Wisconsin Wants Its Pizza Back, Dave!

Dave Portnoy, I’m a big fan of your pizza reviews and this one’s for you. Jew-to-Jew. Michigan man-to-Michigan man (class of ’98, hail to the victors). You’ve built an empire on pizza reviews, and you reignited the greatest rivalry in sports, Michigan vs. Ohio State, on Fox. You get what tradition means. You get what happens when someone tries to rewrite history. And you know first hand that’s exactly what’s happening with tavern-style pizza.

Chicago keeps calling it theirs. But tavern-style? That’s Wisconsin’s. Always has been.

One Style Per City: Everybody Knows the Rules!

You know this better than anyone: one pizza style per city or state. New York City has NY style. Detroit has Detroit style. New Haven has apizza. Chicago? It’s got deep dish—like it or not. (And we don’t. You and I both know it’s a casserole pretending to be pizza.) Chicago already claimed its pie. Tavern-style belongs to us.

Soup Town Pizza DNA

I was born in Milwaukee, raised in Superior, a Wisconsin Jew through and through. Superior, or “Soup Town,” wasn’t just another lake port where the fog rolled in like soup. It was a frontier town for shippers and timber workers, a drinking town where the bars stayed open hours after Duluth closed theirs. For many years, true or not, Soup Town had a reputation of having the most bars per capita in the US, a hard-drinking heritage that made tavern pizza inevitable.

And Milwaukee? Still carrying the torch. In 2022, Milwaukee was declared the Drunkest City in America. That’s not new, it’s tradition. Milwaukee has always been tavern country. And tavern pizza was the perfect fit: thin, crispy, square-cut, easy to share with a beer in hand.

Milwaukee’s Caradaro Club was serving tavern-style as early as 1945. Vito & Nick’s and Home Run Inn in Chicago? They didn’t show up until ’46 and ’47. Son of a Wisconsin State archivist and reference librarian here, Dave. I’m bringing the receipts, and the dates don’t lie.

The Home Run Inn Problem

And let’s talk about Home Run Inn. You reviewed them during the pandemic for frozen: 4.9. And again for their fresh pizza: 7.1. Terrible scores. Too thick, not crisp enough, “Pop Tart” undercarriage. Deserved. They even sent you their wedge shaped plate to hold their slice…because they know they traditionally used to cut it into wedges, not squares like a bar pie is supposed to be cut. Their classic brand used to market wedge-cut pies. Only recently have they pivoted to square-cut advertising, trying to deceive people into thinking they invented the tavern slice. People try to claim they invented it in 1923 when the tavern opened, but they didn’t start making pizzas until 1947. That’s fraud, Dave. You called them on their mediocrity already. Don’t let people persuade you with gifts to rewrite history.

Wisconsin Put It on the Map: Frozen Pizza Capital of the World

Here’s the big one: tavern-style would’ve stayed a regional bar snack if not for Wisconsin frozen pizza. We didn’t just serve it—we scaled it.

• Tombstone (Medford, 1962) — born in a tavern.
• Jack’s (Little Chute, 1960) — from a garage to America’s freezer aisle.
• DiGiorno (Glendale) — like it or not, it’s the #1 frozen pizza in America today.
• Bernatello’s Foods (Kaukauna) — behind Brew Pub Lotzza Motzza, Bellatoria, Orv’s, Roma, Pizza Corner.
• Palermo’s (Milwaukee) — still cranking out hundreds of thousands daily.

By 2024, a majority market share: DiGiorno 16%, Red Baron 14%, Totino’s 9%, Tombstone 6%. Wisconsin is the one state that can claim multiple top brands under its belt. That’s why we’re called the Frozen Pizza Capital of the World. And Wisconsin eats more frozen pizza per capita than anyone else. Chicago never did that.

Without Wisconsin frozen pizza, tavern-style wouldn’t even be known nationally. That’s our legacy, not Chicago’s.

Follow the Cheese

Here’s the kicker, Dave: even Chicago’s claim to pizza, deep dish or thin, tavern or otherwise, rests on Wisconsin. Where does the vast majority of their cheese come from? Wisconsin. Chicago’s pizzerias are literally propped up by the Dairy State. No Wisconsin cheese, no Chicago pizza. Period.

It’s like trying to claim you invented the bagel but getting all your dough shipped from Brooklyn. You don’t get to rewrite history while living off your neighbor’s supply chain.

Dave, You Owe Wisconsin Too

And let’s get personal: your own frozen pizza brand, One Bite, is made through Barstool’s partnership with Happi Foodi. Who founded Happi Foodi? Sam Rockwell, Justin Samuels, and Jeremy Reich. All graduates of the Wisconsin School of Business in Madison. Possibly also MOTs. Dave, your own pizza owes its roots to Wisconsin, but you’ve only reviewed five places in Milwaukee and six in Madison? And how many dozens of pies have you reviewed in Chicago? Not fair, Dave! You can’t duck this one. By selling your pies, you’re already standing on Wisconsin ground.

The Rivalry You’re Missing

You fired up Michigan–Ohio State this summer. But here’s another rivalry you need to recognize: North vs. South. Wisconsin vs. Illinois. Chicago wants to steal tavern-style the way Ohio tries to steal Michigan’s thunder. Red vs. Blue. You know what side you’re on in Ann Arbor vs. Columbus. Same thing here. Time to root for the right team.

The Jewish Angle

And as a Jew, I see the playbook here. It’s like when anti-Zionists try to call Jesus a Palestinian. Everyone knows he was a Jew from Judea. Same thing with tavern pizza: everyone should know it was born in Wisconsin. Chicago trying to claim it is just another rewrite of history.

And the Jewish connection to pizza goes deeper than people realize. The earliest written use of the word “pizza” comes from an Italian translation of a Jewish term for a type of flatbread, “harara.” Yehuda Romano, a 14th century Hebrew scholar, used the word “pizza” in Hebrew letters for his translation of Maimonides’ term for flatbread. Jews literally carried the term forward in writing before anyone in America had even heard of it.

So when I fight for tavern-style’s roots, I’m not just talking as a Wisconsinite. I’m talking as part of a people who’ve been defending our food, our culture, and our words from being rewritten for centuries.

And let’s not forget: Wisconsin is the Dairy State. We’re literally the holy land of cheese. Cheeses of Nazareth! You can’t get holier than that for a pizza.

So Dave, from one Wolverine to another: give Wisconsin its pizza back. Chicago can keep its soggy deep dish. Tavern-style was born in our bars, perfected in our state, exported from our freezers, built on our cheese, and yes—even baked into your own One Bite pies.

Next time you’re in Wisconsin reviewing a real tavern pizza, I’ll join you, wearing Green Bay Packer’s Cheese-Heads, for a square-cut pie. One bite, everybody knows the rules.

—Dan Singer

Wisconsin born and raised. Now a New Yorker. But a Wisconsin Jew through and through.