Tag: detroit style

#95 Loui’s Pizza

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

BarbaraLeave a comment

#85 Emmy Squared

July 21st, 2017

Brooklyn, NYC

If you follow our instagram at all, you know that we are frequent visitors at Emily, in Brooklyn. Well, recently, the owners of Emily decided to test out Detroit-style pizza in NYC.  They opened Emmy Squared. “Squared”, we assume, because of both the style of pizza and because it is the second installment of the Emily brand.

We first went to Emmy Squared with a friend, getting there soon after it opened. It didn’t have much of a dinner crowd when we went on a weeknight, but I imagine that the crowds have picked up since then. The focus is obviously on the Detroit-style pizza, although they do also serve sandwiches and the famous Emmy Burger.

**Side note: we’ve just recently tried the Emmy burger. Yes, it is worth $26, and yes, it is massive. It really is hard for us to tell you   to get a burger at a restaurant as famous for its pizza as Emily is, but you really should get the burger. Get one for the table and split it, if you want. The fries are good as well, but you won’t have room for them.

So, you may be wondering: how does Emmy Squared’s Detroit-style compare to other Detroit-style pizzas that we’ve had. Well, you may notice one thing right off the bat – the size. The pizzas at Emmy Squared are SMALL (and there is only one size). They are cut in 6 slices. If you go with a group of 3 people, and all get a burger, than one pizza is enough for you. But don’t go with 3 people and order only 2 pizzas and think that you will have enough food (telling you this from experience).

The pizza here is also EXPENSIVE. Think of it as artisan Detroit-style. You wouldn’t find these topping combinations in Detroit, but you also wouldn’t find pizzas costing half as much. Via313 comes close to Emmy Squared, but isn’t quite as creative.

We’ve tried one of the white pizzas (the Marn Blanc), a meatball special, and most recently, the Colony at Emmy Squared. They all taste delicious. The crust is spot-on to what a Detroit-style pie should be. We just wish the slices were a bit bigger.

If you didn’t hear – Emmy Squared should be opening a second installment in Manhattan, in the East Village. Emily also has a new location in the West Village, which means that we can go there more often! West Village Emily also serves the Detroit-style pies, but I’m not sure if this will continue with the opening of the new Emmy Squared? We will have to wait and see!

To visit:

Emmy Squared
364 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211

BarbaraLeave a comment

#74 Via 313

November 4th, 2017

Austin, TX

This past weekend, we took a break from the NYC scene here to spend the weekend down in Texas. Texas has a few pizza places that have made the lists the past three years, and while we had hit a handful of them last August, there were two more additions in 2016 and 2017 that we still hadn’t made it to. Luckily, my cousin was getting married not too far outside of Austin, so we had a good excuse to fly down for the weekend!

We had a late flight into Austin, and landed around midnight. We really wanted to try Via 313, but of course their main restaurants close at 10pm. Lucky for us, they also have food trucks (trailers)! We drove straight to one from the airport.

Usually when a pizza place has more than one location, we try to go to the original one. We happened to be on a tight time frame this weekend, so we were willing to make an exception. Then we found out that the original Via 313 was opened in 2011 in a trailer! So we essentially WERE going to the original. This made us very happy.

The pizza here is Detroit-style inspired. If you read my previous post from our pizza road trip, Detroit style pizza is really unique. The brothers who started Via 313 grew up around Detroit, so they based the pizza here off of the style they were most familiar with. At the main locations, you can get pizzas in 4-slice or 8-slice sizes, just like Buddy’s, but the trailers only serve slices in 4’s. After having been to Buddy’s, we can say that this is pretty close to authentic Detroit-style pizza, even down to the crispy cheese edging.

Four slices was plenty for us, since we had eaten a small dinner before getting on the plane, and one slice was plenty to keep me full. That left three slices for Eric. We ended up ordering the Four Cheese Blend, and it had more cheese on it than almost any other pizza that we’ve had, so it was super filling. The sauce that was globbed on top was delicious. We waited 40 minutes for this pizza to come out of the oven, but we thought it was worth it.

The lines stayed constantly long here the whole time that we were waiting, since the truck is parked right out front of a bar. This was pretty smart planning by the Via 313 folks! It was also highly entertaining for us, as sober people-watchers.

To visit:

Via 313
1111B E 6th St
Austin, TX 78702

BarbaraLeave a comment