If you read my post on Detroit Style Pizza restaurants, you may have noticed that Shield's Pizza was conspicuously omitted. To remedy that situation, I have devoted this entire post to my recent experience at Shield's. Although I have known about Shield's Pizza for over 40 years, I had not eaten there until recently. I have nothing against this chain (which claims to have been established in 1946 - same year as Buddy's), but I have simply never had anyone recommend this pizza over the others in Detroit such as Buddy's, Loui's, Cloverleaf or Detroit Style Pizza Company. Therefore, I had previously made little effort to dine there. Once many years ago, I found myself sitting in the run down pothole-ridden parking lot of one of their older locations and I saw only two cars in the parking lot and thought, "I'm not gonna spend any of my Detroit Style Pizza calorie budget today on a place with only two cars in the lot." So, at the time, we went elsewhere.
During a recent trip to the D, I noticed Shield's had opened a location on Woodward Ave in the Maccabees Building which is located in the trendy Midtown area on the Wayne State University campus. I decided it was time to visit and weigh in.
The location is great. There is plenty of dining room and bar seating and there is an outdoor seating area right next to the entrance. Parking may be a challenge on a busy weekend evening. But if you are otherwise visiting Midtown attractions such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, Shinola Store, Third Man Records, one of several nearby hospitals or even the Motown Museum less than 2 miles away, this Shield's location might be a good stop.
I loved the Detroit memorabilia on the walls including a giant Detroit style pizza pan circa 1951, newspaper clippings from the 1930s, 40s, 60s and 80s when the Detroit Tigers won the World Series. a collection of gloves thrown at umpires at the former Briggs Stadium, three bases from Briggs Stadium, Navin Field and Tiger Stadium and finally, photos of former Green Bay Packers player (1951-54) and professional wrestler, "Dick the Bruiser" and boxer Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns. Seeing this stuff was worth the visit, irrespective of the food.
We arrived around 4pm on a Wednesday in August and the dining room was not busy at all. The menu contained the usual array of Detroit Style Pizzas with various topping combinations. I ordered the Shield's Super (Supreme) with Canadian bacon, mushrooms, pepperoni, green peppers and onions. An 8-Square was $23. I also ordered an individual antipasto salad for $8 and a Labatt Blue for $4.00. I was splitting the pizza and salad with my mom, but I knew that we would have some leftover pizza (which makes for excellent breakfast fare after a night in the fridge). I was impressed that I could get a cold glass of my favorite Canadian pilsner for only $4 because in my opinion, this is simply the best beer to accompany any Detroit Style Pizza at any price.
The antipasto salad contained iceberg lettuce, brick cheese, black olives, cucumbers, ham, salami, pepperoncini peppers and cheese. The dressing was an oil and vinegar mixture, heavy on the vinegar. The salad was OK, but I thought the cucumbers on this salad were just weird and although the menu description included tomatoes, there were none on my salad.
The pizza was brought to our table about 15 minutes after we ordered, which I thought was a little long but not an unreasonable timeframe. The pie looked awesome. Clearly, Shield's bakes their pizza with the sauce on, but the edges were crispy and crunchy with a nicely caramelized bark.
Mike's Bites
Based on this experience, I found the best part of Shield's pizza to be the crust. On my pizza, the crust was perfect. The dough and brick cheese combined to form the crunchy, crispy, cheesy edges that are the hallmark of Detroit Style Pizza.
Unfortunately, I did not get the usual flavor profile from their brick cheese. The menu clearly says they use brick cheese in multiple places. However, they may be using a different variety or mix from what you would find at the other places. It looked and melted like brick, but in a blind taste test, I would be hard-pressed to pick this brick cheese out of a lineup. The toppings and cheese were liberally applied and overall, the quality of the pizza was really good.
Not to be a buzzkill, but the part of the Shield's pizza I did not like was the sauce. The sauce was sweet insofar as it tasted to me like they added sugar to the tomatoes. Some restaurants do this to counterbalance the acids in the tomatoes. To me, the natural acidity and sweetness found in San Marzano tomatoes create the perfect balance without adding more sugar. These tasted more like California tomatoes from Stanislaus or Escalon to me. As you probably know, I think San Marzanos are the perfect flavor to put on melted Wisconsin Brick Cheese. Although, the overall flavors of this pizza from Shield's were good, I felt the recipe and ingredients could use a few tweaks to achieve the realm of Detroit Style excellence.
All of this said, the Shield's Super was very good. But I must add that if I am given a choice between Shield's, Buddy's (there is a Buddy's exactly 1.9 miles down Woodward at Witherell St. and Broadway), Loui's in Hazel Park, Cloverleaf in East Pointe or the Detroit Style Pizza Co in St. Clair Shores, I would opt for any of these other places first, unless they happened to be closed.
Something else to note that you don't find at many other Detroit Style Pizza establishments is a round hand-tossed pizza. So, Shield's has that along with burgers, ribs, salmon, lasagna, lemon chicken, chicken parmesan, meatballs, several sandwiches and more. The menu is really too big. It's hard to see exactly how they can be great at all of the things on the menu, especially when they are supposed to be known as a Detroit Style Pizza joint.
The most intriguing thing I noticed that will have to wait until next time was a JL Hudson salad. The JL Hudson salad was a thing around Detroit. You could get it in the restaurant at the old JL Hudson department stores back in the day. But alas, Hudson's was overtaken and rebranded as Marshall Fields and eventually Macy’s. The downtown Hudson's department store, which was the tallest department store in the world until the early 1960s, was imploded in 1998. History aside, the Hudson salad was a damn good salad. It contains mixed greens, ham, turkey, swiss, dill pickles, hard boiled eggs and creamy Maurice dressing (named after the chef who created this delicious salad). When I come back, I will try the JL Hudson salad.
Have you been to Shield's Pizza in Detroit? Let me know your experience.
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