The regional trendsetter: Detroit-style pizza

Pizza is one of the Americans’ favorite foods, so it only makes sense that they would happily make room for the growth of one more regional style. Detroit-style pizza is known for its rectangular shape and light-but-thick crust with a crispy rim from cheese that’s taken all the way to the edge.

It is believed to have been invented in the Motor City in 1946 and is like a Sicilian pizza in its shape and thick crust, with one major difference: It’s traditionally baked in a steel pan like the ones that held nuts and bolts in the city’s auto manufacturing plants.

Classic Detroit-style pizza is topped with thick, small cup pepperoni that curls and chars in the oven, but options for other toppings, as with most pizza, are virtually limitless. More than 80% of consumers who have tried it say they like it or love it, according to market research firm Datassential’s consumer preferences tool.

Datassential reports that Detroit pizza is found on 0.6% of U.S. menus, a 183% increase over the past four years.

Click through the gallery to learn more about this Flavor of the Week and see how one restaurant is using Detroit-style pizza on its menu.