Tavern-style pizza

{{Short description|Pizza with thin, crunchy crust and square slices}}

{{mergefrom|Minnesota-style pizza|date=June 2025|discuss=Talk:Minnesota-style pizza#Merge proposal}}

Tavern-style pizza is a type of pizza that has both a thin crust firm enough to have a noticeable crunch and slices cut into squares, as opposed to wedges.{{Cite news |last=López-Alt |first=J. Kenji |date=2023-03-17 |title=Kenji López-Alt Spent 5 Months Studying Chicago Thin-Crust Pizza. Here’s What He Learned. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/17/dining/tavern-thin-crust-pizza-chicago.html |access-date=2024-08-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240806071706/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/17/dining/tavern-thin-crust-pizza-chicago.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last1=Vettel |first1=Phil |last2=Kevin Pang |date=2009-07-23 |title=Pizza slices: Two foodies debate the merits of wedge versus 'party cut' |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/dining/chi-090722-pizza-cut-debate,0,7968080.story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726105418/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/dining/chi-090722-pizza-cut-debate,0,7968080.story |archive-date=2009-07-26 |access-date=2009-07-23 |work=Chicago Tribune}}{{Cite web |last=Chahwala |first=Jaison |date=March 13, 2017 |title=20 Great Spots to Taste Real Chicago Pizza: Tavern-Style Thin Crust |url=http://chicago.eater.com/maps/best-chicago-thin-crust-pizza-restaurants-tavern-style |access-date=March 13, 2017 |website=Eater Chicago |archive-date=March 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314131314/http://chicago.eater.com/maps/best-chicago-thin-crust-pizza-restaurants-tavern-style |url-status=live }}

Characteristics

Although regional styles can vary, tavern-style pizza across the Midwestern United States typically have a crispy and thin crust. In Milwaukee, this is referred to as a "cracker" crust;{{Cite news|url=http://archive.jsonline.com/entertainment/dining/29271194.html|title=No matter how you slice it, it's pizza|last=Flanigan|first=Kathy|date=2007-10-05|work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020172751/http://archive.jsonline.com/entertainment/dining/29271194.html|archive-date=2016-10-20|url-status=dead}} crusts in Minnesota tend to be a bit softer.{{Cite news |last=Summers |first=Joy |title=Why do Minnesotans cut their pizzas in squares? |url=https://www.startribune.com/why-do-minnesotans-cut-their-pizza-in-squares/600293084/ |date=2023-07-28 |access-date=2024-01-05 |newspaper=Minnesota Star Tribune}} Unlike hand-tossed pizzas common on the east coast of the United States or in Italy, the dough is rolled out before baking.

Prior to cooking, the crust is topped with a seasoned tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings like sausage. Immediately prior to service, the pizzas are cut into squares instead of the classic triangle.

Regional varieties

History

= Purpose =

The name "tavern-style" comes from how the pizzas were originally served in taverns. According to at least one origin story, the pizza tempted customers into lingering at the establishment, at which point they would be more likely to order more alcohol. Other bars might serve peanuts or other salty snacks for the same purpose.

According to one narrative, the pizza's signature square slices were created so that a customer could hold that in one hand and a beer in the other.{{Cite magazine |first=Tony |last=Allen |date=October 22, 2024 |title=3 Must-Try Pizza Styles in Chicago — and the 1 Top Topping |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/chicago-pizza-styles-8731801 |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=Food & Wine |language=en}} Another theory is that they made it possible for taverns without plates to instead set the pizza on napkins.{{Cite magazine |last=McClelland |first=Edward |date=June 30, 2020 |title=Tavern Style Isn't Just Chicago's Signature Pizza, but Its Signature Food |url=https://www.chicagomag.com/dining-drinking/june-2020/tavern-style-pizza-history/ |access-date=August 22, 2022 |website=Chicago Magazine |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227103519/https://www.chicagomag.com/dining-drinking/June-2020/Tavern-Style-Pizza-History/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite magazine |last=McClelland |first=Edward |title=Why Is Thin-Crust Pizza Known in Chicago as “Tavern Style”? |url=https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/march-2025/why-do-we-call-thin-crust-pizza-tavern-style/ |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=Chicago Magazine |language=en-US}}

= Creation =

Claims to originating the style in the 1930s and 1940s have come from residents of Milwaukee{{Cite news |first1=Joy |last1=Powers |first2=Jack |last2=Hurbanis |date=2021-04-27 |title=A Look Into The History Of Milwaukee Style Pizza |url=https://www.wuwm.com/2021-04-27/a-look-into-the-history-of-milwaukee-style-pizza |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR |language=en |archive-date=2024-05-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519014444/https://www.wuwm.com/2021-04-27/a-look-into-the-history-of-milwaukee-style-pizza |url-status=live }}{{Cite magazine |first=Ann |last=Christenson |date=2021-04-06 |title=What Is Milwaukee-Style Pizza? And Who Made it First? |url=https://www.milwaukeemag.com/what-is-milwaukee-style-pizza-and-who-made-it-first/ |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=Milwaukee Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |first=Lori |last=Fredrich |date=2022-10-14 |title=What you knead to know: Milwaukee-style pizza |url=https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/knead-to-know-milwaukee-style-pizza |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=OnMilwaukee |archive-date=2023-10-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017223647/https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/knead-to-know-milwaukee-style-pizza |url-status=live }} and of Chicago.{{Cite news |first=Kat |last=Odell |date=2023-07-28 |title=The Pizza That's Taking Over the US |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-28/tavern-style-pizza-and-its-crispy-thin-crust-is-taking-over-the-us |access-date=2024-08-21 |work=Bloomberg |language=en |archive-date=2023-07-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728163854/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-28/tavern-style-pizza-and-its-crispy-thin-crust-is-taking-over-the-us |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |first=Omar |last=Mamoon |date=2023-03-24 |title=Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza is Sweeping America |url=https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/restaurants/a43366499/best-tavern-style-pizza-us/ |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=Esquire |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628143731/https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/restaurants/a43366499/best-tavern-style-pizza-us/ |url-status=live }}

Milwaukee's claim dates to a Third Ward restaurant named the Caradaro Club, which opened in 1945. Their idea was to combine Sicilian pizza's rectangle slices with Neapolitan pizza's thin crust. Sources variously date Chicago's claim to the 1930s{{cite journal|last=Elliot|first=Elizabeth|title=Deeper than Deep-Dish: The Case for Chicago as America's Pizza Capital|date=November 1, 2018|journal=Perspectives on History|volume=56|number=8|pages=27–29|url=https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/deeper-than-deep-dish-the-case-for-chicago-as-americas-pizza-capital-november-2018/}} or between 1946 and 1950, when a number of restaurants started making recognizably tavern-style pizza.{{Cite book |last=Eng |first=Monica |title=Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites |date=2023 |publisher=Three Fields Press |others=David Hammond |isbn=978-0-252-05406-8 |edition=1st |location=Champaign |page=133}} If the latter, one contender is Vito & Nick’s Pizzeria, which opened as a bar called Vito’s Tavern in 1920. They claim to have served their first tavern pizza in 1946 after one of their owners got the idea while serving in the military. Another is the Home Run Inn in South Lawndale, which opened in 1947.{{Cite news |last=Dolinsky |first=Steve |date=2022-04-21 |title=The Food Guy: Home Run Inn Pizza – a Chicago Tradition for 75 Years and Counting |url=https://www.nbcchicago.com/the-food-guy/the-food-guy-home-run-inn-pizza-a-chicago-tradition-for-75-years-and-counting/2813262/ |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=NBC Chicago |language=en-US}} Chicago reporter Monica Eng has identified at least four additional restaurants which could have originated the style.

Sales

Tavern-style pizza is commonly found in restaurants across much of the Midwestern United States.{{Cite book |last=Fehribach |first=Paul |title=Midwestern food: a chef's guide to the surprising history of a great American cuisine, with more than 100 tasty recipes |date=2023 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-81949-5 |location=Chicago |pages=240–241 |chapter=Tavern-Style Pizza}} Its popularity widened across the United States in the 2020s. The expansion included tavern-style releases from the US restaurant chains Pizza Hut{{Cite news |last=Selvam |first=Ashok |date=2024-06-28 |title=Pizza Hut’s Tavern Pizza Is More Embarrassing Than Chicago Baseball |url=https://chicago.eater.com/2024/6/28/24188396/pizza-hut-chicago-tavern-style-thin-crust-review |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=Eater Chicago |language=en}} and Domino's,{{Cite magazine |first=John |last=Kessler |date=July 10, 2024 |title=In Praise of... Domino’s? |url=https://www.chicagomag.com/dining-drinking/in-praise-of-dominos/ |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=Chicago Magazine |language=en-US}} in addition to the Tombstone frozen pizza brand.{{Cite news |first=Zachary |last=Sosland |date=April 9, 2024 |title=Nestle pizza brand launches tavern-style pizza |url=https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/25871-nestle-pizza-brand-launches-tavern-style-pizza |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=Food Business News |language=en}}

A number of sources have said that tavern-style pizza outsells deep-dish pizza in Chicago. According to 2013 Grubhub data and the company Chicago Pizza Tours, thin-crust pizza outsells the more widely known deep-dish style among locals, with GrubHub stating that deep-dish comprises only 9% of its pizza deliveries.{{Cite web |last=John |first=Derek |date=2013-12-20 |title=Deep Dish or Thin Crust? Even Chicagoans Can't Agree |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/20/255601925/deep-dish-or-thin-crust-even-chicagoans-cant-agree |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528171754/https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/20/255601925/deep-dish-or-thin-crust-even-chicagoans-cant-agree |archive-date=2015-05-28 |access-date=2018-03-06 |website=NPR |department=The Salt}}{{Cite news |last=Rousseau |first=Caryn |date=2014-09-19 |title=It's not all deep-dish pizza in Chicago |url=http://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/food/2014/09/19/chicago-pizza-tour-slice-pie-deepdish/15907921/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112003847/https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/life/food/2014/09/19/chicago-pizza-tour-slice-pie-deepdish/15907921/ |archive-date=2020-11-12 |access-date=2017-01-17 |work=The Detroit News |agency=Associated Press}} In response, Technomics food industry researcher Darren Tristano questioned GrubHub's conclusion on the basis of the delivery service's user demographics, saying that its younger users cannot afford deep-dish pizza, while NPR noted that the data would not include information on two particular chains specializing in the style (though with just 20 restaurants in the city of 2.7{{nbsp}}million) that are not on GrubHub. In 2020 COVID-affected data, Yelp also found that thin-crust pizza was more popular in Chicago. However, Food & Wine magazine spoke to multiple Chicago pizzerias in 2024 whose sales of the two styles of pizza were evenly split.