Dopers often discuss about where the best pizza in the country can be found, but Michigan is seldom mentioned; it’s usually places like New York, Chicago, New Haven, Philadelphia, and so on. That’s the reason I’m posing this question: nobody ever talks about Detroit-style pizza, if there is even such a thing, but a disproportionately large number of major pizzeria chains in the United States, including Domino’s, Papa John’s, Little Caesar’s, and Hungry Howie’s, hail from the the Detroit area. Why?
Well, as a person who lives in Detroit, I’ve never heard of Detroit-style pizza. There are pizza chains in this area, including, just recently, Papa John’s, but not many mom-and-pop pizzerias. You have to realize that there are no white people in Detroit save for a half-mile, suburb-like strip Downtown where the General Motor executives live. This area is saturated with law enforcement.
There are some areas outside of Detroit like Ferndale, Royal Oak, Dearborn that may have pizzerias but none of them are particularly famous may with the exception of Comos pizza. Here’s a rule of thumb. Anytime when someone mentions Detroit, they are usually referring to areas outside of Detroit. For example, Dearborn, MI has a very high density of Arab-Americans that receive Iraqi immigrants. If you hear this on the news, you’d see headlines such as “Iraqi refugees make new home in Detroit.” Wrong! It’s Dearborn. The difference may seem slight to you, but there is a huge difference between the two areas: Dearborn looks like a “little Middle East” with mosques, Islamic museums, bakeries, meat markets, etc; Detroit, with the exception of Downtown, looks like a nuclear bomb hit it.
How did it get this way? The '67 riots. But that’s a whole new bag of apples.
- Honesty
Can I nominate this post for the greatest disconnect between the question asked and the answer recieved?
Oh stop it, you’re scaring them. Downtown isn’t that bad (in places).
There are scars left from '67, but that’s far from what we’re trying to answer.
We in Michigan do things to excess. We, at various times, have had more swimming pools than any other state, more golfers, more bowlers, more hunters, and more boaters. Food is the same way, unfortunately. Michigan is a fat state, with Detroit as the fattest city.
As a matter of fact, I used to run store #1 for Little Caesars a few years ago. Their menu used to be a lot more broad than it is now. I’d assume it’s streamlined for ease of operation.
Now, this also brings up an interesting question. We hear about New York and Chicago pizza, and are pretty aware of what makes them those types. What would Detroit pizza be? Well, for one, it seems to straddle the line. It seems to satisfy pizza snobs and also the proletariat.
(You guys attending the Michigan Dopefest on Saturday? The thread is in MPSIMS)
UP pizza rocks!
'tis true… we are more or less a food wasteland with the exception of pizza. When I lived in Colorado, I longed for the Greek/Italian immigrant inspired pizza that is the norm here in the Frozen North.
There’s a few chains, and I have no clue how they stay in business when the local stuff is so much better.
I can say with certainty that I never think of New Haven when I think of pizza.
If you’ve never had pizza at one of the well-known places in New Haven (Sally’s, Pepe’s, Modern Apizza), you’ve missed some of the best pizza in the world. You should try to eat at one of those places if the opportunity ever arises.
You know, I grew up in the UP and I still have absolutely no recollection of what UP pizza tastes like. Must’ve grown up in a pizza-poor part of the peninsula…
Well, except for the stuff they served in the Buckhorn tavern. That has the distinction of being the Worst Pizza I’ve Ever Had. Even after spending over a week camping out in the sticks, it still tasted awful.
Something that can be mass produced and delivered within 30 minutes. 
In all seriousness, or as serious as Wikipedia can be, here’s their Detroit-style pizza article.
[nitpick]I can’t vouch for the others, but Papa John’s originated in Jeffersonville, Indiana (across the Ohio river from Louisville Kentucky), not Detroit.
cite:http://www.papajohns.com/pj_story/index.htm
(Also memory. I was living near there in the mid-80s and ate Papa John’s Pizza not long after they started. It was pretty good then too.) [/nitpick]
Really? New Haven is considered by some to be the birthplace of American pizza. I’ve never been, but Sally’s, Pepe’s, and Modern, are required destination for any pizza lover. White clam pizza is also a New Haven specialty. I should also add that there are a couple of places here in Chicago that do a New Haven style pie.
So who took that title from you? Buffalo can’t be taking up ALL the slack from the rest of NY 
I chalk it up to Detroit being physically between Chicago and New York.
All this talk of pizza is making me hungry. I won’t be eating any of the pizza there, though. Grizzly Peak has world famous fries.
Perhaps other areas, like the New York area, have many Italian immigrants who established independent pizzerias, while Detroit had few, so it was a more fertile area for a chain restaurant.
Heh. That’s not fair. I spend 4 years in Buffalo in school and I live in Detroit. How can both places be the fattest? If I start connecting dots, I’m going to end up with a serious self-image issue.
Pizza House, the initial Dopefest place, has frickin’ awesome pizza. Like, downtown Ann Arbor Cottage Inn-good pizza.
Well, I bolded the bowling*, but now that you mentioned it… 
*true story, my brother and I had the bowling=rust belt city stereotype pegged long before we heard it from pop culture. Then, the first night we stayed in Buffalo (despite having grown up near Jamestown,) we almost couldn’t get a room because most of the rooms were being taken by…a bowling tournament.
Domino’s was originally DomiNick’s in Ypsilanti, a suburb of Ann Arbor, not Detroit. Pizza Hut (not on your list, but a major player) originated in Wichita, KS. Papa John’s has been discussed elsewhere. Other major chains not originating in Detroit: Shakey’s, CPK, Straw Hat, Pizzeria Uno. I’ve never seen a Hungry Howie’s; are you sure they’re nationwide? I don’t think they’ve penetrated the South, or the Pacific Northwest.
Basically, Little Caesar comes from Detroit. Thank God you guys also make cars.
The best pizza comes from Old Forge PA and Parlin NJ. Who knew?
Would that be the Buckhorn outside of Munising? 'cause, yeah, their pizza sucks.
I can say from experience that Hungry Howie’s is in Florida, South Georgia and Alabama. According to their webiste they have over 500 locations. It is the epitome of cheap pizza (like $4.99 for a large). I ate quite a bit of it in college and law school.