Detroit-style pizza is square, deep-dish and baked in blue-steel rectangular pans first used at Buddy's Rendezvous in 1946. Crispy cheese-edge crust, sauce on top.
Gus Guerra pressed the first Detroit-style pizza into a forge-blue steel pan at Buddy's Rendezvous on Six Mile and Conant in 1946. The pans were borrowed from local auto-parts factories where they held machine parts during shifts. Guerra later moved his recipe to Cloverleaf in Eastpointe in 1953; Loui's Pizza in Hazel Park (1977) and Niki's in Greektown (1980) followed. By 2020 the style was on national chain menus, but Detroit pans the original square: thick layer of Wisconsin brick cheese pushed to the edges to crisp on the pan walls, with stripes of tomato sauce on top after baking.
4 editor picks for Detroit-style pizza in Detroit, ranked by editorial score. All Detroit signature dishes · Detroit-style pizza across every city.
Buddy's Pizza ★ 4.5
hamtramck · 17125 Conant St, Detroit, MI 48212
Buddy's Pizza on Six Mile and Conant is the birthplace of Detroit-style square pizza in Detroit, baked since 1946 by Gus Guerra in forge-blue steel pans.
Loui's Pizza ★ 4.5
ferndale · 23141 Dequindre Rd, Hazel Park, MI 48030
Loui's Pizza on Dequindre Road in Hazel Park has baked Detroit-style square pizza in metro Detroit since 1977. Chianti bottles hang from the ceiling, salad bar in the corner.
Cloverleaf Pizza ★ 4.4
ferndale · 24443 Gratiot Ave, Eastpointe, MI 48021
Cloverleaf Pizza on Gratiot Avenue in Eastpointe is the other original Detroit-style pizza in metro Detroit, baked since Gus Guerra moved his recipe here in 1953.
Niki's Pizza ★ 4.0
greektown · 735 Beaubien St, Detroit, MI 48226
Niki's Pizza on Beaubien Street in Greektown serves Greek-leaning deep-dish pizza in Detroit since 1980. Open through 3am Saturday, the cluster's late-night counter.