New book details The Detroit News' role in Detroit-style pizza history

A new book is out that details the delicious and dramatic history of Detroit-style pizza.

"Detroit Style Pizza: A Doughtown History" by locally based reporter and author Karen Dybis not only unravels the intertwining stories of the food's origin and rise to worldwide fame, but also digs into some myths and legends that have been told and retold over the years.

Dybis, a former Detroit News business reporter, is also the author of of books on Better Made potato chips, the Ford-Wyoming Drive-In and other topics. In "Doughtown," she details the pizza's beginning at Buddy's at Six Mile and Conant with Gus Guerra in 1946, followed by his move to open Cloverleaf, and the people who owned and worked at Buddy's throughout the rest of the 20th century.

The book outlines three waves of Detroit-style pizza from the innovators like Buddy's, Cloverleaf, Shield's and Loui's to modern pizzaiolos who are selling our city's square style all over the country and making it their own.

Dybis' thorough book — which is out now just in time for Detroit-Style Pizza Day on Friday — also reveals The Detroit News' role in the history, stemming from a 1970 newsroom pizza contest which is still talked about among Detroit's historic pizzerias.

Seven pizzas were judged by newsroom staff, including the article's author Jim Treloar and future Detroit News restaurant critic Molly Abraham. The only rules were that the pizza had to be offered on the menu, something the public could try, and the pizzeria had to be located within the city limits. The tasting results were printed in the paper's "Kitchen Talk" section on July 1, 1970.

The pizza that won was from Buddy's, baked by their pizza chef at the time, Louis Tourtois.

Dybis says she thinks The Detroit News article is what put Buddy's pizza on a path to being the multi-award-winning food that it is today. It was after the article came out that the pizzeria's owners at the time painted a big blue ribbon on the side of the building at Six Mile and Conant.

"They had the bragging rights because they had a award-winning pizza or a notable pizza," she said. "Because there really wasn't listicles, there weren't easily accessible things that people could use as reference points. And I don't think there was like a strong pizza culture in Detroit ... so having that legitimacy was really a time in and of itself."

The contest caused an uproar, though, for a few reasons. "Detroit Style Pizza: A Doughtown History," ($23.99; History Press) details the drama that followed. Gus Guerra's family was upset that Cloverleaf was not included in the contest and even had the family attorney contact The Detroit News, which stood by its article and the perimeters that only pizzerias in the city proper were considered. (Cloverleaf was and still is in the suburb Eastpointe, then called East Detroit.)

It also caused a stink later with Tourtois. His name was listed in the article as the chef of the No. 1 pizza, but when Buddy's cut out the article and hung it on the wall, they drew a circle around one paragraph, effectively putting a black line through Tourtois' name.

He left shortly after the contest and went to work at Shield's before opening Loui's in Hazel Park, which is still open today and run by the third generation. When Tourtois opened Loui's in the late 1970s, he put a ribbon on his sign that said "#1 since 1954."

"I don't think Jim Treloar intended for it to turn out this way, to set the tone for Buddy's to kind of trumpet that, and the others to feel umbrage about it really put in place three very competitive families," said Dybis, adding that the first reference she could find for the phrase "Detroit-style pizza" anywhere was in The Detroit News about a decade later in an article by staff writer Sandra Silfven.

"The pizza contest was way bigger in the moment than people understood. Even though it was this informal thing, it had this huge lasting impact."

Dybis hopes some of the animosity between the three families can be buried now that the book is out, and Detroit-Style Pizza Day is world famous.

For Friday's holiday, some members of the Detroit-style pizza community will gather with Dybis and Mayor Mike Duggan at the Conant Buddy's for photo ops and a celebration with the community.

"I'm calling it a family reunion," Dybis said. "It's just a day to gather and honor this pizza style."

Formerly called "Buddy's Day," Detroit-Style Pizza Day will be celebrated by Buddy's by partnering with the Salvation Army. One dollar from every pizza sold Friday at all 22 locations will be donated.

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mbaetens@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @melodybaetens