Pizza lovers often flock to New York and Chicago — but one Midwest city is carving out its own place on the map as it gains national attention for its unique pizza style.
Ohio’s state capital, Columbus, is home to a distinct type of pizza known as Columbus-style pizza.
The regional specialty features a thin crust, a slightly sweet tomato sauce and loads of cheese — provolone-and-mozzarella or just provolone.
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The pizza is also packed with edge-to-edge toppings, often pepperoni — and is baked into a round pie with little to no exposed crust.
Columbus-style pizza is cut tavern style, into squares and rectangles rather than slices, making it easy to share and popular in group settings.
It’s somewhat similar to St. Louis-style pizza, though Gateway City pizza has a cracker-like crust and signature Provel cheese that sets it apart.
The Columbus favorite dates back to the mid-20th century, as the style began to take shape in local restaurants, according to CBUS Today.
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The local outlet credited brothers Dan and Jimmy Massucci, who opened Romeo’s Italian Restaurant and Massey’s Pizza in 1949, with helping to shape the style and popularize it across Columbus.
A distinct characteristic of Columbus-style pizza is that it doesn’t have a “dough ring,” said Kevin King, the CEO and president of Donatos Pizza in Columbus.
“We make sure the sauce, cheese and toppings cover the entire surface of the pizza,” he told Fox News Digital.
“We are even known for putting 100 pieces of pepperoni on our large pizzas.”
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Donatos was founded in 1963 and has helped “grow and popularize Columbus-style pizza,” the CEO noted. It’s become one of the city’s most recognizable pizza brands.
The brand uses smoked Wisconsin-made provolone to give it a “sharper flavor profile” that distinguishes it from other regional styles.
The pizza’s unique characteristics are helping Columbus to gain national recognition as “one of the best pizza destinations,” King said, as the city continues to build its reputation among food lovers.
King cited a recent study that found Columbus was the fourth most pizza-obsessed city in the world, ahead of Chicago and Rome. Publications such as USA Today and Eater have said Columbus is one of the best pizza cities in the country.
“Donatos Pizza hopes to spread the word across the country by providing consistently high-quality pizza in all our locations across 28 states,” he said.
The executive also credited the pizza’s enduring popularity to tradition and consistency in preparation.
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“Our founder, Jim Grote, is an innovator at heart,” he noted. “He set out to create pizza equipment that would always provide customers with a consistent pizza experience.”
For example, Donatos has created machines that provide “the right amount of sauce and the optimal sliced pepperoni,” to help the pizzas stay consistent, he said.
If pepperoni doesn’t interest some customers, King said Columbus-style goes beyond traditional toppings with more experimental options.
“You can find a plethora of different combinations of toppings — and even sauces — on Columbus-style pizza,” he said.
“Donatos recently released a line of white sauce pizzas with the creamy parm sauce as the base … [and the] hot honey trend on pizza has been proliferated with Columbus-style pizzas as well.”
