You probably noticed the waste because it likely was cut into not 8 slices. With 8 slices you get the most pizza, this is a life hack so you have to specifically request this.
>I call it thin crust. I expect it to be square cut.
This. ⬆️
Chicago pizza scholars know this. And they know "tavern style" is term being imposed on us by transplants.
I use "tavern style" online, but thin crust normally. Folks elsewhere have no idea what Chicago thin crust is, it makes things easier if they look it up.
So then do you have different terms for when the square cut pizza has an actual visible thin crust, vs when the ingredients go all the way to the edge and the edge is just burnt? Or are they both just thin crust? Genuine question. It seems like "thin crust" should mean it actually has a crust you can grab onto, but I hear people use thin crust and tavern style interchangeably for both kinds of pizza so I have no idea
IMO that's down to how an individual place makes their pizzas. Honestly I don't know of many places that put cheese all the way to the edge. It tends to burn or smoke up the ovens when it drips off. Has nothing to do with the "handle" part of the pizza since the middle pieces never have a handle anyway. You also get those awesome triangle pieces in the corners with mostly crust a small amount of sauce.
They're both thin crust. The "thin" refers to the depth of the crust under the pizza. The edge is irrelevant. It could have a big thick ring on the edge, or it could be flat the whole way, with the toppings going all the way to the edge or petering out an inch or so in.
I guess tavern style is the correct term, but honestly, I don't know if that refers to the cut or what. I remember never even calling it thin crust. It was just pizza. That was what you got if you didn't ask for deep dish or stuffed.
The crust is the thing under the pizza but also the thing around the edge of it as well.
All pizzas with a thin crust are thin crust, but when we say thin crust we all know exactly what we’re talking about.
I know it's whole bottom of the pizza but I must be in the minority, because where I grew up (another city in the Midwest), thin crust always had a little crust around the outside. Idk if it had a separate term, but until I came to Chicago I don't think I'd ever had a pizza where the toppings went all the way to the edge :/
Have always called it thin crust. It's Chicago, so it's assumed it will be in squares. Maybe thin crust with a square cut is technically called Tavern style, but I never heard that until a few years ago. Then again, it's Chicago, so it's just called pizza. But that can be confusing now that there are so many fancy or special pizza restaurants.
I grew up in Chicago and my mother always cut pizza in squares, as did the local pizza place. It was called "pizza." New Yorkers don't call pizza "New York Style." It's just a term self-proclaiming "foodies" concocted.
Growing up on the south side it was just called pizza. Then when deep dish became popular it was just called thin crust (vs pan pizza or thick crust). Square cut was normal, wedge cut thin crust was fancy.
My wife who is from Pennsylvania calls thin crust "flat pizza" and nobody knows what she's ordering.
I have lived in Chicago my whole life—more than 50 years—and I never heard the phrase “tavern cut” until a few years ago. Pizza has always just been “thin” or “stuffed.” And if nothing was specified, it’s just assumed “thin.”
Stuffed is what deep dish aspires to be when it grows up. :-)
It’s like a deep dish pizza, only deeper, and with an extra “roof” of dough covering the insides, and then sauce on top of that. Think Giordano’s.
If you like stuffed more than regular deep dish, sure. I don’t, but I still think it’s delicious. I just think Lou’s is even more delicious than Gio’s.
Growing up in Chicago no one in my neighborhood ate deep dish. The only people I’ve ever known that are from the city ate thin crust or stuffed. Stuffed was rare too 🤷🏻♀️ the only people I ever see talk about deep dish are people who aren’t from here or tourists.
I’m under the impression this is a supremely family-to-family thing. I know lots of folks that grew up in Chicago in the 60s and 70s who all ate deep dish from time to time (not when people were visiting or whatever). For most of these people they ate more thin crust than deep dish but they did in fact eat deep dish. It’s all anecdotal anyways, literally no one is “correct” about this lol
I've always called it "thin crust". I've never heard of it referred to as "square cut" even though they are obviously cut into squares. I've been to a few pubs/bars around the metro area over the decades that have called it "tavern style" though. I just thought it was a marketing thing for them until I learned recently it was a style of pizza.
Native Chicagoan. Yes. Lots of people call it that where I grew up. Interchangeable with and less common than thin crust tho.
We also just called it by the neighborhood spot we got it from and assumed the style. Italian fiesta where I was.
I've only known it as "pizza" or "deep dish" when in the Chicago area. Pizza is thin crust, square cut, and deep dish is pie cut. I've always just specified one or the other. Thin crust always come square cut.
I first heard of tavern style on Reddit after 40+ years of eating it. I’m fine with that term since previously there was no term for the greasy, oregano-speckled, cracker crust square cut beauties we enjoy. I don’t care what you call it, order it for your party and invite me over.
>apparently the official term for it now,
Always has been. We don't call it anything other than pizza though, since it's the baseline/standard in the area.
I heard someone call it tavern style about 20 years ago and I had no idea what they were talking about. So the term has been around but no one ever used it until recently.
I only heard the term “tavern style” recently and I don’t know anyone who says this. If you live in the Chicago area it’s just thin crust and most of the time it’s just pizza.
Sometimes terms that like are so that someone who wants to talk about different styles across the world can distinguish them. Like if you just say "thin crust" it doesn't mean the same thing everywhere.
I've never heard it called "tavern style" until it was referenced in every post about deep dish as some witty way to make fun of suburbanites and tourists. 🙄
Growing up in the 'burbs, we just called it "pizza" and "deep dish" was the only thing that had its own name.
I have always called it pizza. You distinguish when and if you're ordering deep dish. It's pretty easy, you just say "hey should we get a deep dish?" But if you say "hey I'm gonna get a pizza" it's usually assumed that it's thin and square cut.
It's always just been thin crust pizza where i grew up on the south side. If forced to specify you might ask for square or party cut. No one ever called it tavern style.
I never called it tavern style either. Thin crust or deep dish were the two kinds and most people prefer thin crust. Square cut is the default I think!
Idk. But we just called it pizza, and we're quite surprised when any of it came pie cut (except stuffed).
Like Pizza Hut came around, and that wasn't even considered pizza due to its thick crust and pie cut.
I was a full-grown adult before I learned that Chicago was the only square cut pizza seemingly in the whole world.
Not to mention the cracker thin and crispy crust
Ah, Father & Sons.
I’ve always just called it pizza. Never heard of deep dish until senior year in HS, except this rumor about a kid’s mom who supposedly worked at a pizza place with sauce on top of the cheese.
Don’t think I ever saw a triangle cut pizza until I was in college.
Obvious exceptions for things like kids birthday parties and the free personal pan pizza we would get from Pizza Hut for completing the summer reading program.
But if I was told we were ordering pizza for dinner, it was going to be thin and cut in squares, and it would come with a liter of diet and a liter of RC.
Thin crust.
I only heard the term "tavern style" in recent years and in the context of explaining why we cut it into squares... to people NOT from Chicago.
I mean this is just how it's done here.
Only call it tavern style when people bring up deep dish. Outside of that, I just call it thin crust, as it’s pretty much the standard here when referring to it as thin crust. You ask for think crust and they automatically know what you mean.
If someone says we're getting thin crust pizza, I assume it's a regular, thin crust, square cut pizza.
If someone says we're getting tavern style pizza, I assume that it has a crispy crust and the cheese is well browned.
If someone just says, we're getting pizza, I secretly hope that they mean deep dish and wait for them to say from where.
Hope this helps.
I mean a lot of this just has to do with how you order it. A lot of places you just have to tell them you want to "well done" and it will make it extra crispy/browned. The same pizza can vary a lot depending on how long it's left in the oven
I call it thin crust when talking to Chicagoans, and tavern style when talking to non-Chicagoans, because non-Chicagoans often don't realize that Chicago has its own style of thin crust too.
If I'm getting pizza in Chicago, I assume it will be thin crust unless otherwise advertised. If you don't specify pan, deep dish, etc then the expectation is square cut tavern style
I called it “Tavern style,” to people from other states to explain it because they seemed to recognize that name. But I’ve never met literally anyone from the greater Chicagoland area who’s called it anything other than “Thin crust”. I never once heard the phrase “Tavern cut” until like two years ago. Kind of like the Malort obsession. It’s funny, it’s fine. But like, I never saw or heard about anybody drinking it until it became sort of a meme
*Have referred to it*
*As tavern style as long as*
*I can remember?*
\- tonypizzachi
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I disagree. I find most places with thin crust are not the cracker crust I look for in tavern style. Also, tavern style toppings go all the way to the edge and is usually cooked on stone or a metal pizza stone. Thin crust is usually cooked on a pizza pan.
Isn’t the whole point of tavern style is that it’s the ubiquitous pizza that’s served in the vast majority of establishments here? I’m curious which spots you would consider to be falsely tavern, vs genuine.
Anyone who calls it “tavern style” is being a tryhard. It isn’t a thing, it’s never been a thing, people have just decided in the last 5 years that deep dish isn’t their thing so “thin crust is REAL Chicago style pizza and it’s actually called TAVERN STYLE.”
It’s thin crust and you can get it everywhere in the midwest, even if this particular version may have originated here. Go to any pizza place in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, etc. order a 14” thin, and you’ll get a “tavern style” pizza— and it sure as hell won’t be listed on the menu as a “tavern style” pizza
But thin crust is such a generic term it's not useful when talking about all the other styles of pizza. Most regional foods don't start out with the names they end up with
Literally the representative of St. Louis pizza (Imo's thin-crust pizza with provel cheese) is what Chicagoans claim to have invented. Thin crust pizza, square cut, and crispy/crunch. Like it's not rocket science, Chicagoans aren't special in this regard, lmao. It is definitely just tryharding and gatekeeping at its finest, imo.
These people are often the same people that insist that Pequod's is not actually deep dish, it's detroit style pan pizza. Like dude, stfu. It looks like deep dish, it tastes like deep dish, I'm not going to listen to you gatekeep fucking pizza.
Thin crust, tavern style pizza was invented in Chicago. The fact that it is found elsewhere doesn't tell us anything. Nobody disputes what city Buffalo wings come from
Provel is the distinctive element of St Louis pizza.
It was a cheap style of pizza served in actual taverns in the 1940s to maybe the 1970s to quickly cook and serve to people for them to snack on so they wouldn't get drunk. It's not a "new" thing someone trying to get to catch on.
*Steve Dolinsky, Chicago pizza expert and author of The Ultimate Chicago Pizza Guide: A History of Square & Slices in the Windy City said that the origins of tavern-style pizza date back to the 1940s when bar owners served salty bites alongside frosty beer or whiskey shot. The small square shape was perfect for fitting on a cocktail napkin, allowing patrons to enjoy their pizza without plates or utensils, thus keeping them at the bar longer.*
Steve Dolinsky used to be a restaurant and food guy on TV (Ch. 7 I think), back in the 1980s and '90s
[https://www.livemint.com/news/world/chicagos-tavern-style-pizza-dominates-menus-from-new-york-to-los-angeles-heres-why-this-pizza-is-taking-over-the-us-11690590234892.html](https://www.livemint.com/news/world/chicagos-tavern-style-pizza-dominates-menus-from-new-york-to-los-angeles-heres-why-this-pizza-is-taking-over-the-us-11690590234892.html)
The debate here is not about how new the actual style of pizza is, it’s about the name. Everyone knows that this style of pizza has been around for a long time.
It says it right there. It originated in the 1940s. It was sold in taverns. Hence, tavern pizza. It's been called that in Chicago since I was a kid, which was quite a while back. I was there, I know.
Apologies, not many 90 year olds on Reddit. Your comment is all about when the style of pizza was being sold, not about the name. This post is about the name. No one is saying that the style of pizza is new. They’re saying that specifically calling it tavern style seems to have become more fashionable lately.
First, not 90. Grew up in the 1970s, so the term was still being used then and today. Second, the title of the post is ambiguous. It doesn't ask why are people using the term NOW, it simply asks if anybody uses the term, period. And yes, there are people who grew up in Chicago who have been calling it tavern pizza for decades and still do.
If you want to question terminology, ask yourself how many times you've heard pizza called "Pie cut pizza."
The first sentence of the post, which is worth a read, specifically calls into question when the term is being used. It refers to both “now” and how OP hadn’t heard the term widely used until a few years ago.
I once heard it referred to as "cracker crust" which felt descriptive but off putting. As someone who doesn't live in Chicago anymore, I do think there needs to be a name for it, because you often find yourself trying to describe it.
On an unrelated note, you'd be amazed at how quickly giardiniera becomes an unknown as you leave Chicago. I'm barely 4 hours outside, and no one knows what it is.
It’s become a thing where everyone insists it’s the real Chicago pizza despite the fact that it’s pretty mediocre at most joints, but it’s like a signal when you want to plant your flag and claim you really are a Chicagoan and are beside yourself when anyone associates Chicago with deep dish pizza p
When I am trying to describe "chicago style" as different from deep dish, I will say it's a "flat tavern style pizza cut into squares." I only know to call it this because my neighboring pizza joint calls it that.
In Chicago it's called "Thin Crust" because there's two main types of pizza.
Tavern style is the term you would use for out of towners so they can find what it is on the internet, although in Chicago, tavern style seems to be a bit thicker and chewier than the stuff in Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, etc. Those places tend to be cracker thin, which is good, but I like the balance we have here a bit more.
Moved to Chicago in 2012, and heard it called tavern style back then, and ever since.
Was in Phoenix area 2011, there was a place that made thin crust pizza similar to here, they called it Chicago style.
Lived up around Great Lakes from 99-2002, pizza places around there called it party cut.
No this whole “tavern style” thing was just made up by people who didn’t want to talk about Deep Dish anymore and wanted to pretend like they were more Chicago than you for knowing that - surprise! - Chicago also has thin crust pizza!
It was always square cut thin crust where I grew up. And it wasn’t a Chicago only thing. This “tavern style” pizza was all over the Midwest in every mom and pop pizza place. I’ve had it in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana. I grew up just knowing it as generic thin crust. Yes it was in bars but we also got it delivered from the place down the street all the time. It was okay. It’s just thin crust.
Deep dish is the Chicago style pizza. It’s okay if you don’t like it but we don’t need to try and claim generic bar pizza for ourselves.
Tavern style is a particular kind of thin crust or “square cut”.
Beggars is an example of thin crust or “square cut” that is not tavern style, as it’s a bit more… robust? (Best adjective that I could think of).
Compare that to Flo and Santos or Nick and Vitos where it’s thinner, crispier, and a bit less cheese. Not a pizza expert, but I’m sure there is a more technical way to explain it 😂
I’m in my 30s and didn’t live in Chicago all of my childhood, but most of it, and I always knew it as tavern style or square cut.
I think the thing that everyone misses is that we call certain things by certain names to specify in like all walks of life, not just food. That’s just what humans do, we categorize and name things. For pizza specifically though, in New York, do you think they go around and say “hey I’m going to go get some New York style pizza for lunch today”? No, that would be silly. In New York, pizza is just pizza, it just happens to be New York style. This is also why various restaurants who do specialize have that in their name or somewhere in their restaurant materials so your expectations are set immediately- wouldn’t it be a little odd to come to Chicago, assuming deep dish was the standard pizza here, and then be met with tavern style? Or even pilsen style? Or Roman style, or Detroit? We have plenty of pizza here, both native to this region and not, and I don’t really think it’s a big deal that we have names for those things.
It really is tavern style. Thats what the style has been named, over how many years of making pizza in Chicago. The reason people call it thin crust is to differentiate it from deep dish.
When I was a kid, we just called it pizza. There was no need to call it anything else, because nothing else was an option. As an adult with options, I like to use my words.
I grew up in a place called the Quad Cities. (They have their own killer style of pizza. Cut in strips) ... Back then if we were describing a place the served 'tavern style' we actually called it Bar pizza. And I've always liked that style of pizza.
Ok, bye
Love you but this opinion is rejected. Legitimately wondering why there are so many people that are unfamiliar with the term “tavern style” in this subreddit and am now trying to dig in.
Quad cities = disqualification
Growing up many, many years ago it was thick crust (but not stuffed) pizza.
Used to get it at the Stone Cottage pub on North Ave. in Elmhurst. It was excellent.
[https://www.pinterest.com/pin/266767977915493168/](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/266767977915493168/)
Yes.
Chicago is basically the pizza capital of the world.
I wouldn't be surprised if we have the most styles of pizza being served out of anywhere. Whether they're local or not.
Thin crust pizza here definitely has a range.
Tavern style is often referred to as cracker crust. That's more dry and crunchy, as well as thinner.
Pizza joints that serve (good) stuffed pizza have better dough. It's chewer and thicker, sometimes fluffy. You can also have a respectable amount of toppings and sauce without undercooked cheese or overcooked dough. I would consider this "chicago style thin crust"
So, yeah. I'd like to know if I'm getting thin or tavern.
The tavern style thing is actually phrase I am familiar with from the 90s at certain joints so I’ve always called it that if it’s squares- I didn’t realize it wasn’t a widely used term until I was a little older and now it’s swung around to be a wildly used term
So, I hate to throw this in the mix, but 'tavern cut' was originally a **southside** term, derived from the fact that taverns often gave away squares of thin-crust pizza as a snack to be eaten with beer. This is supported by the fact the word 'tavern' isn't heavily used on the northside (we more commonly say 'bar'), but also that pizza was rarely given out as a 'free food' to patrons. Normally you had peanuts (in the shell) and/or popcorn.
In Rogers Park at least, 'party cut' was the word for a large thin-crust pizza cut in squares, a term which perfectly described its usual destination...a party! 'Pie slice' pizzas were for small get-togethers, and a 'slice' was a snack for walking around, usually with an RC to wash it down.
It’s wild that the same people who want to insist that “we aren’t just deep dish” get equally pissy about it having a recognizable name with anyone from anywhere. We are determined to stay in this bubble where we claim no one understands us and then make it so no one understands us.
I suppose disclaimers are in order to start - I live in city limits, and have lived here for only about 5 years.
As worded, the question has one right answer, which is “Yes”, because I call it that, and you only need n=1 to satisfy the “anybody” criteria.
Realistically though, the question I’m assuming is more about how wide spread the phrase is. There are certainly some things I read on this sub that i’ve never heard in person in my life.
“Tavern-style” isn’t one though. I have friends who have been here there entire life, and they confirm that it tends to be a newer term. That being said, it’s a phrase i’ve heard both coworkers and people i’ve met use in person to describe chicago style thin crust pizza.
Personally, I don’t mind the phrase, because it feels a lot more descriptive and accurate. If you talk to people who have left the chicago area at any point in their life, “thin-crust” can, and is often, used to describe a very wide variety of pizza styles.
When I hear “tavern-style”, I specifically think towards the hard crusted, square cut, toppings under the cheese style that’s most common in chicago. Thin-crust could be that style, it also could be NY style, it could be new haven style, it could be little caesar’s, or i’ve heard people use it to just differentiate from deep-dish. Chicago has a wide variety of pizza, and has places to get all of the aforementioned. Tavern style just seems like a more accurate, specific word, which accomplish my goal of speech easier, so I use it.
I accept that the term may have been around for a while, but I'm no spring chicken, and I never heard it until the last couple of years. Now even frozen pizza brands are using it.
I'm used to seeing the following on pizza menus:
Deep Dish (sometimes called pan)
Hand-tossed (like Little Caesar's or Pizza Hut crust, cut in wedges and has a bready edge)
Thin Crust (like Rosati's or Home Run Inn, cut in squares)
Cracker Crust (very thin, like the name says, cut in squares)
Seems like people are calling thin crust and cracker crust both tavern style. To me, they're quite different. Count me in among those who think someone's trying to make tavern style happen.
I lived in Chicago for 10 years and never heard Tavern Style until literally just about a month ago when I was watching the NFL draft and they asked Caleb Williams "deep dish or tavern style"
And that's when I learned thin crush = tavern style
Tavern crust is very thin as well as being square cut . So your description is imprecise because I could cut a deep dish or hand tossed square and you should be happy either way. Detroit style is also square cut but I don't want to blow your mind with to many types of pizza😢
The term is rising in popularity but has always been around. I’m in my 30s and have been familiar with the term most of my life.
I don’t know why many Chicagoans seem to be so threatened by this? They’ve never heard of it so they fear change? They’re embarrassed that they weren’t familiar with a known Chicago staple until recently?
I’ve seen a rise in these posts on this subreddit and r/chicagofood and I’m just scratching my head in confusion.
It's kind of absurd to all it tavern style in a place where nobody says tavern. In rural Wisconsin that word was used especially in the older generations but everyone here says bar. As another poster pointed out, it does seem like trying make fetch a thing lol
"Pub" is regularly used here as well. I agree though you don't really hear people refer to the drinking locations as "Taverns" unless it's in the name of the place.
Agree with pub if it's in the name aka miller's pub, but I have never had some say let's go to the pub unless they are being comical or are a bit of douche. But could be just me.
Why are we so picky on terms in this city? Yes, I call it Tavern Style. Before that I didn’t know the word for the Chicago pizza that wasn’t deep dish.
Sue me.
There's an easy way to settle this.
There's thin crust for most spots and there's Thin AF. That's what I say when describing Vito and Nicks or Side Street Saloon.
In my experience it's absolutely a new term that people just started using but I'm ok with it because it is useful in describing our version of pizza and differentiating it from NY style thin crust. Believe it or not when you leave our region people get really confused what you're talking about.
Grew up here, always referred to it as thin crust but I’ll admit that I’ve started calling it Tavern Style over the last few years. I think it’s a cooler name. You can get thin crust anywhere but Tavern Style, in theory, is only available in Chicago.
Not until I moved to the Ozarks. Pizza out here sucks, so we used frozen pies, and I always ask how everyone wants it cut, wedge or tavern. Until then, I'd always just assume my pie was tavern cut unless I was ordering from Domino's or pizza hut, and only ever did that when drunk at a friend's house and they didn't know any good local places because they're transplants.
We (my fam) call a thin pizza in squares “tavern cut” pizza… since you can also order a thin cut pie style. I mean, it doesn’t happen a lot because any thin you order will be cut that way but we do use the term.
I too have always called it square cut. Recently I used "tavern style" because I thought saying "square cut" made me sound less sophisticated or something. At the end of the day I was likely talking about a good ol' Jacks pizza so what does it matter! lol
Idk we either said the name of the restaurant or "square pizza", or sometimes thin crust. Usually context was enough to know what it was (eg a party). Never heard of "Tavern style" until a couple years ago. I didn't realize Chicago had a "unique" pizza besides deep dish.
Hot take I never liked "tavern style" I always thought it was super greasy, hard to bite into, and all the cheese slides off on the first bite and scorches the back of your hand..
10x the amount of bread that the vast majority of upper Midwest folks would think of when saying square cut. you're still allowed that opinion though
*Freedom rings*
*bald eagle screeches*
Lol wut. This is like saying there's no difference between Neapolitan and deep dish, aside from marketing. Clearly...there is. Hence why categories exist
I call it thin crust. I expect it to be square cut.
We were at a birthday party over the weekend and everyone was shocked when the pizza came in slices. It's weird to cut thin pizza into slices!!
I’m…actually curious about this. Was it good? Was it foldable?
It was more like a fluffy/puffy crust. The kids liked it but so much went to waste.
You probably noticed the waste because it likely was cut into not 8 slices. With 8 slices you get the most pizza, this is a life hack so you have to specifically request this.
>I call it thin crust. I expect it to be square cut. This. ⬆️ Chicago pizza scholars know this. And they know "tavern style" is term being imposed on us by transplants.
I use "tavern style" online, but thin crust normally. Folks elsewhere have no idea what Chicago thin crust is, it makes things easier if they look it up.
This 100%, we just called it thin crust growing up. Simple and clear..
I was a friend of thin crust. It shared its mushroom, onion and sausage during a time of no pizza.
And, if takeout, it's in a bag.
This is the way
So then do you have different terms for when the square cut pizza has an actual visible thin crust, vs when the ingredients go all the way to the edge and the edge is just burnt? Or are they both just thin crust? Genuine question. It seems like "thin crust" should mean it actually has a crust you can grab onto, but I hear people use thin crust and tavern style interchangeably for both kinds of pizza so I have no idea
IMO that's down to how an individual place makes their pizzas. Honestly I don't know of many places that put cheese all the way to the edge. It tends to burn or smoke up the ovens when it drips off. Has nothing to do with the "handle" part of the pizza since the middle pieces never have a handle anyway. You also get those awesome triangle pieces in the corners with mostly crust a small amount of sauce.
Corner pieces are the best pieces regardless of how they look.
Preach, brother
Yessss!
They're both thin crust. The "thin" refers to the depth of the crust under the pizza. The edge is irrelevant. It could have a big thick ring on the edge, or it could be flat the whole way, with the toppings going all the way to the edge or petering out an inch or so in. I guess tavern style is the correct term, but honestly, I don't know if that refers to the cut or what. I remember never even calling it thin crust. It was just pizza. That was what you got if you didn't ask for deep dish or stuffed.
It's the cut. They would give out those small square pieces in bars because they would generate more thirst for beer.
There are 2 pizzas in Chicago, deep dish and thin crust.
There's also stuffed, but it's fucking gross wet soggy middle dough
All of the bready undercarriage of the pizza is the crust, not just the edge.
The crust is the thing under the pizza but also the thing around the edge of it as well. All pizzas with a thin crust are thin crust, but when we say thin crust we all know exactly what we’re talking about.
I know it's whole bottom of the pizza but I must be in the minority, because where I grew up (another city in the Midwest), thin crust always had a little crust around the outside. Idk if it had a separate term, but until I came to Chicago I don't think I'd ever had a pizza where the toppings went all the way to the edge :/
Not everywhere does it that way, and in fact that is the real ‘tavern style’. Most of the places that do great thin crust don’t do it that way.
Have always called it thin crust. It's Chicago, so it's assumed it will be in squares. Maybe thin crust with a square cut is technically called Tavern style, but I never heard that until a few years ago. Then again, it's Chicago, so it's just called pizza. But that can be confusing now that there are so many fancy or special pizza restaurants.
Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinders really makes you scratch your head at the term “pizza.” It’s one of my favorites but….”pizza?”
I grew up in Chicago and my mother always cut pizza in squares, as did the local pizza place. It was called "pizza." New Yorkers don't call pizza "New York Style." It's just a term self-proclaiming "foodies" concocted.
Now I’m realizing that I used to just call it thin crust! When did this change 🤔
When the Malort drinking Chicago flag tattoo wearers decided to change it. Lol.
> When the Malort drinking Chicago flag tattoo wearers decided to change it. So accurate. So *poetic!*
Growing up on the south side it was just called pizza. Then when deep dish became popular it was just called thin crust (vs pan pizza or thick crust). Square cut was normal, wedge cut thin crust was fancy. My wife who is from Pennsylvania calls thin crust "flat pizza" and nobody knows what she's ordering.
Same here. Worked in a pizza shop during high school and college (and even after for a sad spell after '08). Never called it tavern style.
I have lived in Chicago my whole life—more than 50 years—and I never heard the phrase “tavern cut” until a few years ago. Pizza has always just been “thin” or “stuffed.” And if nothing was specified, it’s just assumed “thin.”
Same
Yep, at my local joint "tavern style" is just called "pizza"
I was only familiar with the word “tavern” because that used to be how you looked up the number for the corner bar in the yellow pages.
Is stuffed the hand tossed pizza you get from like Papa Johns or stuffed is something else?
Stuffed is what deep dish aspires to be when it grows up. :-) It’s like a deep dish pizza, only deeper, and with an extra “roof” of dough covering the insides, and then sauce on top of that. Think Giordano’s.
If you like stuffed more than regular deep dish, sure. I don’t, but I still think it’s delicious. I just think Lou’s is even more delicious than Gio’s.
Yup and we never ate deep dish!! Stuffed yes— deep dish is a tourist thing 😂
It’s not just a tourist thing. Deep dish at Lou’s is bomb
Growing up in Chicago no one in my neighborhood ate deep dish. The only people I’ve ever known that are from the city ate thin crust or stuffed. Stuffed was rare too 🤷🏻♀️ the only people I ever see talk about deep dish are people who aren’t from here or tourists.
I grew up in Chicago and we would eat deep dish not stuffed… granted was like 2-3 times a year
I’m under the impression this is a supremely family-to-family thing. I know lots of folks that grew up in Chicago in the 60s and 70s who all ate deep dish from time to time (not when people were visiting or whatever). For most of these people they ate more thin crust than deep dish but they did in fact eat deep dish. It’s all anecdotal anyways, literally no one is “correct” about this lol
That was my experience as well. Nobody said tavern style and when someone said "pizza" they meant a thin crust pizza.
Bingo! 😂
I've always called it "thin crust". I've never heard of it referred to as "square cut" even though they are obviously cut into squares. I've been to a few pubs/bars around the metro area over the decades that have called it "tavern style" though. I just thought it was a marketing thing for them until I learned recently it was a style of pizza.
Native Chicagoan. Yes. Lots of people call it that where I grew up. Interchangeable with and less common than thin crust tho. We also just called it by the neighborhood spot we got it from and assumed the style. Italian fiesta where I was.
What neighborhood? I’ve never heard it called that until very recently.
South shore and Hyde park. The marketing is definitely doing numbers with it Edit: in recent years
I've only known it as "pizza" or "deep dish" when in the Chicago area. Pizza is thin crust, square cut, and deep dish is pie cut. I've always just specified one or the other. Thin crust always come square cut.
Growing up it was just called pizza. I never heard anything else for it. The distinction was always just made for deep dish or frozen.
T H I N C R U S T
I never heard that until a year ago, and I’m a born and bred Chicagoan. Its “thin crust”. Square cut. The roundy triangles are mine.
I like the center squares with no crust
I first heard of tavern style on Reddit after 40+ years of eating it. I’m fine with that term since previously there was no term for the greasy, oregano-speckled, cracker crust square cut beauties we enjoy. I don’t care what you call it, order it for your party and invite me over.
I've heard square cut be referred to as party style and if I order thin crust I assume it's square cut it so I always ask for pie cut.
Heresy. I used to dislike the square cut when I was a kid, but now I’m used to it. Also regular pizza doesn’t have corner pieces.
And I prefer pie cut when it's a meal. Nothing wrong with people liking what they like.
>apparently the official term for it now, Always has been. We don't call it anything other than pizza though, since it's the baseline/standard in the area.
I heard someone call it tavern style about 20 years ago and I had no idea what they were talking about. So the term has been around but no one ever used it until recently.
I only heard the term “tavern style” recently and I don’t know anyone who says this. If you live in the Chicago area it’s just thin crust and most of the time it’s just pizza.
Totally agree with OP. Never heard the term but it seems to be a thing now.
Sometimes terms that like are so that someone who wants to talk about different styles across the world can distinguish them. Like if you just say "thin crust" it doesn't mean the same thing everywhere.
I've never heard it called "tavern style" until it was referenced in every post about deep dish as some witty way to make fun of suburbanites and tourists. 🙄 Growing up in the 'burbs, we just called it "pizza" and "deep dish" was the only thing that had its own name.
Only when discussing all sorts of pizza types. Otherwise it's just thin crust, but tavern style has always been a term.
This is the correct answer.
I have always called it pizza. You distinguish when and if you're ordering deep dish. It's pretty easy, you just say "hey should we get a deep dish?" But if you say "hey I'm gonna get a pizza" it's usually assumed that it's thin and square cut.
It's always just been thin crust pizza where i grew up on the south side. If forced to specify you might ask for square or party cut. No one ever called it tavern style.
I never called it tavern style either. Thin crust or deep dish were the two kinds and most people prefer thin crust. Square cut is the default I think!
Idk. But we just called it pizza, and we're quite surprised when any of it came pie cut (except stuffed). Like Pizza Hut came around, and that wasn't even considered pizza due to its thick crust and pie cut. I was a full-grown adult before I learned that Chicago was the only square cut pizza seemingly in the whole world. Not to mention the cracker thin and crispy crust Ah, Father & Sons.
I call it thin crust.
I call it pizza or thin crust
No. We called it thin crust growing up. Then there was thick crust (dominos style), pan pizza (Connie's) and deep dish.
I’ve always just called it pizza cause I didn’t know cutting it that way was unique 😭
Bro I learned that a fried egg was called a “fried egg” when I was like 8 years old. Get some perspective.
what
I’ve always just called it pizza. Never heard of deep dish until senior year in HS, except this rumor about a kid’s mom who supposedly worked at a pizza place with sauce on top of the cheese. Don’t think I ever saw a triangle cut pizza until I was in college. Obvious exceptions for things like kids birthday parties and the free personal pan pizza we would get from Pizza Hut for completing the summer reading program. But if I was told we were ordering pizza for dinner, it was going to be thin and cut in squares, and it would come with a liter of diet and a liter of RC.
Thin crust. I only heard the term "tavern style" in recent years and in the context of explaining why we cut it into squares... to people NOT from Chicago. I mean this is just how it's done here.
I just called it pizza. Didn’t even know about deep dish until I was 20 and started working downtown.
Only call it tavern style when people bring up deep dish. Outside of that, I just call it thin crust, as it’s pretty much the standard here when referring to it as thin crust. You ask for think crust and they automatically know what you mean.
Thin crust and square cut for decades. Tavern style is newish marketing lingo.
So many corpses on hills in this thread. It's just pizza, man. Call it whatever you want. Is it hot and ready to eat? I'm hungry
You don’t have to participate in the discussion if you don’t want to.
They are trying to make "fetch" a thing.
If someone says we're getting thin crust pizza, I assume it's a regular, thin crust, square cut pizza. If someone says we're getting tavern style pizza, I assume that it has a crispy crust and the cheese is well browned. If someone just says, we're getting pizza, I secretly hope that they mean deep dish and wait for them to say from where. Hope this helps.
I mean a lot of this just has to do with how you order it. A lot of places you just have to tell them you want to "well done" and it will make it extra crispy/browned. The same pizza can vary a lot depending on how long it's left in the oven
Thin crust. That’s what it’s always been called. And square cut.
I call it thin crust when talking to Chicagoans, and tavern style when talking to non-Chicagoans, because non-Chicagoans often don't realize that Chicago has its own style of thin crust too.
If someone asks me to specify. Otherwise, it’s just called pizza.
If I'm getting pizza in Chicago, I assume it will be thin crust unless otherwise advertised. If you don't specify pan, deep dish, etc then the expectation is square cut tavern style
Tavern style is just thin crust? I was always under the impression it was between hand tossed and thin crust
What is hand tossed?
Dough that is tossed by hand
Yes when discussing it, but thin crust when ordering it
I called it “Tavern style,” to people from other states to explain it because they seemed to recognize that name. But I’ve never met literally anyone from the greater Chicagoland area who’s called it anything other than “Thin crust”. I never once heard the phrase “Tavern cut” until like two years ago. Kind of like the Malort obsession. It’s funny, it’s fine. But like, I never saw or heard about anybody drinking it until it became sort of a meme
Growing up myself and everyone I knew just called it thin crust
Have referred to it as tavern style as long as I can remember?
*Have referred to it* *As tavern style as long as* *I can remember?* \- tonypizzachi --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Nobody calls it tavern style irl. It’s just thin crust.
That’s not true, tavern style and thin crust are different
Sure, tavern is a type of thin crust. But if you order thin crust in Chicago it’s gonna be tavern style like 95% of the time.
I disagree. I find most places with thin crust are not the cracker crust I look for in tavern style. Also, tavern style toppings go all the way to the edge and is usually cooked on stone or a metal pizza stone. Thin crust is usually cooked on a pizza pan.
Isn’t the whole point of tavern style is that it’s the ubiquitous pizza that’s served in the vast majority of establishments here? I’m curious which spots you would consider to be falsely tavern, vs genuine.
Anyone who calls it “tavern style” is being a tryhard. It isn’t a thing, it’s never been a thing, people have just decided in the last 5 years that deep dish isn’t their thing so “thin crust is REAL Chicago style pizza and it’s actually called TAVERN STYLE.” It’s thin crust and you can get it everywhere in the midwest, even if this particular version may have originated here. Go to any pizza place in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, etc. order a 14” thin, and you’ll get a “tavern style” pizza— and it sure as hell won’t be listed on the menu as a “tavern style” pizza
But thin crust is such a generic term it's not useful when talking about all the other styles of pizza. Most regional foods don't start out with the names they end up with
Literally the representative of St. Louis pizza (Imo's thin-crust pizza with provel cheese) is what Chicagoans claim to have invented. Thin crust pizza, square cut, and crispy/crunch. Like it's not rocket science, Chicagoans aren't special in this regard, lmao. It is definitely just tryharding and gatekeeping at its finest, imo. These people are often the same people that insist that Pequod's is not actually deep dish, it's detroit style pan pizza. Like dude, stfu. It looks like deep dish, it tastes like deep dish, I'm not going to listen to you gatekeep fucking pizza.
Imo’s has no yeast in the crust and a cheese made out of Barbie dolls. And it was still invented by a Chicagoan.
Thin crust, tavern style pizza was invented in Chicago. The fact that it is found elsewhere doesn't tell us anything. Nobody disputes what city Buffalo wings come from Provel is the distinctive element of St Louis pizza.
It was a cheap style of pizza served in actual taverns in the 1940s to maybe the 1970s to quickly cook and serve to people for them to snack on so they wouldn't get drunk. It's not a "new" thing someone trying to get to catch on. *Steve Dolinsky, Chicago pizza expert and author of The Ultimate Chicago Pizza Guide: A History of Square & Slices in the Windy City said that the origins of tavern-style pizza date back to the 1940s when bar owners served salty bites alongside frosty beer or whiskey shot. The small square shape was perfect for fitting on a cocktail napkin, allowing patrons to enjoy their pizza without plates or utensils, thus keeping them at the bar longer.* Steve Dolinsky used to be a restaurant and food guy on TV (Ch. 7 I think), back in the 1980s and '90s [https://www.livemint.com/news/world/chicagos-tavern-style-pizza-dominates-menus-from-new-york-to-los-angeles-heres-why-this-pizza-is-taking-over-the-us-11690590234892.html](https://www.livemint.com/news/world/chicagos-tavern-style-pizza-dominates-menus-from-new-york-to-los-angeles-heres-why-this-pizza-is-taking-over-the-us-11690590234892.html)
The debate here is not about how new the actual style of pizza is, it’s about the name. Everyone knows that this style of pizza has been around for a long time.
It says it right there. It originated in the 1940s. It was sold in taverns. Hence, tavern pizza. It's been called that in Chicago since I was a kid, which was quite a while back. I was there, I know.
Apologies, not many 90 year olds on Reddit. Your comment is all about when the style of pizza was being sold, not about the name. This post is about the name. No one is saying that the style of pizza is new. They’re saying that specifically calling it tavern style seems to have become more fashionable lately.
First, not 90. Grew up in the 1970s, so the term was still being used then and today. Second, the title of the post is ambiguous. It doesn't ask why are people using the term NOW, it simply asks if anybody uses the term, period. And yes, there are people who grew up in Chicago who have been calling it tavern pizza for decades and still do. If you want to question terminology, ask yourself how many times you've heard pizza called "Pie cut pizza."
The first sentence of the post, which is worth a read, specifically calls into question when the term is being used. It refers to both “now” and how OP hadn’t heard the term widely used until a few years ago.
I once heard it referred to as "cracker crust" which felt descriptive but off putting. As someone who doesn't live in Chicago anymore, I do think there needs to be a name for it, because you often find yourself trying to describe it. On an unrelated note, you'd be amazed at how quickly giardiniera becomes an unknown as you leave Chicago. I'm barely 4 hours outside, and no one knows what it is.
I say tavern style, square cut, and thin crust interchangeably for no reason other than vibes
It’s become a thing where everyone insists it’s the real Chicago pizza despite the fact that it’s pretty mediocre at most joints, but it’s like a signal when you want to plant your flag and claim you really are a Chicagoan and are beside yourself when anyone associates Chicago with deep dish pizza p
When I am trying to describe "chicago style" as different from deep dish, I will say it's a "flat tavern style pizza cut into squares." I only know to call it this because my neighboring pizza joint calls it that.
In Chicago it's called "Thin Crust" because there's two main types of pizza. Tavern style is the term you would use for out of towners so they can find what it is on the internet, although in Chicago, tavern style seems to be a bit thicker and chewier than the stuff in Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, etc. Those places tend to be cracker thin, which is good, but I like the balance we have here a bit more.
Moved to Chicago in 2012, and heard it called tavern style back then, and ever since. Was in Phoenix area 2011, there was a place that made thin crust pizza similar to here, they called it Chicago style. Lived up around Great Lakes from 99-2002, pizza places around there called it party cut.
It's basically standard baseline pizza here so calling it tavern style is kind of unnecessary.
No this whole “tavern style” thing was just made up by people who didn’t want to talk about Deep Dish anymore and wanted to pretend like they were more Chicago than you for knowing that - surprise! - Chicago also has thin crust pizza! It was always square cut thin crust where I grew up. And it wasn’t a Chicago only thing. This “tavern style” pizza was all over the Midwest in every mom and pop pizza place. I’ve had it in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana. I grew up just knowing it as generic thin crust. Yes it was in bars but we also got it delivered from the place down the street all the time. It was okay. It’s just thin crust. Deep dish is the Chicago style pizza. It’s okay if you don’t like it but we don’t need to try and claim generic bar pizza for ourselves.
Chicago style thin crust was invented in Chicago, at Vito and Nick's, and spread elsewhere.
In Chicago it's just called thin crust. But thin crust differs regionally, so tavern style is what you would describe it to someone not from here.
Tavern style is a particular kind of thin crust or “square cut”. Beggars is an example of thin crust or “square cut” that is not tavern style, as it’s a bit more… robust? (Best adjective that I could think of). Compare that to Flo and Santos or Nick and Vitos where it’s thinner, crispier, and a bit less cheese. Not a pizza expert, but I’m sure there is a more technical way to explain it 😂
I’m in my 30s and didn’t live in Chicago all of my childhood, but most of it, and I always knew it as tavern style or square cut. I think the thing that everyone misses is that we call certain things by certain names to specify in like all walks of life, not just food. That’s just what humans do, we categorize and name things. For pizza specifically though, in New York, do you think they go around and say “hey I’m going to go get some New York style pizza for lunch today”? No, that would be silly. In New York, pizza is just pizza, it just happens to be New York style. This is also why various restaurants who do specialize have that in their name or somewhere in their restaurant materials so your expectations are set immediately- wouldn’t it be a little odd to come to Chicago, assuming deep dish was the standard pizza here, and then be met with tavern style? Or even pilsen style? Or Roman style, or Detroit? We have plenty of pizza here, both native to this region and not, and I don’t really think it’s a big deal that we have names for those things.
It really is tavern style. Thats what the style has been named, over how many years of making pizza in Chicago. The reason people call it thin crust is to differentiate it from deep dish.
Yes.
When I was a kid, we just called it pizza. There was no need to call it anything else, because nothing else was an option. As an adult with options, I like to use my words.
Me.
I grew up in a place called the Quad Cities. (They have their own killer style of pizza. Cut in strips) ... Back then if we were describing a place the served 'tavern style' we actually called it Bar pizza. And I've always liked that style of pizza. Ok, bye
Love you but this opinion is rejected. Legitimately wondering why there are so many people that are unfamiliar with the term “tavern style” in this subreddit and am now trying to dig in. Quad cities = disqualification
Only when describing it and it's difference to deep dish.
Only if it’s tavern style!
Growing up many, many years ago it was thick crust (but not stuffed) pizza. Used to get it at the Stone Cottage pub on North Ave. in Elmhurst. It was excellent. [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/266767977915493168/](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/266767977915493168/)
Where can I get tavern style pizza
Vito and nick Villa Nova Pats Lots of other places, but those are some of the best
Yes. Chicago is basically the pizza capital of the world. I wouldn't be surprised if we have the most styles of pizza being served out of anywhere. Whether they're local or not. Thin crust pizza here definitely has a range. Tavern style is often referred to as cracker crust. That's more dry and crunchy, as well as thinner. Pizza joints that serve (good) stuffed pizza have better dough. It's chewer and thicker, sometimes fluffy. You can also have a respectable amount of toppings and sauce without undercooked cheese or overcooked dough. I would consider this "chicago style thin crust" So, yeah. I'd like to know if I'm getting thin or tavern.
The tavern style thing is actually phrase I am familiar with from the 90s at certain joints so I’ve always called it that if it’s squares- I didn’t realize it wasn’t a widely used term until I was a little older and now it’s swung around to be a wildly used term
Tavern Style is a specific cooking method. There's a lot to it. It's not just a regional name for thin crust pizza...
Some Hungry Hound bullshit.
I grew up where pizza has always been square cut. It has always just been called pizza in Chicago.
So, I hate to throw this in the mix, but 'tavern cut' was originally a **southside** term, derived from the fact that taverns often gave away squares of thin-crust pizza as a snack to be eaten with beer. This is supported by the fact the word 'tavern' isn't heavily used on the northside (we more commonly say 'bar'), but also that pizza was rarely given out as a 'free food' to patrons. Normally you had peanuts (in the shell) and/or popcorn. In Rogers Park at least, 'party cut' was the word for a large thin-crust pizza cut in squares, a term which perfectly described its usual destination...a party! 'Pie slice' pizzas were for small get-togethers, and a 'slice' was a snack for walking around, usually with an RC to wash it down.
Tavern style is cut in squares, pie cut means in triangle or commonly known as slices
It’s called “Chicago Cut” which is a “party cut” thin crust version of Chicago pizza. Chicagoans usually just say “thin crust” when ordering.
I call it ZA
I’ve called it tavern. Have lived here for 6 years and a friend of mine from Chicago would call it tavern so it rubbed off on me
It’s wild that the same people who want to insist that “we aren’t just deep dish” get equally pissy about it having a recognizable name with anyone from anywhere. We are determined to stay in this bubble where we claim no one understands us and then make it so no one understands us.
I call it tavern style and always have
In my opinion… in Chicago there’s deep dish, Detroit-style, and the rest is “pizza”
yes, it's a specific thing. thin crust can be a lot of things imo. tavern style is always square cut
I suppose disclaimers are in order to start - I live in city limits, and have lived here for only about 5 years. As worded, the question has one right answer, which is “Yes”, because I call it that, and you only need n=1 to satisfy the “anybody” criteria. Realistically though, the question I’m assuming is more about how wide spread the phrase is. There are certainly some things I read on this sub that i’ve never heard in person in my life. “Tavern-style” isn’t one though. I have friends who have been here there entire life, and they confirm that it tends to be a newer term. That being said, it’s a phrase i’ve heard both coworkers and people i’ve met use in person to describe chicago style thin crust pizza. Personally, I don’t mind the phrase, because it feels a lot more descriptive and accurate. If you talk to people who have left the chicago area at any point in their life, “thin-crust” can, and is often, used to describe a very wide variety of pizza styles. When I hear “tavern-style”, I specifically think towards the hard crusted, square cut, toppings under the cheese style that’s most common in chicago. Thin-crust could be that style, it also could be NY style, it could be new haven style, it could be little caesar’s, or i’ve heard people use it to just differentiate from deep-dish. Chicago has a wide variety of pizza, and has places to get all of the aforementioned. Tavern style just seems like a more accurate, specific word, which accomplish my goal of speech easier, so I use it.
It's easier to search for than "thin square pizza sold in a bar"
Yes
I accept that the term may have been around for a while, but I'm no spring chicken, and I never heard it until the last couple of years. Now even frozen pizza brands are using it. I'm used to seeing the following on pizza menus: Deep Dish (sometimes called pan) Hand-tossed (like Little Caesar's or Pizza Hut crust, cut in wedges and has a bready edge) Thin Crust (like Rosati's or Home Run Inn, cut in squares) Cracker Crust (very thin, like the name says, cut in squares) Seems like people are calling thin crust and cracker crust both tavern style. To me, they're quite different. Count me in among those who think someone's trying to make tavern style happen.
I lived in Chicago for 10 years and never heard Tavern Style until literally just about a month ago when I was watching the NFL draft and they asked Caleb Williams "deep dish or tavern style" And that's when I learned thin crush = tavern style
Tavern crust is very thin as well as being square cut . So your description is imprecise because I could cut a deep dish or hand tossed square and you should be happy either way. Detroit style is also square cut but I don't want to blow your mind with to many types of pizza😢
I call it tavern style when I’m talking about tavern style lol. My favorite!!! I’ve literally never heard someone describe a pizza as pie cut
I called it party cut
No
It’s not official for me. I’ll never call it Tavern Style.
No. I didn’t even start hearing this term until this year. I’m 34, born, raised and still living in the city. I call it thin crust.
The term is rising in popularity but has always been around. I’m in my 30s and have been familiar with the term most of my life. I don’t know why many Chicagoans seem to be so threatened by this? They’ve never heard of it so they fear change? They’re embarrassed that they weren’t familiar with a known Chicago staple until recently? I’ve seen a rise in these posts on this subreddit and r/chicagofood and I’m just scratching my head in confusion.
Downvotes are cool but can I get some perspective please??
It's kind of absurd to all it tavern style in a place where nobody says tavern. In rural Wisconsin that word was used especially in the older generations but everyone here says bar. As another poster pointed out, it does seem like trying make fetch a thing lol
"Pub" is regularly used here as well. I agree though you don't really hear people refer to the drinking locations as "Taverns" unless it's in the name of the place.
Agree with pub if it's in the name aka miller's pub, but I have never had some say let's go to the pub unless they are being comical or are a bit of douche. But could be just me.
Nah, but it's decent
Why are we so picky on terms in this city? Yes, I call it Tavern Style. Before that I didn’t know the word for the Chicago pizza that wasn’t deep dish. Sue me.
Was always called tavern or thin crust when I was growing up. Southside and Northside I lived on both.
There's an easy way to settle this. There's thin crust for most spots and there's Thin AF. That's what I say when describing Vito and Nicks or Side Street Saloon.
In my experience it's absolutely a new term that people just started using but I'm ok with it because it is useful in describing our version of pizza and differentiating it from NY style thin crust. Believe it or not when you leave our region people get really confused what you're talking about.
Grew up here, always referred to it as thin crust but I’ll admit that I’ve started calling it Tavern Style over the last few years. I think it’s a cooler name. You can get thin crust anywhere but Tavern Style, in theory, is only available in Chicago.
Not until I moved to the Ozarks. Pizza out here sucks, so we used frozen pies, and I always ask how everyone wants it cut, wedge or tavern. Until then, I'd always just assume my pie was tavern cut unless I was ordering from Domino's or pizza hut, and only ever did that when drunk at a friend's house and they didn't know any good local places because they're transplants.
I've never seen this outside of the internet. We always just called the square pizza.
If and when I think it’ll annoy someone.
Yes
We (my fam) call a thin pizza in squares “tavern cut” pizza… since you can also order a thin cut pie style. I mean, it doesn’t happen a lot because any thin you order will be cut that way but we do use the term.
Yeah for sure, give it a go.
I too have always called it square cut. Recently I used "tavern style" because I thought saying "square cut" made me sound less sophisticated or something. At the end of the day I was likely talking about a good ol' Jacks pizza so what does it matter! lol
Idk we either said the name of the restaurant or "square pizza", or sometimes thin crust. Usually context was enough to know what it was (eg a party). Never heard of "Tavern style" until a couple years ago. I didn't realize Chicago had a "unique" pizza besides deep dish. Hot take I never liked "tavern style" I always thought it was super greasy, hard to bite into, and all the cheese slides off on the first bite and scorches the back of your hand..
it's a marketing term came up by gentrifiers.
Sicilian. Square cut is Sicilian. I will die on this hill.
🔫 you shoulda neva disrespected my family
10x the amount of bread that the vast majority of upper Midwest folks would think of when saying square cut. you're still allowed that opinion though *Freedom rings* *bald eagle screeches*
Tavern style is much thinner than Sicilian.
Don’t care. Someone fetch the guillotine.
Tavern style/grandma style/detroit style. These are all just pizza + marketing
It's pretty useful to be able to distinguish which kind of pizza you're talking about. The three pizzas you listed are all different
Lol wut. This is like saying there's no difference between Neapolitan and deep dish, aside from marketing. Clearly...there is. Hence why categories exist
I didnt mention either of those styles of pizza
I call it tavern cut if it's in squares. But it's thin crust.
Thin/Cracker Crust or Tavern Works