Midwestern pizza? Huh?
Most of my prior pizza experience (beyond the big chains) includes these types:- Trenton/New Haven Tomato Pie - thin, sturdy, crisp crust, and more emphasis on tomatoes (crushed) than the cheese - example, Trenton's DeLorenzo's, Philly's SLiCE, or the famous Pepe's
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| A slice at Frank Pepe, New Haven CT |
- New York Slice - thin, crisp yet foldable, conventional sauce and cheese - example, New Park Pizza in Queens and Wiseguy NY Pizza in D.C.
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| Pepperoni slice at Wiseguy |
- Neapolitan - thin, delicate, puffy crust cooked at 900 degrees in 2 minutes, fresh mozz, often wet in the center, as found at Philly's Osteria, Stella, Zavino
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| Neapolitan at Zavino |
- Hybrid - Neapolitan flavors and toppings, but sturdy like a Trenton pie - La Porta in Media PA
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| Pizza carbonara at La Porta |
- Standard mass produced - medium thick and soft floppy crust, loads of generic cheese, typically what you get at mom-n-pop places
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| Mass-sourced pie |
- Sicilian - thick airy crust, rectangular slices, conventional sauce and cheese
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| Sicilian pizza |
- Flatbread - maybe not even a pizza, but excellent stuff on good bread, such as Jules Thin Crust
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| Distinctive pies at Jules Thin Crust |
- Roman "al taglio" - square slices like Sicilian, but thinner, crisper, superior - Forno Marco Roscioli
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| Roman al tagio slices |
- Granma - an outer boro pie that may be the closest American cousin to Roman pizza - Lenny's in Brooklyn makes a good one
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| Granma slice at Lenny's in Brooklyn |
- Bar pie - crust thinner than even a Trenton tomato pie, basic ingredients in modest amounts, success depends on the piemaker's skill. Can't beat the bar pie at Lee's Tavern in Staten Island.
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| Bar pie from Lee's Tavern in Staten Island |
- Conshohocken (Philly) tomato pie - basically a Sicilian without the cheese, eaten at room temp
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| Conshohocken tomato pie (slices are usually smaller) |
- Old Forge - Sometimes, a somewhat thinner version of the Conshohocken pie, found in Northeast PA. Other times, more like an over-cheesed and under-cooked Sicilian pie. Keystone Pizza Critic gives the details HERE.
- Chicago deep dish - a casserole that uses many of the ingredients of a real pizza
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| Giordano's "stuffed crust" casserole, Chicago |
Recent travels, though, have introduced me to a new kind of pie, Midwestern style. I held an east-coast bias which presumed that midwesterners, when taking a break from corn and roast beef, would get their pizzas at Pizza Hut.
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| Vito & Nick's, Chicago |
But I discovered - in Columbus OH, in Bloomington IL, and on the South Side of Chicago (the baddest part of town) - a wafer-thin crispy crust pie that was cut not into triangles but little squares (the "party cut" aka the "tavern cut" ) and it has quite a bit in common with old-school bar pies. Conventional but salty and spicy sauce and cheese, home-made sausage, floating on but not soaking into an almost cracker-y crust. Wonderful stuff and easy to eat a lot of it.![]() |
| Rubino's, Columbus OH |
Here are my reviews of the midwest style pies at Rubino's in Columbus OH, Monical's Pizza in Bloomington IL, and Vito & Nick's in Chicago.
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| Sausage pie at Vito & Nick's |
