Argue with the wall, Milwaukee-style pizza is a thing, and it’s been a thing for over 80 years.
The city’s style of pizza is unique, with extra-crispy, mere millimeter-thick crusts made of low-hydration dough. To achieve that thin crust, Milwaukee pizzerias use machines to roll the dough, which has the added effect of turning large pies into big, rounded rectangles.
The sauce is rich, sweet and tangy, often flavored with garlic and oregano. The pies are very cheesy, too, no doubt due to the city’s appetite for dairy.
But the hallmark of a Milwaukee pie is how well it goes down with beer. Crispy, salty and cut into snackable squares, they are the perfect partner for a pint and give tavern-goers a reason to order another drink.
There’s one combination of toppings ordered the most by Milwaukeeans: sausage, mushrooms and onions. The union of savory mushrooms, aromatic Italian sausage and sweet onions is so popular it’s often just called the “The SMO” or “The Special.”
There’s no shortage of great pizzerias in Milwaukee, but here are some of the tastiest and most storied Milwaukee-style pies that the city has to offer.
Caradaro Club
5010 W. Vliet St.
When Caradaro Club opened in Milwaukee’s Third Ward in 1945, pizza wasn’t on the menu. Few Milwaukeeans back then would have even known about the Italian food craze that was taking other cities by storm.
That was until owners John Caravella, born to immigrant parents from Naples, Italy; and Joe Todaro, a Sicilian immigrant, visited Chicago, where they tried the thin-crust tavern-style pie that was becoming popular in the city.
When the Caradaro owners brought pizza to Milwaukee, it was a success and caught on inside the city’s taverns, who discovered that pizza made the perfect bar snack.
The original Caradaro Club on Erie Street burned down in 1978. It moved around a few times before settling into its current Washington Heights home in a building with a massive coffee cup on the roof.
The restaurant changed hands a few times over the years, at one point passing ownership to former Calderone Club owner Antonio Fazzari. Today Wally Kutch, a former pilot with a passion for pizza, owns the joint.
The pie it serves may be a relic of Milwaukee pizzas past, but the recipe still holds up. According to Kutch, the crust is only 1.5 millimeters thick, and it holds up to the weight of peppery and fennel-forward Italian sausage, sweet-tart tomato sauce and just the right amount of cheese.
Hours: 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 4 p.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday, 4-9 p.m. Sunday
More information: Delivery available. (414) 476-7700, caradaroclubpizza.com
Calderone Club
842 N. King Drive
When Antonio Fazzari opened Calderone Club in 1983, he did so while holding onto the recipes and techniques he had learned at Caradaro. His son Giorgio “Gino” Fazzari runs the place today and is committed to making pizzas the same way.
Gino has a sincere passion for Milwaukee-style pizza. He’s the owner of the neighboring Neapolitan pizzeria San Giorgio’s, but the pizzaiolo said he finds the Cream City pie just as complex and beautiful as the ones from Naples.
Just like the original Caradaro pie, Calderone’s pizzas are rectangular, and the oblong crust is rolled to just a few millimeters thick. It’s topped with sweet, tangy tomato sauce and one of the best cheeses for a pizza: mozzarella from Grande Cheese Co. in Fond Du Lac.
All the toppings on the SMO are fresh. The sausage is never precooked, the mushrooms are never canned, and the onions are freshly chopped. The original recipe for this pie is simple, so the quality ingredients are what make it a delicious time capsule of Milwaukee’s pizza history.
Hours: 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
More information: Reservations available on OpenTable. (414) 273-3236, calderoneclub.net
Lisa’s Pizza
2961 N. Oakland Ave.
With its carpeted floors, hanging Tiffany lamps and quaint bar, the dining room at Lisa’s is dripping with red-sauce Italian charm. Brothers Joseph and Michael Bongiorno founded the joint in 1960, and Hannah O’Hara and Dean Rein took over from the Bongiorno family in 2024.
They’ve kept things mostly the same, but they have taken steps to make things more consistent.
“Before it was like a handful of this, a handful of that, all based on … feel,” O’Hara said. The recipes have been formalized now, and cooks weigh everything and all the recipes have been formalized.
Lisa’s recipe features a cracker-thin crust dry enough to carry ample sauce, cheese and toppings. This pie gets plenty of time in the oven for the crust to turn deep-brown — thin-crust pies are always best just shy of well-done.
The cheese doesn’t go edge-to-edge on this pie, which might not be everyone’s thing, but I like it. Edge pieces have more sweet sauce, while the interior slices are abundant with sausage, mushrooms and onions melting into the surplus of cheese.
Lisa’s also does Detroit-style pizza. The crust has an airy crumb with a distinctive malty flavor from the Pabst Blue Ribbon beer infused in the dough. It’s hard to find good Detroit-style pizza around Milwaukee, but the one at Lisa’s is just as good as its thin-crust.
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
More information: Delivery available beginning at 4 p.m. daily. Online ordering available. (414) 332-6360, lisaspizzamke.com
Zaffiro’s Pizza
1724 N. Farwell Ave.
Zaffiro’s is an east-side institution steeped in Milwaukee-style pizza history. Liborio “Bobby” Zaffiro opened the restaurant on North Farwell Avenue in 1954, the same year the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee opened nearby. Just as it welcomed the influx of pizza-hungry college students, the restaurant watched the neighborhood change from a community of predominantly Polish and Italian families to a hub for hippies and the site of rapid commercial growth.
Through it all, Zaffiro’s stayed the same, serving its tavern-style pizza that pushes thin-crust to its limit.
Just a few millimeters of dough hold up the sweet sauce, cheese and SMO. It’s no easy task as Zaffiro’s doesn’t skimp on any element. To achieve a razor-thin crust, the restaurant par-bakes its pie before dressing it.
This pizza is at its best when the perimeter is just short of incinerated; the crispy cheese is sheened with a layer of salty, orange oil; and the charred crust has an addictively sharp snap with each bite.
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Thursday to Tuesday
More information: Delivery available 9 a.m.-10 p.m. (414) 289-8776, zaffirospizza.com
Balistreri’s Italian-American Ristorante
812 N. 68th St., Wauwatosa
Jim Balistreri worked at Caradaro Club in the ’50s and brought the recipe for the original thin-crust Milwaukee-style pizza to this cozy neighborhood joint that opened in 1968, extending the Caradaro Club family tree to Wauwatosa.
Its sister location, Balistreri’s Bluemond Inn, opened some years later. The Bluemound restaurant is more supper club than pizza joint, but you can find the same pizza recipe on its menu.
It’s clear that Balistreri’s pie was inspired by Caradaro’s: same oblong, thinly rolled crust, same sweet-tart sauce, same sprinkle of oregano over the top and, as far as I could taste, the same cheese.
Balistreri’s is not without its own identity, though. The menu is filled with decades-old family recipes, the walls are covered in old family photos, newspaper clippings about the restaurant and shelves filled with empty wine bottles and antique beer steins. The atmosphere is as charming and nostalgic as the food it serves.
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2-9 p.m. Sunday
More information: Reservations available for lunch only. (414) 475-1414, balistreris.com
Vinchi’s Pizza
3158 S. Howell Ave., inside The Bubbler bar
Located inside The Bubbler bar, Vinchi’s is Milwaukee’s best-kept pizza secret. Opened in 1996, and moved inside the Bay View watering hole in 2012, this pizzeria isn’t as historic as others on this list, but I’d be remiss to not include this legendary Milwaukee-style pie.
Vinchi’s also takes its pizzas further into well-done territory. This produces a crunchier, lightly charred crust, topped with caramelized cheese glossed in pork fat rendered from the lightly browned Italian sausage. The mushrooms and onions develop a greater depth of flavor, too, losing enough water to not slide off the pie in a wet mess.
Vinchi’s has a small kitchen, so it can take up to an hour for a pizza to come out. But the longer wait gives you time to enjoy a drink inside this homey neighborhood dive. If you can’t wait, make sure to order “Vinchi’s Favorite,” a pungent, cheesy garlic bread that will keep your hunger at bay.
Hours: 4-9 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, 4-8 p.m. Sunday
More information: Cash only. Delivery available. (414) 384-8040
Ned’s Pizza
3246 S. 27th St.
Ned Hewitt founded Ned’s Pizza on the city’s north side in 1959. After 10 years of ownership, he fell ill and franchised his locations. Only the South 27th Street location, owned by Bob Mayer and Don Strack, endured as the last remnant of the old-school thin-crust pizzeria.
Ned’s pizza deviates from other Milwaukee pies by drying its crusts on cardboard. This technique results in a strong, cracker-like crust that holds up better to heavy toppings.
The step is absolutely necessary with a Ned’s pizza, as it has rich, flavorful sauce, molten cheese, and toppings in abundance. The highlight of this pie is the sausage, which packs in more fennel flavor than most on this list.
Ned’s ditched its dining room post-COVID and switched to all carryout and delivery, but that hasn’t kept loyalists from trickling in to snag a slice of history.
Hours: 3-9 p.m. Monday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday to Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday
More information: Delivery and online ordering available. (414) 645-2400, nedspizzarestaurant.com
Maria’s Pizza
5025 W. Forest Home Ave.
Maria’s pies defy many Milwaukee-style pizza rules. The dough is stretched fresh-to-order into a large, rounded rectangle, and the edges puff up and char like a Neapolitan pie. Maria’s also uses a brighter, fresher sauce than other joints. It’s a little less cheesy than other Milwaukee pies, too, so the fresh dough stands a chance against the weight of the ingredients.
The result is a massive, oblong pie that eats lighter than you’d expect; I could see myself finishing a large pie on an empty stomach.
But its delicious idiosyncrasies don’t disqualify it from this list. It earned its spot due to its thin, dry crust, square slices, and decades-old history in the city.
Maria’s has been open since 1957. Owner Bonnie Crivello, daughter of founder Maria Traxel, closed the restaurant in 2022, but it reopened under new ownership in early 2024.
New owner Brian Francis hasn’t changed a thing, slinging the same historic pizzas into the same eclectic dining room that reflects the uniqueness of Maria’s pie. The restaurant is illuminated by stained glass lamps and holiday lights that hang from the dark red ceiling. Wood-paneled walls are covered in newspaper clippings, old photographs and so many pictures of Jesus.
Maria’s is a weird place, and I love it.
Hours: 4-9 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, noon-7 p.m. Sunday
More information: Online ordering available for carryout. (414) 543-4606, mariaspizzamke.com
Editor’s note: This story was updated to provide the correct location of Caradaro Club, which is in Washington Heights.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Some of the best Milwaukee-style pizzerias keep history alive
Reporting by Joey Schamber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Joey Schamber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
