Once-Popular Pizza Styles That Are Slowly Disappearing

In a world that's constantly creating new kinds of comfort food, pizza remains a constant classic. While the dish we know today has its roots in 17th-century Naples, it wasn't until the late 19th century that it landed in the U.S. Needless to say, we haven't stopped doling out cheesy, greasy slices — and inventing new ways to do so — in the years since.

The thing about pizza is that it's far more diverse than we give it credit for. While at its core, it's always some kind of tantalizing combo of bread and toppings, it's the way we stack these toppings (and what we stack them on) that gives each style of pizza its unique allure. Over the years, local communities have curated their own takes on the dish. Some, like New York and Chicago deep dish, have withstood the test of time. Others, however, have been slightly less lucky.

While it's a stretch to say that the following styles of pizza are extinct, they've definitely dipped in popularity in recent times. Food trends come and go — and there's always every chance that they'll resurface again in the future. But for now, it feels like these pizza styles are on their way out.

The confusing thing about Sicilian pizza is that there's more than one definition. Odds are, if someone references Sicilian pizza in the U.S., it means the style popularized in New York City with a thick, square crust and copious amounts of mozzarella. The kind that originates from actual Sicily — which was traditionally called "sfincione" – uses a spongy base, similar to focaccia or brioche, which is then topped with a tomato sauce, breadcrumbs, and a hard cheese.

It's the latter version that's arguably fallen out of fashion in recent years. There was a time when sfincione was traditionally prepared for Christmas Eve or an engagement party, and the dish also surged in popularity during the initial years after World War II, thanks to the return of soldiers stationed in Sicily. These days, you can track down pizzas marketed as Sicilian with relative ease, but the odds of these pies actually matching the traditional description are thin on the ground. If you're on the hunt for an authentic Sicilian experience, keep an eye out for a "Grandpa slice," which is the nickname given to the pizza in the Long Island area (which is famously home to a large Italian-American population).

Anybody who grew up in the late 20th century can attest to the fact that French bread pizza was one of the quintessential comfort foods of the era. Nothing defines the post-school snacks of the 1990s quite like trying not to burn the roof of your mouth on a Stouffer's French bread pizza cooked straight from the freezer. Stouffer's didn't have a monopoly on French bread pizza, but the history of the two are closely intertwined, with the style taking off in popularity after Stouffer's launched its frozen version in 1974 to play into the growing use of pizza ovens.

We'll be the first to admit that we're still partial to a DIY French bread pizza when the cravings strike. However, its cultural significance has definitely taken a dip since the 1990s. While it was easier to find plenty of varieties in grocery stores back in the day, options now are considerably more limited, with customers also complaining that their favorite options have long since been discontinued.

When you grow up in the birthplace of a regional pizza style, you're hardwired to believe that it is the only acceptable way to ever bake a pie. New Yorkers will ride or die for their New York slices, while you'd be hard-pressed to find a Chicagoan who wouldn't go to bat over the superiority of a deep dish. The one exception to the rule may be a St. Louis-style pizza, which today divides even those raised under its rule.

Defined by its extremely thin and crispy square crust and use of Provel cheese, St. Louis-style pizza is most famously found at Imo's Pizza. The concept came to be courtesy of Amedeo Fiore, a retired singer who opened an Italian restaurant in the city with his wife in 1945. His über-thin crusts soon started racking up attention, with the pizza style eventually becoming so popular that it set a new city-wide precedent and birthed the concept we know (but don't always seem to like) today. For every St. Louis native like actor Jon Hamm, who once defended the pizza style as tasting "like 11 World Series victories" when confronted by lifelong hater Jimmy Kimmel, (via St. Louis Riverfront Times), you'll today find locals apologizing for its very existence. It also racked up just 2% of the vote in a YouGov poll assessing America's favorite pizza styles.

If you looked at the crust alone, a California-style pizza would be virtually indistinguishable from your average New York-style pizza. What sets California-style pizza apart from the herd is innovative topping combos that typically draw on ingredients found in Californian cuisine. It was this approach that helped popularize the creatively-named California Pizza Kitchen, with its Original BBQ Chicken, California Club, and Carne Asada pizzas all serving as perfect examples of the style.

But in recent years, California Pizza Kitchen — which we previously ranked as one of the best pizza restaurants — has struggled to keep up with some of its competitors. In 2020, the chain filed for bankruptcy. While it's bounced back slightly since, it's still shuttered multiple locations across the U.S., dropping from 168 at the end of 2021 to 148 at the end of 2023. For whatever reason, it also seems like people don't feel quite as warm towards California-style pizza right now as they do others. A 2023 survey by YouGov found that only 8% of people consider it their favorite kind of pizza, raising red flags in our eyes for the style's longevity.

Colorado-style pizza, often called a mountain pie, is typically sold by the pound and made with a thick, braided crust that uses honey instead of sugar. As if that's not sweet enough, the pizza is then served with a side of honey. Conceived by Pete ZaPigh, founder of Beau Jo's, at his restaurant in Idaho Springs, the pizza proved so popular that it led to the opening of multiple other locations throughout Colorado.

While this wonderfully sweet and dense pizza has never reached the same dizzying heights of success as the likes of New York or Chicago-style pizza, it's always had a core fanbase in its local area. This fanbase remains strong enough to operate seven Beau Jo's locations across Colorado as of January 2025, but several of its former locations have closed over the years. The mountain pie love is also not quite strong enough nowadays to establish Colorado style as the state's official favorite kind of pizza. As per a study by The Washington Post, Detroit style is actually the No. 1 pizza preference for Coloradans.

Long before there were debates over tavern-style or thin crust, or the moral quandary of putting pineapple on a pizza, there was a far simpler era of pizza that we like to call the time of the tomato pie. A precursor to modern-day pizza, this uses a focaccia-like dough, slathered with tomato sauce. While similar to sfincione, the tomato pie rarely features toppings — and, if it does, keeps them to a minimum — beyond perhaps a sprinkle of parmesan, forgoes the breadcrumbs, and is usually served cold.

Primarily found in Philadelphia, Rhode Island, and Utica, New York, nobody can quite decide where tomato pie got its start. One thing that does seem certain is that it came courtesy of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. Often considered America's first pizza, you can see the influence of tomato pie on other styles today, such as Chicago-style pizzas. You can also find actual tomato pie if you look hard enough. However, on the whole, the style is no longer as prevalent as it once was. Even surviving restaurants that once sold the dish — such as O'Scugnizzo Pizzeria, which only offered tomato pie when it opened in 1914 — have moved on to sell what we would today consider standard pizza.

White pizza — or, as some people call it, white pie – differentiates itself from regular pizza by using alternatives for its sauce instead of tomato. These alternatives can differ but often involve different kinds of white cheese, such as ricotta, Alfredo, or béchamel sauce as its sauce instead of the typical tomato sauce. These creamy bases can transform a pizza's flavor profile and typically serve as a backdrop for stronger cheeses.

Back in the 1980s, white pizzas slotted into a wave of quality-focused innovation that saw consumers embrace the likes of alternative cheeses, wholewheat crusts, and quirky veggie toppings on their pies. Fast forward several decades, however, and the tide seems to have turned on white pizza. While some people still respect its simplicity, others have blasted it for not qualifying as real pizza. It's also long since been established that skipping the tomato sauce in favor of a white pizza may not offer much more in terms of health benefits or quality due to the extra cheese and oil.

Considering the fact that New York is supposedly home to the world's best pizza, life was never going to be easy for a pizza style living in its shadow. Buffalo-style pizza heralds from over 300 miles beyond the Big Apple and has never quite managed to go mainstream in the same way as New York-style pizza and its hand-tossed, thin-crust finish. The pizza style lies somewhere between a thick and a thin crust and uses a sweeter tomato sauce, excessive amounts of mozzarella, and cup-and-char pepperoni. Thanks to its small size and thickness, the latter has a tendency to curl and burn slightly in the corners during the baking process, in turn allowing grease to gather in each cup.

Unfortunately, while Buffalo-style pizza is a favorite for those actually from Buffalo, its lack of widespread appeal means it's slightly more limited in its longevity than some of its rival styles. Its availability is mostly confined to Buffalo itself, with few establishments offering the style elsewhere. To add insult to injury, Buffalo-style pizza also failed to rank in YouGov's breakdown of America's favorite pizza styles in 2023 (which put New York-style pizza in first place).