Shield’s – Worthy of the Detroit Pizza title

A highlight on the Metro Detroit Pizza Tour…

I have picked up a Shield’s pizza a time or three to bring home, and have always thoroughly enjoyed the warmish pizza at my own kitchen table, dutifully resisting the urge to break it out on the drive home.

But to give Shield’s a completely fair shake, I had to go in and have the entire dining experience.

Shield’s has several locations around Metro Detroit – four to be precise – and the one I’ve been going to is in Southfield. I’ve always appreciated the ambiance of the attached bar as I’ve gone in to pick up my pizza at the take-away counter. It seems darkish – the right lighting for a bar, in my opinion – and somehow cozy and intimate, like a place where you can hang with your friends and make new ones. The thing I like the most is that there’s plenty of Detroit pride on display, with Old English Ds and proud Red Wings emblems (a far cry from the brightly lit Pizza Papalis bar that wants to be in Chicago). Don’t go here thinking you’ll have a quiet, romantic evening. This bar’s for hanging out and catching the game.

But the dining room is another story. Very family friendly. In fact, there was a clown on duty that night, and I spent much of the evening dreading that it might come near my table and make me a balloon animal. But I think it sensed my clown aversion (and age inappropriateness) and thankfully stayed away.

The Pizza! Witness the Gold Medal specialty pie – highly recommended if you like a little spice in your life.

On to the pizza: as I’ve mentioned, the pies I’ve brought home were always darn good – more than adequate. With that characteristic Detroit-Sicilian square shape that produces those delectable carmelized cheese edges (that I’ve tried to capture on film here). In the past we’ve enjoyed our perennial make-your-own favorite – sausage, onion and mushroom – as well as their oh-so-delicious Shield’s Super specialty pizza (pepperoni, brick cheese, mushrooms, onions, green peppers and ham). But this time we went for the Gold Medal: brick and Romano cheeses, Italian banana peppers, sweet red bell peppers, topped with Italian pear tomatoes sautéed in garlic. And as if this were not enough to make you swoon: add the optional (but recommended!) Italian sausage and you’ve got a truly amazing pie, as everyone at the table agreed!

See those carmelized cheese edges? Perfect example of the Detroit-style breed! Best in show!

I would be remiss in my blogger-informant duties if I did not mention that Shield’s also has a fairly extensive non-pizza menu – including a better-than-average kid’s menu. I can not yet vouch for any of these items, but I have to say that the pasta and sub sandwiches on other people’s tables were looking mighty appetizing.

Bottom line: Shield’s pizza truly rocks and is an excellent specimen of the Detroit Pizza style. I have to stop short of saying that this pizza is better than Buddy’s – there is something about Buddy’s crust that is so far unparalleled in my pizza adventuring – but it is certainly on par with Buddy’s and without a doubt worth coming back for. Shield’s deserves all the praise it gets, and all the business you can give it. Bring the kids.

Shield’s of Southfield

25101 Telegraph Rd.

Southfield, MI 48076

248-356-2720

Other locations in Macomb Township, Rochester Hills, and Troy.

View Larger Map

Anthony Bourdain and Michigan food

Hey, I’ve been absent from blogging for a spell, but have plenty to share with you Michigan foodies once I have time to write!

For now, I just wanted to take this opportunity to plug the appearance of Anthony Bourdain tonight in Ann Arbor. An Evening with Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential and host of The Travel Channel’s No Reservations, is a live Q&A session at the Michigan Theater.

Some of you may know that Mr. Bourdain came to some legendary eating establishments in a recent episode of No Reservations. I thought I would post a bit here to get you excited…
At Polenia:

At Cadieux Cafe:

Pizza Papalis – Another Stop on the Detroit Pizza Tour

More pizza adventures from Metro Detroit as I continue my Detroit Pizza Tour…

Great things are said about PizzaPapalis, which has five locations in metro Detroit (seven if you count the combo Rio Wraps locations, where they have a limited menu in combination with wraps). This locally-grown, beloved restaurant, which started in the 80s, has ridden its popularity all the way to a location in Toledo. So I was excited to give it a try. Especially since there’s one not too far from my home.

I must admit I never even noticed it on my way to Buddy’s – right down the block – until I began researching for my Pizza Tour. After a visit to their website, I was prepared to be faced with Chicago-style pie, which I must admit is not my favorite. In fact, until I met the classic Detroit-style pizza, I never considered myself a thick-crust kinda gal. So with that epiphany in mind, I went to PizzaPapalis (Dearborn location) with an open mind and an empty stomach.

Inside PizzaPapalis on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn.

The interior is clean and sleek with stylish “vintage” posters of Chicago all around -  and is too brightly lit for my taste. There’s a bar, several TVs with sports being broadcast, and a keno set up, if you’re into that sort of thing. We ordered a pitcher of beer, and I was very pleased with the frosty mugs that came with.

Frosty mug of beer while you’re waiting? Perfect side dish for any pizza!

We decided to get both the deep dish and the thin crust. Be warned if you are on a tight schedule, as we were told it would take 25 minutes for the thin, and 30 for the deep dish. Maybe it always takes this long for pizza, and they never tell you and I never notice. But the fact that they pointed it out to me did make me notice, and has caused me to be more time-conscious in my visits to other pizza joints (which run closer to 15-20 minutes, if you’re interested).

Thin crust pizza with a cheese that’s to die for!

I’m really glad we ordered the thin crust, because honestly it was the highlight of the meal. The cheese, oh the cheese! — I don’t know why, but I have to say that was some superior cheese. It has a sort of buttery, provolone quality. The sauce was good, the toppings generous. But that cheese was just really yum. Somehow in the deep dish you just couldn’t get the flavor of the cheese, perhaps because it was overpowered by the excess of bread/crust. In general, I just couldn’t love the deep dish as I did its thinner brother. Could be because I ordered blander toppings on the deep dish, and I should have remembered that deep dish really needs some spicy toppings to complement the bulk of the crust, which I have to mention is rather biscuit-like. I don’t know that this texture really adds anything. It’s different. Not terrible. But I wasn’t really a fan. Like I said, I found the thin crust pie tastier all around. It had the same quality of crust, but just less of it.

PizzaPapalis’ specialty – deep dish. This is the small size. The salt shaker is included for scale.

I will say that my dining companion was considerably more impressed with the pizza than I was, so I have to include this point to be fair. I can’t really compare this pizza to Buddy’s because it’s just altogether a different genre.

If you love Chicago-style, this might be the place for you. As for myself, my conclusion for future PizzaPapalis visits is this: skip the dine-in experience. Call in a take-out, thin crust. And if you do dine in, be sure to get a frosty mug of beer to enjoy and have some good company with you while you wait for your pizza.

PizzaPapalis
22022 Michigan Ave.
Dearborn, MI 48124
313-724-7722
Other locations in Troy, Greektown, Southfield, Rivertown, and Toledo

View Larger Map

Detroit Snack Foods – An Exhibit

Listening to WDET’s Detroit Today program this afternoon, I was pretty psyched to hear about this new snack food exhibit at The Detroit Historical Society.

Sorting chips at the Better Made factory, courtesy of Detroit News

Opening Saturday, September 26th, the scrumptious exhibit will feature a nostalgic look at Better Made Snack Food Company, Germack Pistachio Company, Sanders Confectionery, Stroh’s Products and Vernor’s Ginger Ale. The museum shop also promises to offer some of Detroit’s finer snacks for purchase.

From the DHS website:

Fabulous 5: Detroit’s Snack Food Superstars takes a tasteful look at the local companies that make some of Detroit’s most beloved treats.

Sounds pretty yummy. My only question is: what about Faygo?

Detroit Historical Society
5401 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48202

View Larger Map

Loui’s Pizza – First Stop on the Detroit Pizza Tour

The first installment of my admittedly ambitious Pizza Tour of Detroit.

In the unassuming, working class suburb of Hazel Park, within a mile of Detroit Proper, lies a legend among pizza joints: Loui’s Pizza.

My first introduction to Detroit-style pizza was Buddy’s, a legend of its own with 9 locations in the Detroit-metro area.

But part of what makes Loui’s so special is that there is only one. And the one is so adorable in its ambiance as to trump any Buddy’s atmosphere I’ve been to. There are literally hundreds of basket-cradled Chianti bottles draping the walls, interlaced with cheery Christmas lights on a properly Italian-Restaurant-Red background. The bottles are signed by loyal patrons from any number of years ago, as this location has been in the same spot for over three decades. Just walking into this place puts you into a mood for a great dining experience.

And you’ll get one, too. Not the kind of upwardly mobile, wish-I-was-in-Chicago pizza dining experience best suited to the mall shoppers of the world. But a real career-waitresses-who-know-your-name, Made-in-Detroit, exact-same-menu-and-furnishings-since-you-were-a-kid dining experience that can only come from an authentic legend like Loui’s. This place is a serious case study in pizza as comfort food.

 

So what about the pizza?

The pizza here is nearly indistinguishable from Buddy’s, with the same square, Sicilian shape, same sauce-on-top structure, same scorched-outer-yielding-to-doughy-center crust, and same carmelized cheese edges that make it impossible to ignore as a pizza genre in its own right. I will say that the sauce at Loui’s has an extra pepper bite and extra oregano that DOES distinguish it from Buddy’s. For me, the only drawback was that the mushrooms were from a jar and not fresh. But with so many other things going for it, this minor misdeed was forgivable.

While we waited, my dinner companion and I sipped some adequate red table wine from a carafe and munched on the lauded antipasto salad. The salad was not fancy mixed greens, but straight-up, crowd-pleasing iceberg — fittingly served super cold — with very, very generous amounts of meat, cheese and tomatoes mixed in, all swimming in the tangiest Italian dressing of your dreams. Highly recommended. We even took the leftovers home and added MORE lettuce, it was that dense with accoutrement.

Apparently,  Loui’s history is intertwined with that of Buddy’s. My understanding is that the owner, Loui himself, once worked at Buddy’s, and then there was a schism in the world of Detroit-style pizza, and Loui’s version of Detroit-style pie was born. I don’t know the details. In fact, I just overheard patrons discussing it. Perhaps someone can shed some light on this intriguing tale of two pizzas.

Whatever the story – whether mundane restaurateur enterprise or salacious gourmand rivalry – the end result is more delicious pizza.

I will say, until another pizza place can capture my heart with such decisive deliciousness and simpatico setting, this will be my place to share with out-of-town guests when I want to show off how cool Detroit’s pizza really is…

Loui’s Pizza
23141 Dequindre Rd
Hazel Park, MI 48030-1600
(248) 547-1711

View Larger Map