- [Narrator] On this episode of UTR, we celebrate something we all have in common, our love for pizza!

And in Michigan, we've got about every different kind you can crave.

We'll grab a thin crust, some Detroit style, and an American classic.

Then we'll go Neapolitan, and even, dare I say, Chicago style.

Get ready to explore the cool crust, sauces, and toppings that make Michigan a great place for pizza.

- [Narrator] We all have one.

That perfect spot, a special place we go to smooth out the ripples of the day.

Our perfect spot is calling.

Our perfect spot is pure Michigan.

Your trip begins at Michigan.org.

- [Narrator] The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is dedicated to enabling economic prosperity.

The MEDC markets Michigan, with the focus on growing businesses and building resilient communities in our state.

- [Narrator] A visit to the Stahls Auto Collection will take you back to a time when cars were more than just a way to get around.

A fantastic assortment of gas pumps, neon signs, and automated music machines dating back 150 years that must be seen and heard.

Info at StahlsAuto.com.

- [Narrator] AnnArbor.org is your gateway to Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline, Ypsilanti, and Ann Arbor.

Find out the best spots to eat, festivals to attend, activities to do, and places to discover.

At AnnArbor.org.

- [Tom] I've been around the world but there's one place I keep coming back to.

And the more I explore, the more I realized it's the place to be.

I'm Tom Dalton, and this is Under the Radar Michigan.

(upbeat rock music) You know, believe it or not, we Americans eat about a hundred acres of pizza every day.

That comes up to like a 350 pieces a second.

Yeah, we Americans love our pizza.

And in Michigan, we've got about every kind of 'za you can zample - all pretty tasty, I might add.

So that's why we're calling this episode "Pizza?

Yes, Please!"

Because nothing pleases our pallets more than these popular piping hot pillows of plenty.

And in our great state we've got so many outstanding pizzerias that doing them all justice is, well, just plain impossible.

So on this episode, we're going to concentrate on the five main kinds of pizzas you can pick from.

And lucky for me, all five are pretty close to my house.

Bonus!

Tomatoes Apizza in Farmington Hills is named after one of pizza's most important ingredients.

And they specialize in the first of our five different kinds of pies, thin crust.

Now Mike Weinstein is Tomatoes' proud pizza preparing proprietor, and he explains why thin is in.

- Boy, I am glad we decided to do this by the oven, because it's chilly out today, and this feels so good.

Now, Mike, I know that you went to the Culinary Institute of America.

So I know you're a food guy but where did you get your passion for pizza?

- Well, I grew up in Michigan, but my father is from Connecticut and we would visit Grandma and go to the three famous pizzerias on Wooster street called Pepe's, Sally's, and Abate's.

And that's where I sort of fell in love with it.

- Oh yeah, because I mentioned to somebody the other day that we were coming here and they said, "Oh, that's great!"

Because I said, "It's thin crust, right?"

They go, "Yeah, yeah.

But it's New Haven style pizza."

I had never heard of New Haven style pizza.

That's what it is?

- Yeah.

That's sort of the best pizza in the world, considered by many in the pizza you know, business, and world.

- [Tom] New Haven style.

- [Mike] Yes.

- [Tom] Well describe it.

What is it?

How is it different?

And there's isn't there a guy out there that made it famous?

A Lou Abate guy?

- Lou Abate is my old boss and he did make it famous with Sally Consiglio and Frank Pepe.

It's baked directly on the brick with a coal-fired oven.

It's a little bit more cooked, longer than a normal pizza, with the addition of the Pecorino Romano.

And it's sort of a handmade, larger pizza.

- Yeah.

And they're not round or square, right?

- Right.

- They sort of take on a life of their own.

- Exactly.

Yep.

- And why is the, I understand the bottom is really important.

Why is the bottom so important to the pizza?

- Well, I think we're looking for black spots and black scarring, versus a golden brown thing.

Looking for white with black spots, you know it's supposed to be.

- [Tom] Yeah, you're talking my pizza language - It speaks.

It's sort of an animal in itself and it has a voice and it's aggressive.

It's, a pie that bites you, and you're biting it.

- Yes.

You're speaking my pizza language because when I get pizza, I always say "I want an extra done.

I want it to look as if Lucifer himself was at the oven watching my pizza."

Yeah.

I just like it that way.

It's got that little bit of char and when it bubbles up just gives it flavor.

- Definitely.

Yeah.

I think that's where it comes from.

I always ask Soco.

Because sometimes I'll be like, hey.

You know, if he's watching a pie for me, he always says, "Treat it bad.

You know, just ignore it."

Yeah.

- [Tom] Spank that pizza!

- Yeah, just ignore it.

Let it go.

- So the pizzas aren't, they're not square or round.

They're just having a life of their own.

But you mentioned the cheese is a little bit different?

- Yeah.

We're using a mozzarella, an aged mozzarella and an aged Pecorino Romano and a lot of fresh oregano on every pie.

- Yeah.

I just love thin crust pizzas because they're just, you can eat more of them.

(Tom laughing) - Right.

And we're getting it crispy without the oil, without frying it.

I think that's the beauty of it, to try to get a really crispy pie without a lot of oil.

- It must make you feel, now you've got two locations?

- Three.

- Three?

Wow!

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

Okay.

Because truth be told my wife and I have been here a few years ago and yeah, I'm sorry I haven't been back.

- It's okay.

You are back.

- I'm here.

I'm here now.

- [Tom] It's no wonder why these pizzas are so awesome.

Mike is a wonderful guy who takes such great pride in what he does and in making his customers happy.

And speaking of happy, after digging into a slice myself I think I downright reached pizza Nirvana.

If you're into thin, Tomatoes Apizza is absolutely a place you need to pick.

Besides, thin crust is less filling, so you can actually eat more pizza and more pizza, and more pizza.

Mm.

Bonus.

Now, if you're a fan of Detroit style pizza, it's time to make a pilgrimage to the place where it all started.

I'm of course, talking about Buddy's Pizza in Detroit where classic deep dish pizza was actually invented.

You see, way back in 1946, Gus Guerra and his wife, Anna owned a little neighborhood bar called Buddy's Rendezvous.

And they were looking for a way to spice up their menu.

And the rest, as they say, is piping hot history.

And nowadays, Wes Pikula continues to make sure Buddy's Pizza keeps pleasing people who love their pizza thick and zesty.

Now I'm going to let it set up.

because I like my pizza little set up.

Is it true, you were a bus boy here, 45 years ago?

- Actually a dishwasher.

- [Tom] Oh, you were a dishwasher 25 years ago?

- I got promoted.

- [Tom] Because now you're what?

- Well, I'm the chief brand officer now.

- [Tom] Oh my God!

- But when I originally started here, I got hired as a dishwasher because I guess one of the dishwashers that they had scheduled didn't show up and the manager, Cas, said, "Hey, you know how to wash dishes?"

I said, "Sure!"

I really didn't.

So I just went in there and they were helping me with the sprayer and it was a really very tight area.

And after a few months I got promoted to a busboy.

- Wow, that's too funny.

We didn't realize we had a history because the two of us, where am I looking?

There.

The two of us, actually, when I used to work in Rock Radio, we did promotions here.

And that was 30 years ago.

I'm going to ask Jim 30, 35 years ago.

So I'm sure we've bumped into each other, back then.

- Oh yeah.

I would.

I'd probably, actually I'd probably bussed your table or I was outside rolling the bocce court.

I mean, because that was one of the things you have to do too as a busboy.

You have to go out there and rake the court and roll the court because the guys would come in and play bocce.

- It all started here with Gus just borrowing pans from guys down the road.

- [Wes] Borrowing pans from down the road.

And of course there's a lot of nuances to the pizza that make it unique particularly the way it's built.

So traditionally you have dough and you'd have sauce and cheese, which have bodies of course.

The way they did it was, you know, you started with the dough and then you added cheese.

Well actually, you put pepperoni underneath the cheese and then you sauced it on top.

- [Tom] Yeah.

I was going to ask you, this is I guess here you actually press the pepperonis down into the- - [Wes] Yeah, it's placed into the dough.

And then some of that would impart flavor onto the crust.

And so that's how it was trapped.

And then you sauce it on top and it gave you a light crunchy crust with a little bit of bite from the pepperoni.

- Little did Gus know he was going to start this the creation that is now a craze all over the country.

- You know, Chicago had their style of pizza.

It's about time Detroit got their style of pizza.

So I laugh about it because it's really a Buddy's Pizza that now everyone refers to as Detroit style, which we're honored and proud.

- I say Buddy's, it's a Buddy's pizza.

- That's why I always said, I said, it's a Buddy's slash Detroit style.

But of course, when you look at Detroit style pizzas and what you see out there today, they're all quite different.

I mean, the process of our pizza is very unique to Buddy's because it's a tradition that's been passed on.

And I started here in 1975 and a lot of the kitchen that was here was intact from 15, 20 years before that.

So nothing really changed the whole time I've been here.

One thing about Buddy's that's really unique and interesting, besides the pizza of course is the people that made Buddy's and the workers and the employees and the managers and everybody.

That is a labor of love and people along the way have really done a lot of great things.

That's why we're here today.

- Well, I can't sit here anymore without eating a piece of this pizza.

- [Wes] So you're probably going to go after the corner because I think that's what everybody does.

- I always go to the corner with the most.

- Well, that's where all the juices wind up is in the corner.

So that's why you want the corners.

- [Tom] Plus it's been sitting here so I won't burn myself.

Oh my God.

Yeah, look at how caramelized that is.

Can you see that at home?

Can you smell that?

I mean, oh my gosh!

- And it should be a nice texture.

And obviously the cheese, the sauce, the sauce is very mild and we don't want to overpower the pizza.

And I think in the past, people used to refer to this as deep dish and we used to kind of laugh because the first bite would be, "Hey, this isn't deep dish.

This is very light and airy."

And we would say, we'd say, "Exactly."

It just looks that way - You go ahead and talk.

- [Wes] because of the proofing.

(Wes laughing) - [Tom] Oh my!

That is good pizza.

- Now see, when you just bit that and that crunch That's - - Did you hear it?

- No, I heard it, of course.

- I know!

- It's loud!

- Want to hear it again?

- That's a good crunch!

- [Tom] Oh.

So if you're looking for yet another reason to be a proud Michigander try a substantial slab of Buddy's Detroit style.

It's the original world famous deep dish pizza that was invented right here in the Motor City.

And man, that's a lot of pizza!

Now, everybody knows that pizza has its roots in Italy.

Ah, but when you're on this side of the pond nothing beats an American classic and I'm going to get me some.

Mmm-mm.

And at Green Lantern in Berkeley that's exactly what you get, a sensationally solid slice of saucy, savory pizza perfection.

And all wrapped up in a classic neighborhood joint.

It all started back in 1955 when Thomas and Irene Vetrano decided they loved three things: pizza, people, and the place they called home.

Well fast forward two generations, and you've got John Spritzer working hard to make sure as many people as possible taste the legacy of the Lantern.

- So are you the actual King of Pepperoni?

- Ah, no that would be my grandfather.

- Your grandfather?

- Yeah.

- I'm glad you said that because I love the story of the name of this place.

The Green Lantern.

- Back in Prohibition, I should say, they used to kind of keep a green light on.

That's where the story, at least that's what people say, anyway, where it originates from.

We bought in '46, or '54, I'm sorry.

The previous owners had it in '46.

We created the pizza.

My great aunt and great uncle kind of created the pizza.

Yeah.

Todd Vetrano and Irene were the originators.

They ran it up through the eighties when my father kind of took over.

So my grandfather had it, my father did.

He passed when I was young and my brother and I, TJ, have been kind of running with the torch ever since.

So we went from one location to seven.

- So it's been a family affair for, gosh, a lot of years.

- Over 65 years now we've been making pizza in Detroit.

- And pepperoni, how did you get to be known as the King of Pepperoni?

Because this is your signature pizza, right?

The pepperoni.

- It is, yeah.

Just a plain, just a regular pepperoni pizza.

This is our hand tossed.

The pepperoni still comes in sticks, that we still spend all the time hand cutting and putting on these pizzas.

- [Tom] And I love how they're caramelized on top.

They're just a little bit, you know on top they're just a little bit well done.

- You gotta make sure you order just pepperoni .

If you get anything else besides that, it doesn't, it doesn't do that.

You know, so.

- Classic pepperoni is your signature, King of Pepperoni.

Do you have a crown anywhere or?

- No.

Would be great to have one, but no.

- [Tom] Pizza's been in your family for gen- you know, you're the third generation.

- [John] Yes.

- [Tom] I mean, how does that make you feel?

- [John] Oh good.

You know, everybody always says the third generation is supposed to screw it up, but right?

But you know, my brother and I have done I think pretty well so far.

So we've gone from one location to seven and we feel like we have a strong brand and a strong community awareness, so.

- Yeah, that's what I love about your restaurants is they're the kind of place where you go, everybody knows each other.

It's like they create a sense of community, a sense of place in the community.

- [John] Yeah.

- Where were you 30 years ago when my first house was four blocks from here?

Literally I lived in, my very first house.

You guys weren't around?

- I was 13.

- Oh shoot.

That's okay.

That explains it.

Well, last question.

Do you think that Grandma and Grandpa Vetrano would be proud of you?

- I do.

I do.

I think they'd be proud of everybody.

Everybody's kind of chipped in and I think we took what their, you know, original base was and just prayed upon it and just kept building on it.

So I think they'd be proud.

I do.

- [Tom] Do you think they'd want you to give me a free pizza for life?

- Probably not.

(John laughing) - That's what I was afraid of.

Well then I'm going to have some pizza.

Let's have some of this pizza.

I'm tired of looking at it.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Have some pizza.

You'll like it, I swear!

Oh my gosh.

Oh, oh the dough, you can smell the dough.

- It's every day.

- That's a classic American pizza.

That is awesome.

The pepperoni is perfect.

Mmm!

Did I tell you I'm vegan?

Look, if you can't decide what kind of pizza you want tonight, grab a pepperoni packed pizza from Green Lantern because their pies come from a place where they take great pride in pleasing people.

Besides, I think we could all use a little bit of happy right now.

And if you have to eat a great classic slice of pizza to get there, so be it.

Mm.

Pizza.

Well, right now we're going to go to a place that celebrates and serves up the very origins of pizza.

Oh, and by the way, the name translates literally to Pizza and Wine.

I'm about to go to my happy place.

I'm happier already.

Pizza E Vino in Plymouth is the culinary creation of John Corsi who loves pizza so much that he actually got certified by the pizza powers that be in Naples, Italy to serve real, genuine, authentic Neapolitan style pizza.

And that ain't easy to do, whether you're Italian, you know an Italian, or you hope to someday be an Italian, this place is your portal to Pompeii.

And the pizza is, well, mamma mia!

So you're the, you were the first and still only one of two Neapolitan actually style, or actually you've been approved by the guys in Italy, right?

- Mhm.

Yeah.

- That wasn't easy, right?

- Well, you know, I had an oven in my house that I built for maybe five years and I would always play around with different ways of making the pizza and you know, and so I actually flew out to California to work with them, you know, from VPN in for about a week.

And I just, all the little tricks and there's so many little things involved that I was never even thinking of.

And, at the end, when we came here and I went to my house and I started making the pizza, I go, boy, wow, this is really- and 10 years ago, there wasn't or 12 years ago, there weren't very many Neapolitan places around.

And so when I was making it in my house and then recreated that pizza, I was like blown away.

I was like, wow, I gotta, you know, I gotta fulfill this dream of opening up this restaurant I always wanted to do.

- Well for people ho have never had a real Neapolitan style pizza, I mean explain because you have to get certified by the folks over in Naples.

So I mean, explain the difference and why it's so much better.

- It's just the natural ingredients.

I mean, when you, we use San Marzano, DOP tomatoes which are the actual tomatoes that are grown in Naples you know, in the Vesuvius region of Italy, the tomatoes just speak for themselves, you know, and the natural sugars from them.

We add no sugar to our sauce at all.

Just, literally, just sea salt.

But more importantly is the dough, the double zero flour, we use Caputo here.

You can find Caputo now, in which is so amazing is that you can find a lot of this stuff now in the grocery stores, which 12 years ago you couldn't find.

I tend to use, and most of the pizzas we do use the fresh mozzarella because the buffalo needs to be flown in from Italy.

There's very few places in the United States that are making buffalo mozzarella.

And it is a bit different.

There are so many ways these days to cut corners and so many, you know you could buy dough pre-made from so many different places.

You could buy pretty much everything you want and just assemble it.

But everything is made every day.

We make dough every day.

We mill our tomatoes every single day.

We, you know, we chop up our fresh mozzarella or bellini balls every single day.

And yeah, we have to start early.

And that's why we open up at four because that, the process does take a little longer.

There's, and it's very difficult.

Every single day, you've got to make a fire.

And you're you have the, all these hotspots in your oven and the person running that oven, it's tough.

It takes a long time for them to learn that.

If they left today, every one of my guys that work that oven I'd be over there myself because no one else would be able to do it.

It would take awhile to do it right.

- Well thank goodness, there's guys like you around because I couldn't do it.

So here's to Napoli.

That's Naples, just in case you didn't know.

If you're looking for authenticity, you ought to try a genuine piece of Neapolitan at Pizza E Vino.

Not only was about a thousand years in the making, it'll make you want to come back for more.

Mhm.

- Now, last but not least.

We sample a slice of pizza that was born in a place called the Windy City.

And I hope you're not full yet because this is a substantial slice.

I'm of course, talking about Chicago style pizza.

And if you're looking for the man who made it popular in Michigan, Joe Sheena is his name and Pizza Papalis is his restaurant claim to fame.

We caught up with Joe at his Detroit East Jefferson location for some history and a heap and helping of happiness.

Is it true this whole crazy thing started with a road trip to Chicago in 1986?

- 1984.

- [Tom] Really?

- We opened in 1986.

So it was a road trip to Chicago in 1984.

We were going to go see the Lions and the Bears and watch Michigan play Illinois.

And the last day that we were there we all kind of said, okay, let's stop at, like, one of the more well-known places around here.

We, nobody could really decide.

And we ended up going into this place in Chicago, fell in love with it, and the kind of the rest is history.

A couple of years later, and many, many road trips after that, looking for what I thought was something that was going to be well received in this market.

We ended up - [Tom] Bringing Chicago style back here.

- [Joe] Coming up with Pizza Papalis.

- [Tom] I've never had Chicago style pizza.

- [Joe] Okay.

Shame on you, first of all.

- I know, and I that's why I'm here but how is it constructed?

Why is, how is it different?

- First thing is the pans are really important.

Okay.

So you got to have the special pan.

It's gotta be seasoned properly.

And then the dough is going to be more of a dense dough.

You're going to, you can't stretch it out by hand.

You need a machine, that's in the background you're hearing our machines going off because we got to put it through the sheeter.

So then we layer the pizzas on the bottom of the pan, we put all of our ingredients inside of it, we put a second layer of dough on that.

So it's almost like a pie.

- [Tom] Oh like an actual pie?

- [Joe] Like an actual pie.

And then we layer our Italian tomato sauce on top of that and we season it and then we got to cook it in one of our ovens for like 30, 35 minutes.

- Well, I'm going to try a piece of Chicago-style because again, I apologize.

I've never had one.

I'm going to try one in a minute.

- Okay.

- I can't wait.

- Excellent.

- [Tom] What should I expect?

- You will expect a very unique experience in eating pizza.

Because it will not be what you're used to eating.

This won't be something you're going to actually just be able to pick it up fold it and stuff it in your mouth.

It's going to be something that, you know you're going to probably need a fork and a knife to cut through it and then, you know kind of take your time eating it.

So it's not going to be it's kind of like a nice big thick steak.

- [Tom] Yeah.

I hear one slice is pretty much good?

- I don't know.

It just depends on, you know - [Tom] How much beer?

- [Joe] What your appetite is, you know?

And you know there's been challenges where guys have tried to eat the whole pizza in a certain amount of time.

And they tried and failed, but you know the nice thing is, is that for a good price you can bring your whole family in, it's a great value because you know you can satisfy five people with one large deep dish pizza.

- One, two, three, four, five.

Okay.

Let's do it.

- Sounds like a plan.

- Oh yeah.

So, and I understand you're giving me a free pizza to go tonight but I guess the catch is, it's in one of these boxes?

- Well, hold on a second here.

Which, who said anything about a free pizza?

- Well, darn, your brother did, I swear!

Mark?

Where's Mark?

Don't I get a free pizza, but it's hidden in here, right?

I got to find a box?

If you want to eat pizza from a guy who puts everything he has and is into it, pick up a pie from Pizza Papalis.

Sure, he serves pizza from Chicago but he's a Michigan man through and through.

So bottom line if you're craving a hot slice of made in Michigan heaven, try one of our (unidentified) billion premiere pizza places.

And who knows, your new favorite pizza may be just one slice away.

Or two, or three, or four.

Hey, it's pizza.

- [Narrator] We all have one.

That perfect spot, a special place we go to smooth out the ripples of the day.

Our perfect spot is calling.

Our perfect spot is pure Michigan.

Your trip begins at Michigan.org.

- [Narrator] The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is dedicated to enabling economic prosperity.

The MEDC markets Michigan, with the focus on growing businesses and building resilient communities in our state.

- [Narrator] A visit to the Stahls Auto Collection will take you back to a time when cars were more than just a way to get around.

A fantastic assortment of gas pumps, neon signs, and automated music machines dating back 150 years that must be seen and heard.

Info at StahlsAuto.com.

- [Narrator] AnnArbor.org is your gateway to Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline, Ypsilanti, and Ann Arbor.

Find out the best spots to eat, festivals to attend, activities to do, and places to discover at AnnArbor.org.

(rock theme song playing)