What Is Columbus-Style Pizza? | Plaza Pizza

Start with the crust. It's thin but made with yeast, so it can be a little bubbly or crisp depending on the shop. Sauce and toppings go almost to the rim, which leaves little or no bare crust. The cheese is usually provolone or a provolone and mozzarella blend. Then the pie is cut in a grid of squares, which people call a party cut, square cut or tavern cut.

The style grew out of Columbus pizzerias in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Massey's Pizza, which opened in 1949, is usually credited with making thin crust and pepperoni the city's standard. Tommy's Pizza has served it since 1952, and by the 1960s edge-to-edge toppings had spread from Columbus across the Midwest.

They're close relatives. Chicago tavern-style pizza also has a thin crust and a square cut, and it dates to Chicago taverns around 1940. The differences are mostly the cheese and the edge. Columbus pies lean on provolone and run toppings to the rim, while tavern-style pies usually don't. St. Louis-style is another cousin, with a cracker crust made without yeast and Provel cheese.

A party cut is a round pizza cut in a grid of squares or rectangles instead of wedges. It's the standard cut for Columbus-style pizza. You get more, smaller pieces, so it's easy to share at a birthday, a game night or a family dinner. The center squares carry the most toppings. The edge pieces are the crispy ones, and most families have someone who claims them.

Plaza Pizza makes thin-crust pizza with its own zingy house sauce, and it has been a Newark tradition since 1971, east of Columbus in Licking County. It's a Newark recipe, not a copy of any city style, but if you like thin, crispy Columbus-style pizza, it's a good one to try. Call the store with questions about cuts and toppings, or order from the Newark menu.

Plaza Pizza has been a Newark tradition since 1971. Mike and Donna Brown opened it, and siblings Ben, Brian and Olivia Claggett bought it in January 2019. The Claggetts grew up eating Plaza Pizza, which is a big part of why they jumped at the chance to own it. You'll find the original shop at 1130 Mt Vernon Rd in Newark.