Introducing: "Doughtown," a study of Detroit Style Pizza

Sometime in 2023, The History Press will publish my fifth book, tentatively titled, “Doughtown.” It is an examination of Detroit Style Pizza both of its history and of its place within the current culinary scene. It’s one of those stories where people, food and culture combine, and I’m excited to write it.

Detroit Style Pizza changed the pizza world forever and became a legit style around 2012 thanks in part to a man named Shawn Randazzo. He largely is credited for coining the term “Detroit Style Pizza,” even naming his company that when he went into business for himself.

But the pizza itself goes back to 1946 when a San Marino immigrant named Gus Guerra came to the United States just before the Great Depression. He bought a bar with some relatives called Buddy’s Rendezvous, mostly because it had an active bocce court and regular customers. Gus and his family (his wife and mother-in-law in particular) came up with a pizza recipe that was one part Sicilian and one part Motor City. When Gus sold Buddy’s and opened Cloverleaf around 1953, he left the recipe behind but starting making his own version at his new Eastpointe Bar.

In the meantime, Buddy’s kept pumping out this amazing pizza style. Its hallmarks are a light, fluffy dough, then cheese, then toppings (if any) and then sauce. When employees, most notably a man named Louis Tourtois, left Buddy’s they took the pizza that everyone loved with them and made their own version. Louis went to Shield’s and then ventured out on his own.

It’s a mix of family, shifting loyalties and culinary twists and turns. How does Cloverleaf play into Shawn’s story? How does Louis turn his little Hazel Park restaurant into a historical landmark? Where does the term “Detroit Style Pizza” even come from? Who are the two brothers who (along with Shawn) realized Detroit Style was a thing once they had left Michigan and understood how to take it to the next level? What about Jet’s PIzza—do they deserve the title of spreading Detroit Style across the nation?

AND WHERE DID THOSE PIZZA PANS COME FROM ANYWAY?!??!

These are my questions. Now, let’s go find some answers.

P.S. The book’s name is still up in the air—anyone have any other suggestions?