One Midwestern Regional Pizza's Topping Style Has People Divided

It's easy to say "don't knock it 'til you try it," about food, but fair-minded sayings don't really come into play when it comes to the internet and pizza. Unique pizza toppings and offbeat mixtures are usually the biggest source of judgement, so if you post a proud shot of your homemade pizza topped with corn or pineapple, prepare for a swarm of people to descend and inform you that you're doing it wrong and that their Italian grandmothers are rolling in their graves. But, there is one pizza style in the U.S. that confounds as much as it angers people who've never actually had it before: The little-known Ohio Valley-style pizza. 

It seems like every year we're introduced to a new regional American style of pizza that most people have never heard of, and it's easy to be dubious about how "authentic" these local delicacies are. But Ohio Valley-style pizza is very much a real, distinctive thing. Unlike most pizza, which is primarily defined by the crust, what sets Ohio Valley-style apart is that the cheese and the toppings both go on cold after the crust and sauce are already cooked. 

The crust itself is a crunchy, medium-thickness square cut, not too dissimilar from the "grandma" pizzas of the New York area. While the residual heat from the pizza will melt the cheese a bit, fresh slices of Ohio Valley-style offer an ostensibly strange hot/cold flavor combo that truly stands alone among America's many different, varied pizza styles.

While some regional pizzas have people fighting over who originated them, Ohio Valley has a definitive origin story. This unique pizza style was first served at DiCarlo's in Steubenville, Ohio, a riverside town on the West Virginia border that gave the style its eventual name. Founder Primo DiCarlo had eaten pizza in Italy during World War II, and he strove to recreate it back home. The first DiCarlo's opened in 1945, and later expanded around the region, spawning many imitators. While it's unclear why Primo made the pizza this way in the first place, the story goes that he didn't have a proper pizza oven, and by the time his thicker crusts were crispy on the bottom the cheese on top would be burned. 

Many people hate the very idea of this pizza, and photos of it don't always help. Ohio Valley-style is a regular guest on the popular Reddit subreddit r/PizzaCrimes, where it's frequently mocked by users quipping, for example, "So it's basically a lunchable? Who chooses this?" and "This is hands down the worst thing I've ever seen on this sub." Ohio Valley-style pizza is often compared to another Ohio specialty that people love to hate: Cincinnati's skyline chili. But those who actually try it sing a different tune. 

In another Reddit thread, locals and others who have experienced Ohio Valley-style pizza defended it. As one user enthused, "Don't knock it until you've tried it. The crust and sauce are amazing, and if you leave the box closed for a bit the residual heat will melt the cheese." The extra crispy pizza crust in particular is widely praised. Local spots have even put their own twists on the formula too, like using grated cheese.