Thick, crunchy, cheesy Detroit-style pizza became a hot trend during the pandemic with even Pizza Hut getting on board, and it hit Dallas hard with a number of pizza pop-ups including Motor City Pizza, a carry-out pop-up based in Lewisville from restaurateur Greg Tierney, who launched the concept in October 2020.

Now he's taking it to the next step with a brick-and-mortar location. (He was previously operating out of the kitchen of 7 Loaves Catering and was open only Friday-Saturday nights.)

"We operated in the catering kitchen for a year, but truthfully, we outgrew the space six months ago," he says. "It was time to upgrade and we've moved into our own location."

The restaurant will be located at 1425 FM 407, Lewisville, in what was previously a catering company but at one time, ironically, was a Pizza Hut. It opens at 4 pm on October 8.

"I will be doing carryout and third party delivery only, to start," Tierney says. "But the space is conducive to sit-down dining and a bar, and that's all coming in the near future."

Motor City's menu features seven varieties of Detroit-style pizza, plus an option to create your own. The Supreme has pepperoni, Italian sausage, bacon, bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms. There's a veggie with bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach, and a "Greektown" with black and green olives, red onion, spinach, tomato, and feta cheese, topped with Greek dressing.

Tierney grew up eating Detroit style pizza and loves that it's "deep dish but not heavy deep dish. It's light and airy, and kind of fluffy, but crispy around edges."

"To do it authentically, you must use Wisconsin brick cheese, which you sprinkle on the pizza from edge to edge," he says. "As it cooks, it caramelizes in the blue steel pan. That's also essential for Detroit-style pizza, that you use that kind of pan with high sides. After it's baked, you put on the sauce, then add old-world toppings like pepperoni, another key to the Detroit style."

"So many people still don't know what Detroit-style pizza is," he says. "Surprisingly, Pizza Hut has really helped. Since they introduced their version, they've been blasting the airwaves with ads for their Detroit-style pizza, and they make it look pretty good, even if theirs is not exactly authentic."