Detroit Style Pizza: A Doughtown History

by Karen Dybis

"I love Detroit Style Pizza, especially when you see the look on somebody's face the first time that they try it. As soon as they taste it, they're 'Oh, my God. Where has this been all my life?'" —Mike Spurlock.
 
With its airy crust, cheesy corners and distinctive red sauce on top, Detroit Style pizza is enjoyed worldwide. How did this Motor City delicacy transform from a singular kitchen in Detroit to an international sensation? Travel with author Karen Dybis through this pizza's humble origins, starting with Gus Guerra putting the first square pie in Buddy's oven to the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, where a pizza evangelist spreads the word about Detroit Style, through the waves of chefs who have put their spin on this unique pizza style. 

With in-depth research and storytelling, Dybis takes you into the kitchens that developed, fought over and sought to perfect this delectable dish that put Detroit up there with New York, Chicago and New Haven when it comes to pizza.

Genres: Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

Published May 29, 2023

About the author

Michigan native Karen Dybis is a metro Detroit writer who has blogged for Time magazine, worked the business desk at the Detroit News and jumped on breaking stories for a variety of publications. She is the author of four books: "The Ford-Wyoming Drive-In: Cars, Candy & Canoodling in the Motor City" and "Better Made in Michigan: The Salty Story of Detroit's Best Chip," "The Witch of Delray" and "Secret Detroit," which will be released in April 2018.

Reviews

[kalyyanee · Rating 4 out of 5]

there was such an intense history between detroit pizzerias back in the day LMAO. Loui’s is the only one of the OGs that’s still family owned and it’s still good

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very straight forward history of Detroit Style Pizza. It was a little too detached for me, like the author keeps it very impersonal which was a bit jarring. And it got a bit muddled in the last chapter of what year we were in and who owned which pizza chain. But a nice bit of some local history.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems appropriate that Dybis spends so much time belaboring Buddy's role in establishing Detroit style because my feelings for the writing are very similar to my feelings for Buddy's since private equity purchased it in 2018 - technical, soulless, and bland. As a native of metro Detroit, I wanted to read this to get a more intimate look at the interpersonal experiences of the people who pioneered this style of pizza. Each chapter presented some insight and promise in regards to looking at a more intimate narrative, but I fear this book hardly ever gets below the surface. I cannot count how many times family rifts were alluded to, but hardly addressed. For every intriguing narrative that emerges (the role of women in the development of the pizza, "the great pizza debate"'s lasting repercussions, the stigma of Detroit that made it hard to market elsewhere, the contrasting opinions of preserving originality, A 19 YEAR OLD INHERITING LOUI'S, etc.), two references to something irrelevant at Buddy's or the fact that Shawn Randazzo won the International Pizza Expo are thrown in to completely dilute what could have been a very enriching book.

On the nit-picky side, I wish I saw more of Detroit present in the segment on the 3rd Wave. PieSci and Cliff's deserved some respect.

[Peter Bergmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read because it covered a wide range of the people responsible for Detroit style pizza and the history of it. However, I didn’t feel like it was particularly well written (especially timeline wise) so mostly 4 stars for the content because I love pizza, minus one star for writing style.

[Brad Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong history of "Detroit Style Pizza". Most importantly, it gives a nice overview of the early originators of the style and the "family tree" that branches from there.

[Cara Kartanys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loui’s will always be my number one!

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned some good fun facts.