REALLY GREAT PIZZA
Buddy's - Yes, you have to eat Detroit style. Thick, foccacia-like bread, tangy sauce on a thick bed of cheese, and those corners. Those burnt cheese corners where cheese caramelizes and becomes one with the dough in the most holy of unions. Many people say you have to go to the original location...I am fine with any of them.
Suggested Pies: Pepperoni will do, but I think ham is actually the best topping for Detroit.
Loui's - A slightly less refined version of Detroit style that many -- including me -- think is actually the best. It's greasier and the sauce ain't as good as Buddy's (oh, it's REAL canned), but it's the punch in the gut you didn't know you had a fetish for.
Suggested Pies: All you need is cheese but you're welcome to make it worse for yourself.
Tomatoes Apizza - I can't believe you can get legit great thin-crust New Haven-style from a coal oven in the subs of Detroit, but it's true, kids. They even do a Pizza Hut-style buffet for lunch (but still just do full pies).
Suggested Pies: They have a nice sampler with four different corners.
Supino's - It's the best New York style in Detroit and that I would be there all the time if I lived there. And it's a super cool interior in a great location. But I think the hype is betraying this place a little. Still worth going.
Pop's for Italian - A massive Italian place serving good Neapolitan-ish pizza on that cool stretch of Ferndale. It feels a little over the top, but I'm pretty sure your Tinder date would like it.
Detroit Style Pizza Company - Full disclosure, I've only had Pizza Expo winner Shawn Randazzo's pizza frozen and shipped to California. But it was pretty good then so I have no doubt it's at least "good" fresh.
PizzaPapalis - This used to be the treat of a lifetime when I was a kid. Authentic Chicago style really meant something. But it's just okay. It's probably still better than the corpse masquerading as Gino's East.
Toarmina's Pizza - The plus: There is no pizza in the world that I've eaten more of. The minus: That was because I worked there for 7 years. I guarantee the Big Cheese, a 24-inch pizza with a pound of pepperoni and 3 points of cheese, still tastes good though.
This is going to be an embarrassingly long list for someone who owns 17 Detroit shirts: Jolly Pumpkin, Pie Sci, Cloverleaf, Major Tomato, Avalon Cafe, La Lanterna, Amar, Bigalora Cucina,
NOT RECOMMENDED
I'm not going to get in a beef with anyone in Detroit and neither should you.