Food / Business & brands
Gus Guerra
· restaurateur, creator of Detroit-style pizza
Detroit bar owner who, with his wife Anna, created Detroit-style square pizza at Buddy's Rendezvous in 1946, baked in blue steel pans borrowed from the auto industry.
- Detroit years
- 1936–1950s
- Field
- Food, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Gus Guerra opened Buddy's Rendezvous in 1936 as a neighborhood bar at the corner of Six Mile Road and Conant Street on Detroit's east side. In 1946 he and his wife Anna began serving a thick, rectangular pizza with a crisp, cheesy edge, topped with sauce over the cheese. The recipe is credited either to Anna's mother's Sicilian sfincione or to a Sicilian employee, Connie Piccinato. The pies were baked in rectangular blue steel pans made in the 1930s and 1940s by Dover Parkersburg, originally used as drip trays or parts bins in auto factories, which gave the crust its caramelized edges. The pizza turned the bar into a success. In 1953 the Guerras sold Buddy's and opened the Cloverleaf Bar in East Detroit (today Eastpointe), where they kept making square pizza. Buddy's grew into a Michigan chain, and Detroit-style pizza spread across the country in the 2010s.
Highlights
- Opened Buddy's Rendezvous at Six Mile and Conant in 1936
- Created Detroit-style pizza there with Anna Guerra in 1946
- Baked in steel pans originally made for auto plants
- Sold Buddy's in 1953 and opened the Cloverleaf in East Detroit
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1936–1953
Buddy’s Pizza – Original Conant
Birthplace of Detroit-style pizza in 1946; the original location still serves square pizza as the flagship of the Buddy's chain.
Founded · 1953–
Cloverleaf Bar (Eastpointe)
Status being checked
Bar the Guerras opened in East Detroit (now Eastpointe) after selling Buddy's.