One pizza-obsessed chef at a brewery taproom off Reserve Street is determined to be ahead of the game when it comes to the hottest — and possibly oddest — trend in pizza.
Detroit-style pizza is a relative newcomer to the menu at the Highlander Beer taproom, which is better known for slinging thin-crust pies. The Detroit does not come by the slice, but in a deep-crust 9-by-13-inch slab of cheese-soaked Midwestern carbohydrates, enough to share with several friends. It suits a relaxed, convivial atmosphere, and is acceptable to eat with a fork and knife. The kitchen recently sold out of Detroit pizzas by 6 p.m. on a sunny spring Saturday.
“Detroit is considered one of the fastest growing styles in the country right now,” says Highlander Chef Collette Miller, citing Pizza Today’s 2024 Industry Trends Report.
“I saw it demonstrated at a couple of expos I went to, and said, ‘Yep, I can make that work,’” she says. “Probably the only other place you’ll see Detroit pizza in Montana is at chain stores. Pizza Hut does a poor version of it every now and again. Old Chicago does it. I wanted to be the first [local] one, especially in Missoula.”
“Probably the only other place you’ll see Detroit pizza in Montana is at chain stores. … I wanted to be the first [local] one, especially in Missoula.”
At the Highlander kitchen, Miller’s team preps the dough each night and then parbakes the inch-thick, focaccia-like crust the next day.
“Once it’s parbaked, you add a sharp cheddar around the edge before continuing to top it normally with cheese after that,” Miller says. “That cheddar will melt down the side and give you a crunchy, cheesy little crust that’s wonderful. And it’s a sauce-on-top pizza.”
Miller describes herself as a “student of pizza.” She drives a truck with a pizza-themed license plate, subscribes to Pizza Today, says she spends hours a day keeping up on the latest pizza news, and has a pizza photo album on her phone. She says Detroit pizza’s distinct characteristics are nods to its place of origin.
Detroit restaurant Buddy’s Pizza claims to have invented the style in 1946, using square steel mechanic pans from nearby automotive factories. The sauce on top is a “racing stripe.” The national ascendance of this regional specialty began sometime around 2012, when Detroit Pizza Company won the Pan Division at the International Pizza Challenge at Pizza Expo in Las Vegas.
At Highlander, Detroit pizza has been something of a slow rise compared to thin-crust slices, but Miller says plenty of people bring an affection for it.
“The nice thing to me has been you get a lot of Midwesterners who move into Missoula, and they say, ‘Oh, I didn’t expect to find that here,’ and so they try it and share it with their friends,” Miller says.
Without a doubt, Detroit pizza offers the carbohydrate load to fuel any Montana adventure (or for chasing your beer with something salty and cheesy). She recently decided to add a smaller, four-slice “personal pan” size to the weekday lunch menu. It still feeds 2 to 4 people.
“It fills ya,” she says. “It fills ya right up.”
Find Highlander’s menu and operating hours here.
