Palazzo Di Pizza | The Best Chewy Crust, Detroit Style Pizza

There’s A New Pizza In Town

Chef Shawn Randazzo introduced Detroit style pizza to America. He has consulted with chefs around the country who want to follow his lead. From Las Vegas to Brooklyn, people are beginning to recognize and to crave the Motor City deep-dish square. Randazzo’s home base in the Detroit area is an inconspicuous take-out window in the suburb of Royal Oak: Palazzo Di Pizza. 

Anatomy of Detroit Pizza

The pizza, baked to order, takes about twenty-five minutes. You can call ahead or spend the time learning about Detroit-style pizza from the counter staff. They’ll tell you that it is a thick, square relative of the East Coast Sicilian pan slice. Detroit style pizza chefs pour on plenty of zesty sauce. They add enough cheese to enhance any array of toppings. Their crust cooks thick and rich, but remarkably grease-free. We think it signifies a halfway point between the New York pan and the Chicago deep dish.

A brown ring of cheese baked into the edge of the surrounding crust puts Detroit pizza in the Pantheon. It makes the final bite of every slice a wonderful reward rather than merely an edible handle. Knowing that the corner pieces are the best part, Palazzo Di Pizza doesn’t bake large pies. Instead, they simply bake two small pies and call it a large. This way, every single slice provides the eater with a corner. 

Beyond the Great Crust

The broad menu includes classic pan pizza toppings, kooky California-style fusion, and Italian tradition. Ask for a double pepperoni and you will get plenty of pepperoni under the cheese. Detroit pizza fans prefer it that way. But then more pepperoni, in the form of thicker, smaller cups, goes on top. A hefty bite gets you two very different textures of pepperoni. The Margherita pizza doesn’t really resemble the Neapolitan original. It’s a Detroit style pie with a slice of fresh tomato and fresh mozzarella atop a blanket of whole-milk mozzarella on the crust.  

Next time we visit, we’re going to get the same pizza pie duet. The freshness of a Margherita nicely balances the oilier pepperoni.