Detroit-style Pizza Invasion: Taglio

When Taglio, the Columbia-Tusculum pizzeria, first opened in 2016, I was skeptical they'd be able to pull off a successful New York-style pizzeria here. Sure, the place is owned by the same guys who brought us A Tavola in Over-the-Rhine and Madeira, but the space was quite small, with limited seating, and mostly focused on to-go orders.

How things have changed.

A couple months ago, Taglio expanded their space, overtaking the quickly-defunct Sidekix Asian Grill rice bowl takeaway. The expansion allows Taglio to showcase an ample central bar and space for more than 60 people overall. It may actually be larger now than either of its two A Tavola sister restaurants.

The menu has expanded as well: they now offer both New York and Detroit-style pizzas, nine hot and cold Italian hero sandwich variants, five salads, a salumi board, ten signature pizzas and many build-your-own options. La Grassa, a Madeira-based gelateria and coffeehouse, partners with Taglio to feature three gelato flavors for dessert.

We've visited Taglio several times over its two-year existence, most recently enjoying their new heftier pizza variant: Detroit style. I was first exposed to this style only recently. Detroit-style pizza is a product of post-World War II Sicilian ingenuity; its thick, crispy, crusty, cheesy, doughy squares will no doubt seem reminiscent of heftier Chicago-style pizzas. But Detroit-style is uniquely brick-shaped, with especially pleasing, crunchy corner pieces. Taglio has smartly adopted this popular pizza style, as so few pizzerias in the area serve it. And just as Madeira's A Tavola is the place to go for Roman-style pizza, Taglio is your new, best local Detroit-style haven.

New York-style deluxe

What we remember most about Taglio's original space and pizza was that we were only so-so on the New York-style deluxe we'd ordered back in 2016. It tasted quite good piping hot, but because we'd ordered so much, there were plenty of leftovers. Unfortunately, New York-style pizzas don't seem to hold up very well in the fridge. That's disappointing, because few things are more enjoyable than waking up to good cold pizza in the morning, and it's an anomaly when you stumble upon one that isn't up to par. This didn't make Taglio's pizza bad per se --it just meant that we were now mindful to order only smaller pizzas and not leave leftovers.

Because half-and-half orders are permitted, we were able to try both the pepperoni/"hot honey" combo and the spinach and ricotta on one 14-inch signature pizza, Detroit-style ($19). The pepperoni/hot honey side is topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, basil parmigiano reggiano and "Mike's hot honey," a NYC-based, chili pepper-infused condiment. The other side featured tomato sauce, fresh spinach, garlic, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses.

Arriving as a prodigiously intimidating rectangular slab, Detroit-style pizza gets high marks as an instant conversation piece. The conversation usually starts off with, "Holy shit," and ends with "Mmdkdkdkffkkdkd...dis..es..fuckenn good."

Detroit-style pizza

Just as there are people who swear by the crispy brownie corner pieces, so will there be die-hard Detroit-style corner slice lovers. But there's also something to be said for the doughier, equally substantial middle pieces: they still sport one crispy end and tend to have a higher concentration of sauce and toppings.

While it was a close match, I would say my favorite was the pepperoni/hot honey variant. The spicy, sweet-and-savory combination with the crispy-edged slices of toasty pepperoni slices was immensely satisfying. The spinach and ricotta was my girlfriend's favorite, as it had a milder, cooler and refreshing flavor profile that somehow made the carb-dense mounds of crispy bread seem less sinful.

Italian hero

On a subsequent visit, we dined on a couple of hero sandwiches, each served on fresh, 16 Bricks ciabatta bread and slathered with Italian giardiniera relish. While my girlfriend chose the Turkey ($11) with provolone, romaine, tomato and Italian dressing, I opted for the classic Italian hero ($13), filled with layers of genoa salami, deliciously fatty mortadella, provolone, peppadew tapenade, romaine, onion, tomato, Italian dressing and mayo. Both sandwiches were substantial and tasty.

The duo behind A Tavola have once again provided Cincinnati another successful pizzeria with a unique personality all its own.