There is a new Dominos that just opened in our town, and they are the only pizza place that delivers, so we gave it a try. I’m not that familiar with Dominos pizza, and I ordered the thin, crunchy crust. When it arrived, I was surprised to find my round pizza had been cut into small, square slices. Is this peculiar to the type of crust I ordered? Are other crust types cut differently? Do I need to tell them I want it cut in pie slices, not checkerboard slices?
Signed,
Confused
Yes. The Crunchy Thin Crust is cut into squares. This is not just chain-wide, but industry-wide. That style of almost cracker-like crust is normally cut into cracker-squares by all the major chains. Someone else more versed in the history of American pizza may be able to offer a definitive explanation of exactly why that crust type has that cut type. I suspect, though, it’s simply ease of eating. The “floppy” crust style is difficult to handle without the dry outer crust to use as a handle. The crunchy thin crust style, though, is easy to handle as thought it were small crackers with hot toppings, which is pretty much what they are.
Well, that clears that up. I’ve never seen pizza cut in squares unless it was baked in a square pan, what they call “beach pizza” hereabouts.
I fold floppy pizza. Problem solved.
Same thing happened to me, and it pissed me right off. Didn’t help that I dislike Dominos to begin with (I needed something delivered quickly at work). I’m not sure that it’s an industry standard. I always order thin crust(from the few places around here that offer it) and I’ve never had to specify “no square cut”. Also, the thickness of the crust has nothing to do with whether or not I want to have hot cheese and topping on my fingers( I don’t).
We ask them to square cut their standard pizza too. Our kids like it a little better
Otherwise known as a “tavern cut.” It started as a Chicago thing and has spread.
Yeah, lots of Chicago-area thin-crust pizza has a cracker-like crust and is cut into squares. My Chicago-born wife will often as for that, or ask for the pizza to come unsliced so she can to it.
As a New Yorker, I think it’s an abomination, but it’s pizza so I’ll eat it.
I can’t remember that last time I had pizza cut into wedges. It’s been years, for sure. Square cut is the norm for thin crust in Chicago.
[quote=“Fear_Itself, post:1, topic:938691”]
… they are the only pizza place that delivers …[/quote]
This seems odd.
Edit: I can’t fix the quote, sorry.
I certainly have. It’s less common overall than wedges, but not at all rare or remarkable.
We used to say you could get your pizza cut into 6, 8, or 9 pieces. 9 wasn’t very popular. This crust pizzas have grown in popularity, I think they get eaten more like snacks than a meal. People want pizza but don’t want all those carbs in the crust. I guess it’s better than no pizza if that’s ever the choice. And only a little better at that.
I happen to like the thin, crispy crust. From an eating-experience standpoint, I’m fine with all crust styles; but thin crust’s lower carbs gives it the edge.
I’m not sure if I saw this part answered yet – Domino’s normally only does the square/tavern cut on their thin crust. Their standard for their other crust types is traditional triangular/wedge slices.
As always, I am shocked to find that my pizza preferences are not universally held.
I’m not entirely sure if it started here or not. I’ve never been able to trace a definitive source for this, nor really anyone claiming to be the first, but the square cut is common in parts of the Midwest. It is how we cut our thin crusts here (it basically makes it more of a finger food and easier to share or just have a little of at a time while drinking or socializing.) I see the cut used up in Milwaukee, other parts of Wisconsin, St. Louis (Imo’s is cut this way), Indiana, Michigan, and parts of Ohio. I’m not sure if it extends into Minnesota or not. A quick Google does show me some images of square-cut pizza there, but it doesn’t seem to dominate from my casual glance.
And, yes, it is done with crisper, more crackery styles of pizza. I can’t imagine eating a Chicago thin crust cut into pie pieces. It just seems wrong on many levels to me. Similarly, I can’t imagine eating say a New York or Neapolitan style of pizza cut into “party cut” squares.
There’s also another type of pizza cut that’s more rarely seen – I’ve seen it mostly in Quad Cities style pizza (as in Illinois-Iowa Quad Cities), it’s cut into strips. Cut a pizza in half, and then make perpendicular cuts to that center line about 3"-4" apart to make strips. I’ve also seen this cut somewhere in Indiana.
I’m thinking maybe there was confusion between the different types of thin crust. Looks like they have two kinds. Here’s what it says when I try to select crust type:
Brooklyn Style - Hand stretched to be big, thin and perfectly foldable.
Hand Tossed - Garlic-seasoned crust with a rich, buttery taste.
Crunchy Thin Crust - Thin enough for the optimum crispy to crunchy ratio and square cut to be perfectly sharable.
I always get mine cut into 6 slices. I can’t eat 9!
Well, that’s the thing. You can generally pick up a small piece of crunchy thin crust like a cracker, from the bottom and sides, without really touching the cheese and toppings. You’ll still get a bit on your fingers, but short of using a knife and fork, I’m not sure how you can eat any sort of pizza slice without getting at least a little bit of sauce/cheese/toppings/grease on your fingers. Maybe you’re just a much more fastidious pizza eater than I am.
Why? Not every town has outlets for the major delivery chains, plenty of independent pizzerias don’t deliver, and there are chain pizzerias that are sit-down restaurants that don’t offer delivery any more than Applebee’s does. There are also still plenty of smaller cities and towns that have very limited or no presence from UberEats/GrubHub/etc., and when they are available, their delivery fees are typically significantly more expensive than the major pizza delivery chains. It doesn’t seem at all odd to me for a town that just got its first Domino’s not to have a pizza place that delivers.
It’s probably due to the reduced integrity of the crust. I love thin crust and have no problem with squares.
I was a pizza delivery driver for a few years. Most chains have the delivery guys slice the pizzas instead of the cooks so if you get a really wonky cut it’s probably the driver’s fault.
Not related, but coincidentally I stumbled across this story just a few minutes after I read this thread.