The world has a few different styles of pizza: New York, Italian, Chicago, Detroit, etc. Yet, it takes a bold pizza purveyor to deliver something that doesn’t quite fit into a predetermined style. Mancino’s Pizza, which seems to have a series of somewhat affiliated locations around the midwest, has done just that. It was in Petoskey, Michigan that I snagged one of these pizzas for the first time.
I went with the Buffalo Wing Pizza, which could have probably been better named the Buffalo Chicken Pizza, since it was topped with slices of grilled chicken breast, then doused with cheese and buffalo sauce. And by doused, I mean there was an insanely thick layer of cheese on this pizza. This alone seemed novel, but the crust is what made Mancino’s pizza so much different than expected. It seemed to skirt the very thick line between New York Style and Chicago Deep Dish, meaning the crust seemed to serve as a means of keeping the ingredients in, but foregoing the full casserole route.
I was surprised by just how spicy the sauce was, but otherwise I was very happy with Mancino’s pizza. I mean, it’s hard to go wrong with a boat load of cheese and solid sauce and toppings. And while I was impressed by the pizza’s audacity to not be classified, it also didn’t break barriers in a way that made me feel like it is going to change the world like the aforementioned pizzas may well have. Regardless, it’s worth grabbing a slice.