Pizza Today - April 2021 - 48

N E W TO PP IN G TRE N D
PI CK LE S

T

he most exciting competition at Pizza Expo
is always the Nontraditional division.
Free from the limitations of other categories, it's a showcase for
experimentation that
often inspires pizzeria
menus for the following year. Without
the benefit of a 2020 Expo, all eyes fall
on social media posts and updates for a
peek at burgeoning menu trends. Here
we'll investigate which items resonate
at pizzerias, which are passing fads, and
which are not worth your time.

Still Hot - Detroit-style Pizza
The thick, crispy cheese-edged squares
from the Motor City may have been
unknown to the general public for the
vast majority of their existence, but
they're certainly making up for lost time.
According to Google Trends, searches
for " Detroit style pizza " increased nearly
eight-fold in January 2021 over the
2020 average.
That might have something to do
with the flood of new " Detroit style "
products entering the mainstream market. Little Caesar's has been serving
Detroit style " Deep Deep Dish " pizza
since 2013, but Pizza Hut's January
2021 launch is making the style a household name. They even went so far as to
call it " the hottest trend in pizza. "
Independent pizzerias are opening
left and right featuring Detroit style as

a main event, but existing pizzerias are
also adding it as a new menu option.
" We started in the summer with a few
pans, offering a dozen a day. When
demand grew, we converted the dining
room, and by October we started offering them every day all day, " says Tom
Grande of Grande Jr Pizza Express in
Washington, Pennsylvania.

New Topping Trend - Pickles
The unexpected topping to watch
this year threatens pineapple's place on
the throne of controversy. Pickles may
seem like a questionable topping, but
they work great with garlic, dill, bacon,
sriracha and ranch dressing.
The Hungry Robot in Fairbanks,
Alaska, introduced their " Dilly Dilly "
pizza in 2017 but it really took off after
being featured on Diners Drive-ins and
Dives this January. " It's always been in
the top five for us but since DDD it's on
almost every ticket, " says owner Randy
Bezdek. The pie begins with a roasted
garlic cream sauce, then adds low moisture mozzarella and dill pickles (they
hand slice 20 gallons per week). After
the bake it gets a drizzle of garlic-dill
ranch dressing and a sprinkle of grated
Romano mixed with fresh dill.
Joe Riggio of New York Pizza
Suprema in Manhattan landed on a similar recipe for his pickle pizza. " I'm the
guy who if you went to the diner with
me and left a pickle on your plate - I ate
it, " he says. His inspiration came from a
pickled turnip dish in a Middle Eastern

restaurant in Brooklyn. The pizza hit
Suprema's menu at the end of 2020 and
has become popular both by the slice
and by the whole pie.

Flourless Crusts
The latest diet craze doesn't leave
pizza lovers behind. Keto diets are all
about decreasing carbohydrate intake
and increasing fat consumption, which
provides an interesting challenge for
pizzerias. The solution is what's known
as a fathead dough, made with a mix
of cheese, eggs and often some almond
flour for structure.
Blaze was the first chain to launch a
Keto crust pizza in 2019, but it's taken a
few years to reach independent pizzerias.
Annabel Gonzalez, of Aaron's Pizza in
Poteet, Texas, is amazed by the success
of her keto pizza. " We added them in
December [and] I run out every day, "
she says of the item.
Cauliflower crusts are also popular
with Keto dieters, but its lower fat
content makes it less appealing to keto
followers and more attractive to those
avoiding gluten. This variation relied
on riced cauliflower held together with
mozzarella to provide a base for standard pizza toppings.
The beauty of these alternative crusts
is that they don't contain yeast. Since
fermentation time isn't a concern, they
can be made and baked within minutes.

Quantity and Quality Pizzerias
have been the go-to alternative to cook-

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3/9/21 10:05 AM
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Pizza Today - April 2021

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