-style pies, the fewer the toppings, the better. You may have previously read our posts on Detroit-style pizza, but if you haven’t you could check out this one and this one.
The pizza here is authentic Detroit-style. The crust was buttery and had crispy cheese along the edges, just as we expected. The sauce is generously ladled over the cheese. The cheese is not mozzarella, but we weren’t sure exactly what it was. The pepperoni and toppings are also layered UNDER the cheese and sauce, which is really unique to Detroit-style. This is one aspect of true Detroit pizza that some East Coast imitations don’t quite get right.
Like Buddy’s, this pizza is filling. We definitely couldn’t finish two smalls (although Eric came close). And for full disclosure, he actually finished the leftover slices a few hours later.
So, it is hard for us to tell you if this is better than Buddy’s or not. It was honestly just too close to call. We’d really have to try them both at the same time. We’ll save that for our next drive past Detroit. You can’t go wrong with either, if you’re a fan of this style. After having been to both Buddy’s and Loui’s, we don’t think we’ll ever get Detroit-style anywhere else.
We call this a successful mini-road trip. While it wasn’t 14 pizzas in 10 days like last year, we managed to stop for 5 pizzas in 3 days, which is pretty solid. This will probably be our last long pizza trip until Baby Cheifet arrives, so we had to make it count.
To visit:
Loui’s Pizza
23141 Dequindre Rd
Hazel Park, MI 48030
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