I’m from Chicago, where if you ordered a pizza, it came cut in square slices. Personally, I like it that way, probably because I was raised on it, although I can see how people might prefer the radial slices. But I wonder how the practice of scotching the pizza came about in the first place, and why it’s practiced mainly and almost universally in Chicago. Does anyone have a reasonable explaination, or at least a homey anecdote?
Here’s the answer as suggested by Ledo Pizza, a chain of pizza restaurants primarily based in Maryland.
In fact, they have a whole page devoted to this topic: http://www.ledopizza.com/history.html
Oh, one other thing, on the OP. Square pizza is not strictly a Chicago phenomenon. I found many restaurants on the East Coast offering the square pizza. A WAG - the affinity for pan pizza might explain why it’s more prevalant in the Chicago area. A pan pizza lends itself better to a rectangular baking pan, than a round baking pan, which I’ve never seen :), and would presumably be more difficult to find.
I’m not talking about pizza that’s baked in a rectangular shape. I’m talking about pizza that’s round, but cut in squares.
I know what your talking about Johnny Angel. I’m a Chicagoan now living in North Carolina and I was just talking about this two days ago.
When I was in the army, I would try to exlpain to people that good pizza was cut in squares and bad pizza (Dominos, Pizza Hut) was cut in triangles. People couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea of round pizzas cut into squares.
Square pizza = “Sicilian” pizza
Take it from an Brooklynborn Italian-American.
No!!! What about those pieces that are extremely tiny because of the unevenness (?) of the squares being cut into a circle??? How can you live with that? Geez. Society…
Toolie wrote:
It’s a metaphor for life.
But what I’m asking is, why squares, why Chicago?
There was a place in Lansing, MI, in the Seventies, and may still be there, which served round pizza cut into squares: Sir Pizza. A search turned up a broken link which may or may not be them, but also a newspaper article mentioning them from 1997.
I remember they were good, but then I was a kid, Dominoes was good too (but they were nothing like Dominoes).
No idea if they’re still cut into squares though.
Oh, and no answer for the OP either, I guess.
Ahh! Sorry, it wasn’t clear to me in the OP. The reasons suggested include: 1) you don’t have left-over pizza “bones” in the form of crust, 2) greater use of toppings, 3) more slices, and with more slices, 4) it’s easier to share. 5) It was also suggested that the square slices are easier to handle and eat.
The kids get the edges, parents get the middles because the middles are “too hot” for kids. 
They do catch on, sooner or later.
Peace,
mangeorge
In the late '70s a very fine example of the square-cut pizza was offered by Pagliai’s of Grinnell, Iowa. They have since expanded to Des Moines.
Easy, those are for people who have eaten almost enough to be full, and don’t have the appetite for a full slice. Sounds like a good setup to me.
Perhaps because if you tried that in the Northeast, you would be shot. Square-cuts? Are you serious? Any real pizza is cut in wedges.
Not always true. I’m not sure about where you live but here, the Dominoes’ thin crust pizza is round but cut into square pieces.
but what about the crust??? if you eat the middle piece you have no crust! thats the best part!
In St. Louis, square cut pizza is popular. One of the local outfits, IMO’S, advertises “the square beyond compare”. When I lived in NYC 35 years ago, Sicilian Pizza was rectangular and cut into squares.
ZenBeam, my friend, have no fear. Sir Pizza is alive and well and still serving up the best pizza in town (DeLuca’s started using cheaper ingredients and have gone way down hill). And they are still square-cut, round pizzas with toppings all the way to the edge.
Now, Sir Pizza breadsticks, truly food of the gods, but that’s another thread!
Ay! Sicilian pizza is also know for having a fuller crust.
Stuyguy, these “Americans” (ah-meh-ti-cans) don’t have a clue.
Real pizza is either round with a thin crust , Neopolitan (Nap-lo-tan), or Sicilian.
Anything else is bogus. Chicago…ha…give me a break.
The best Neopolitan pizza comes from down da shore on da boardwalk. The best sicilian comes from neighborhoods in New Yawk, Philly, and such.
Ignorant midwesterners.
When Pizza Hut was offering the “Edge” pizza, it was a circular pizza cut into squares. I sort of liked it; the crusty bits at the edges were nice and snacky, and the middle pieces didn’t have all that excess crust that gets in the way while you’re trying to enjoy the sensation of blisteringly hot pizza sauce sliding out from under the cheese and onto the back of your hand.