Meet the Canadian chef fuelling London's latest obsession: Detroit-style pizza
When award-winning chef Ryan O'Flynn moved to London, England, in 2019, all he wanted was a Michelin star. But as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, nostalgia led him down an unexpected path: a square one topped with airy cloudlike dough, red stripes of killer marinara and a cozy blanket of caramelized cheese.
'You couldn't, for the life of you, find American pizza in London that was honest,' he recalls of the moment he spotted a gap in the market. After analyzing and replicating legendary Detroit-style pies and tinkering with the almost focaccialike dough every day for six weeks straight, he finally had a breakthrough. 'I think it was the most singular thing I've ever done in my life,' O'Flynn states.
Detroit Pizza began life in Battersea in June, 2020, operating out of a rented catering kitchen by a derelict railway and the American Embassy before moving to Spitalfields in 2021. Now, London's finest, abundantly cheesy pies are not made by someone from Motor City but by the Canadian and Gordie Howe, his trusty sourdough starter aptly named after the hockey legend.
It wasn't enough for the former executive chef of Oliver & Bonacini and the Westin Hotel Edmonton to replicate the average American pie using a XLT conveyor belt oven and hefty blue steel pans; he set out to maximize the cheesy potential of every bite using freshly milled flour from the Cotswolds, a minimum 24-hour fermentation and a secret blend of cheeses.
'Gordie doesn't like pesticides. Gordie likes organic, locally grown flour, so we feed Gordie what he likes,' he explains. 'People don't even see how good our dough is because it's hidden underneath the sauce and cheese. If you had a normal pizza with that kind of leoparding on it, you'd be looking at it like, 'This is an amazing New York or Neapolitan pizza.''
Within a month of moving to London's East End, his efforts quickly paid off – word spread to the city's many North American residents, who now returned with their local mates in tow.
'It was so busy,' recalls Courtney Schmitke, O'Flynn's life and business partner. 'Ryan looked at me and was like, 'We created a monster.''
O'Flynn is quick to admit he didn't know what he was getting into when he started this project at the start of the lockdown. 'I thought it was gonna be a hobby and we'd be able to sell the company once everything started back up again,' he explains. 'But the problem is you create something and fall in love with it, then have a hard time parting with it.'
Detroit-style pies, which are baked in well-oiled blue steel pans for that coveted frilly 'frico' cheese crust, gave O'Flynn a canvas to take on cheeseburgers, Hawaiian pizza and dill pickles. 'I could never do Neapolitan pizza,' he says. 'If I'm going to make something, I'm going to break all the rules,' even if half of the Italian patrons coming in don't necessarily approve.
O'Flynn was the first to introduce Londoners to its latest obsession. After its initial obstacles, Detroit Pizza opened a second location in February of last year in Islington, North London. Not too shabby considering the chorus of 'Where's the chips?' from the British audience, who were also hesitant about the wonders of honey on their pepperoni pizza.
This new full-service American-Italian restaurant spans 3,000 square feet, complete with comfy booths to catch all the NBA and NFL action, ice-cold beer and a playful menu featuring everything from all-beef meatballs to deep-fried lasagna. It's also one of the few places to grab a bottle of Moosehead lager from the iconic brewery in the Maritimes, along with A&W root beer. 'That's a little taste of us,' says O'Flynn. 'We sneak some things in.'
As we tuck into some of his reimagined classics on the red-and-white checked tablecloth, it becomes clear that O'Flynn, who has previously headed up top restaurants including Le Gallois in Wales and the Milestone Hotel in London, is hesitant to give too much away – and for good reason. 'We have people stealing our garbage so they can find out what ingredients we are using and stuff like that,' he shares, having never encountered anything like it in his culinary career. 'It's pretty cutthroat, the pizza industry.'
O'Flynn may have jumped across the pond to open a high-end restaurant, but speaking to him now, it doesn't seem like he's missing out. 'If you want to be creative, then definitely fine dining is where it's at, but I found new ways to become creative,' says O'Flynn, talking about lease negotiations for his growing operation, which will soon expand to a retro New York pizza joint in Shoreditch called Paulie's. 'I'm starting to get it; I like the art of the chase. I like winning. So, that's my new passion.'
'I was having a beer and two Arab guys beside me were like, 'You're Detroit Pizza, right? It was fantastic.' And then a homeless guy walking by goes, 'You own Detroit Pizza? I love it.' That was one of the best compliments because we couldn't have had a more diverse group,' he shares. 'When I was in fine dining, no one ever gave me high-fives on the street.'
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