What’s Detroit-style pizza? Its magic is in the crust and layering.
When it comes to pizza, a city’s or state’s name is sometimes enough to spark a visual or a memory.
We know Chicago means high-crusted, deep-dish pizza that’s baked in a pan and topped with plenty of chunky tomato sauce. New York is foldable, thin-crusted and portable. New Haven is thin-crusted, slightly oblong-shaped, Neapolitan-inspired and light on the melting cheeses — and you call it “apizza” (like ah-beetz). California pizza, also thin-crusted, boasts creative, fresh toppings.
But what is Detroit-style pizza? The question popped up during The Post’s recent Best Pizza Championship. Throughout March, 16 local pizzerias competed for enough reader votes to earn the Best Pizza Champ title. The winner, announced April 1, was Delray Beach’s Death by Pizza, a pandemic-era pop-up that grew into a brick-and-mortar takeout shop, thanks to its Detroit-inspired pies.
Death by Pizza’s brother-and-sister co-owners Koby and Zoey Wexler use sourdough to create thick, rectangular, sharp-edged pies.
So, yes, Detroit pizza is thick-crusted but not bottom heavy. The crust is not dense — it’s airy, crisp at the bottom and edges, its interior chewy. The toppings are layered in inverse order.
Koby Wexler says it’s the pizza’s rectangular shape and the order of ingredients that give it a Detroit-inspired identity.
“Most people know them as upside-down pies,” Wexler told me shortly after launching the Death by Pizza pop-up from his family’s bakery in August 2020. “Cheese goes on the dough first, unless there’s meat, which would go first.”
That allows the cheese to caramelize “right to the edge”, he said.
How it started: Delray’s new pizza obsession sells out within minutes
Where to find Detroit-style pizza in Palm Beach County
Let’s start with our readers’ pick for Palm Beach County Best Pizza Champ, Death by Pizza, a takeout pizza shop.
Death by Pizza
Location: 528 NE 2nd St., Delray Beach, 561-666-9111, DeathbyPizzaDelray.com
Hours: Open Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Monday from noon to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to 9 p.m., closed Tuesday.
Pizza prices: Each Detroit-style pie serves two to three. Prices range from $25 to $33. Specials vary.
Motor City Pizza & Coney
This Boynton Beach pizza shop offers Detroit “deep dish” pies as well as New York-style pizzas.
Location: 1538 SW 8th St., Boynton Beach, 561-736-3000, MotorCityPizzaConey.com
Hours: Open daily from 10:45 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Open to 9 p.m. Friday. Opens at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Pizza prices: Detroit deep-dish cheese pizza is $22. Specialty Detroit pies start at $25.99.
Jet’s Pizza
In Royal Palm Beach, this counter-service pizza shop is part of a national chain.
Location: 1204 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Royal Palm Beach, 561-513-5387, JetsPizza.com
Hours: Open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Pizza prices: A large Detroit-style cheese pizza is $16.49.
Liz Balmaseda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. She covers the local food and dining beat. Follow her on Instagram and Post on Food Facebook. She can be reached by email at lbalmaseda@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Best Detroit-style pizza in Palm Beach County: Death by Pizza Delray Beach
