Pizza lovers no longer need to travel to Detroit or Windsor to enjoy pies from those regions.
Located in downtown North Bay, Motown Pies offers customers authentic Detroit-style and Windsor-style pizza pies.
“Motown Pies for me is an homage concept for pizza that I experienced in my 20s when I was going to school in Windsor and Detroit. Just something a little different from what everyone is used to in the area” explained owner Ryan Ivy.
“We have our Windsor supreme pie which for that region is shredded pepperoni, something that is very unique,” Ivy stated.
“And it has got to be canned mushrooms, that is what they use down in Windsor for their pies. Canned mushrooms hold up very well to heat, they keep their hydration and green olives. So that is a very specific region supreme.”
The flagship pizza at Motown Pies is their Detroit-style pizza pie.
“Which is a deep-dish pizza that uses a very high-fat cheese, with the sauce on top. It is a little tough for people to comprehend until it is in front of them, but it is a very awesome, awesome pizza,” said Ivy about the pizza he described as “filling.”
“The Detroit style only comes in one size. It is a rectangle. It may look small, but it feeds two people. That high-fat cheese is super filling. Even myself as a kind of hefty guy, I can only get through half a pie before I start looking for a couch to take a nap on,” laughed Ivy.
Windsor-style pizzas are roughly 14 inches in size.
“That is your traditional cheese wheels if you will. We also have a New York style that we started doing recently which is a 16-to-18-inch pie, kind of bigger slices. It is a kind of floppy Ninja Turtle-style pie, those big kind of New York larger-than-life slices that you fold over, and are portable to walk around with. The kind of style you see from that region” grinned Ivy.
The thickness of the crust depends on the style of pizza.
“The deep dish is a little thicker, a little heftier. I would say that the Windsor style is a medium crust, and the New York is a very thin crust. There is nothing mechanical in the turning of our dough,” Ivy explained.
“I would say the composition of our dough is very unique. I do a very high yeast dough. It is all hand-turned with really great flour, and the flavour of it is great. A lot of people say they don’t even need dippers for the crust, it is that good. We brush all of our crust with garlic butter when they come out of the oven as well. It is just a little detail that makes all the difference.”
Customers also have the option of choosing their own ingredients.
“We’ve got most of your usual ones. We use real bacon, pepperoni, and andouille sausage, which is kind of a Creole southern sausage. It has a little bit more smoke to it than normal sausages. It is a really nice sausage. It is one that I prefer.”
Pineapple pizza lovers are in for something a little different.
“We don’t use ham. We use pulled pork actually, that is our preferred pork, so our Hawaiian is a little different. We do a barbecued pulled pork Hawaiian that is pulled pork, pineapple, red onions, and banana peppers. It is a really a nice little treat.”
Motown Pies opened just a few months ago, and while it is focusing on its pizza pies, there are other menu options including salads.
“As far as your garlic breads go, we have pizza rolls which are kind of like cinnamon rolls but done up like pizza, so those are pretty unique. We have your garlic bread sticks, and we also have garlic fingers which is like a Haligonian garlic cheese bread. And we offer wings. Stuff you’ll find at your typical pizzeria, you’ll generally find here.”
Motown Pies is located at 170 Oak Street East, with entry gained off Oak Street through the back door at Lou Dawg’s.
“You can actually sit in at Lou Dawg’s and order pizzas as well. So, we do full service to the table at Lou Dawg’s. That is the good thing about sharing a building and a back door with another restaurant. We’re able to partner with it and be able to offer full service as well,” Ivy explained.
Motown Pies is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
To find out more about its food options, and to find out how to order, visit motownpies.com
This is Ivy’s first pizza shop as a restaurateur.
“One of my dreams was to open up a pizza place especially pizza from a region that I became so fond of in my 20s.”
Ivy is pleased by the positive response.
“The community has been super supportive. Everyone who loves it can appreciate the fact that they’re great, solid pizzas, made with great ingredients,” explained Ivy.
“I’m not trying to compete with any of the traditional kind of offerings. I’m just offering an alternative, a really great pie that is different from anything around here.”
