What's Detroit-Style Pizza? Via 313 Explains.

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Move over Chicago-style, New York-style, Neapolitan-style: there's a new geographically oriented pizza in town. "Detroit-style" pizza has landed--we should say, pulled up--in Austin, thanks to two brothers from the Mitten State with a truck and a dream. The Via 313 truck opened last Thursday outside the Violet Crown Social Club on East Sixth street. Curious truck-goers want to know: what in the world is Detroit-style pizza?

Via 313 co-owner Brandon Hunt--that's him with the tats--gave us the rundown on what it means to make a Detroit pizza: square pies, a carmelized cheese crust, and sauce on top.

"I like to say we're getting ahead of the wave," Hunt told Eater Austin. "I think [Detroit pizza's] going to be on the same level as New York and Chicago."

The key ingredient isn't so much a special cheese or sauce, but pans that Via 313 gets straight from Detroit. They're actually used for spare parts in automotive factories. They create the space for edge-sprinkled cheese to carmelize around the dough. "That's where the money is," says Hunt.

Hunt's secretive about his crust recipe, but he describes it as "like a focaccia bread with a nice, crunchy bottom." Detroit-style toppings tend to be more toward the "old-school" American pizza styles, with "green peppers, olives, jalapenos, meats. We don't eat a lot of vegetables," jokes Hunt.

Via 313 is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m., and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.

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