Connecticut’s world famous New Haven-style pizza will always be tops.
That’s at the popular New Haven Pizza School, though now there’s an additional type of iconic pie that will be taught in a spring class.
The revelation was made this week by school founder and CEO Frank Zabski, who has made it a mission to globally promote Connecticut’s New Haven-style pizza of thin crust and a little char. Connecticut has been declared the pizza capital of the United States.
But the new pizza added to classes has it’s origins in the automotive industry, something Zabski said he loved as a car buff.
Welcome to New Haven, Detroit-style pizza.
“I think I surprised people because I’m such a staunch New Haven pizza fan,” Zabski said. ” I’m a crispy, crunchy guy. With the Detroit every bite is crispy, crunchy, cheesy, flavorful.”
Detroit-style pizza is rectangular, has a thick crust, a different cheese than the New Haven-style most seen in Connecticut.
The warm tomato sauce is put on after it comes out of the oven. The Detroit-style has oregano and no garlic like New Haven-style does.
Zabski said he fell in love with the style of pizza after tasting it at Christos Restaurant & Bar in Wallingford, one of a few in Connecticut to carry the style.
He also adored the story behind the pizza style popular in Michigan.
According to a proclamation by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, on the state of Michigan website, “Detroit-style pizza is a rectangular pizza with a thick crispy crust that was first developed in 1946 at Buddy’s Rendezvous in Detroit, now known as Buddy’s Pizza.”
It goes on to say Buddy’s owner Gus Guerra took a Sicilian-style pizza recipe with thick crust and adapted it by “gently pressing dough into rectangular blue steel pans used by automotive workers.”
The proclamation acknowledges Detroit-style pizza has become one of Detroit’s “iconic local foods and has spread to other parts of the United States.”
The Detroit pizza also has two racing stripes of sauce on top, a nod to the automotive connection, Zabski said.
“It’s kind of like a Sicilian with cheese around the edge,” he said.
Zabski said he also sees a tie-in to the New Haven area because Seamless Rubber was located in New Haven, and Armstrong Rubber in West Haven. Both their rubber probably wound up through tires on lots of the cars made in Detroit, Zabski said.
The first Detroit-style pizza class will be held Sunday, May 31, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The pizza style has been growing in popularity here, Zabski said.
Zabski’s dedication to New Haven-style pizza also appears to have no bounds.
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Aside from founding the school that’s booked months in advance, Zabski cohosts the annual Connecticut Brew and Pizza Fest, a talk show on pizza, holds a regular parking lot pizza gathering, commissioned a New Haven-style pizza song video and even has a black dog named Char, a reference to well-cooked dough on New Haven-style pizza.
When the New York Times or Wall Street Journal are doing a story on New Haven-style pizza, they call Zabski for comment.
The doughs for each of the pizzas are quite different in moisture and thickness. Detroit-style is topped with brick cheese and mozzarella, with extra cheese on the edges, while New Haven pizza has mozzarella and pecorino-Romano.
It’s usually cooked golden brown, but Zabski cooks it a little longer to get some char “as homage to New Haven-style pizza. ”
“New Haven-style pizza will always be my number one,” Zabski said.