DETROIT – Detroit-style pizza is finally getting the recognition it deserves beyond Metro Detroit. And on this National Detroit-Style Pizza Day, we’re taking a look at this history of the crispy square pie.
But what you might not know is that some of the original pizza joints around Metro Detroit are all connected.
---> Detroit-style pizza bracket winner: Voters say this Metro Detroit spot has the best
If Detroit style pizza were a religion -- and it may feel that way to many -- Buddy’s Pizza would be its church.
“Buddy’s on this corner is actually a legendary corner at 6 [Mile Road] and Conant [Street], where it all began. And it survived through a lot of difficult times,” said Wes Pikula, chief brand officer for Buddy’s Pizza.
It was here in 1946 where Gus Guerra slid the first square-pan pizza into an oven in Detroit.
It was almost instantly a hit. Over the next two decades, many who cooked one would venture out to try and capitalize on the square pie with their own business -- including Guerra.
“The birthplace is here. The different players all had a part to play, but I always like to call this the original, because when I started, to this day, the processes, the methods, the recipes, we never departed,” Pikula said.
But Gus Guerra did.
He sold his Buddy’s Rendezvous joint and bought the Cloverleaf Bar in 1953, and his recipe has been a staple there ever since.
“For many years, we tried to keep the recipe a secret,” said Marie Guerra Easterby, owner of Cloverleaf Bar and Restaurant. “I always like to call this our 77-year overnight success story.”
Guerra Easterby, Gus’ daughter, calls it that because people are still finding Cloverleaf for the first time.
When it comes to the explosion in popularity of the Detroit-style, Guerra Easterby said, “I think it’s a great thing. Mom and Dad would be happy, proud -- they’d be smiling.”
You’ll also notice some Cloverleaf franchises. Jeff Kuchta owns four.
He grew up eating Cloverleaf, and truly embraces the history.
“They say everybody tries to copy us, but they can’t duplicate us, because we learned from Gus and the family how to make the proper Detroit-style deep dish,” Kuchta said.
The same Detroit-style pizza can be found over at Loui’s Pizza in Hazel Park. The owner, Louis Tortois, was one of the original chefs at Buddy’s Pizza.
Tortois left Buddy’s for Shield’s, but when he couldn’t buy it, he decided to start his own business. And for the last nine years, his grandson Nykolas has run the place that many have declared as their favorite.
“We try really hard to put out best product. And when I took it over, I made a promise to myself and my late grandfather ... that I’d put everything into it, and then some,” said Nykolas Sulkiwskyj.
Karen Dypus, the author of “Detroit Style Pizza: A Doughtown History” says Detroit-style pizza makers came in three waves. But the original spots -- she says many don’t realize just how close in relation these restaurants are.
Watch the full report in the video player above.