All The Types Of Pizza You Should Know About

If Chicago-style hot dogs don't come to mind when you think of the Windy City, then you're definitely thinking of deep dish pizza. The most notable spots making this creation are Lou Malnati's Pizzeria and Giordano's, which both opened their first locations in the 1970s. The pie has high edges and a thick crust, and gets topped with cheese and then sauce.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's Chicago-style thin-crust pizza—you know, if you don't like eating pizza with a fork and knife. Also referred to as tavern pizza, this style is cracker-thin with sauce and cheese sprinkled up to the edges leaving little (if any) crust. The round pie is then cut into small squares (and triangles in the corners) making it easy to eat at, well, a tavern.

I, like Detroit-style pizza, hail from Michigan, which might make me a little biased. But this is truly some of the best pizza on the planet. Detroit-style pizza was first crafted at Buddy's in 1946 in a steel pan from an auto plant, and it's still being made the same way. Dough is topped with meat, Wisconsin brick cheese, and toppings before being finished off with sauce. And while it might look heavy, it's light and airy with crispy edges.

While many restaurants serve Neapolitan-style pizza, it's not necessarily certified Neapolitan pizza by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN). Neapolitan-style pizza, originating in Naples, are typically small in size and topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil.

But to be certified authentic Neapolitan by the VPN, there are several specifications such as dough, type of cheese and tomatoes, and how it's cooked.

It's large, cheap, cheesy, and usually sold by the slice and served on a paper plate. New York-style pizza is best eaten folded while walking down the street.

Meaning "by the cut" in Italian, pizza al taglio is rectangular pie usually cut into squares with scissors and sold by the slice.

Traditional Sicilian pizza, or sfincione, has a thick, spongy crust similar to focaccia, and is topped with a tomato sauce with anchovies, breadcrumbs, and thick shreds of cheese. Sicilian pizza in the U.S., however, is much more varied and has influenced other square-shaped pies.

This thin-crust pizza, also called "apizza," originated at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in 1925. It's cooked in a coal oven and comes out with a crisp, charred crust. Pepe is also said to have created the white clam pie.

This pizza originated in—you guess it—the Quad Cities region, which includes a handful of cities in Illinois and Iowa. The thin-crust pizza usually has malt in its dough, which gives it a unique flavor. It's topped with a sauce, sausage, and then cheese before being cooked and cut into strips.

Rhode Island-style pizza, also referred to as pizza strips, has a crust similar to focaccia and is topped with tomato sauce and sometimes a bit of grated cheese. It's typically found at bakeries and is served at room temperature.

Imo's Pizza is known for its St. Louis-style pizza, which has a thin cracker-like crust and is cut into squares. Provel cheese, a unique processed blend of cheddar, provolone, and Swiss, tops the entire pizza, right up to the edges.