Ohio Valley–style pizza is a pizza made with cold toppings sprinkled over a square crust that has been covered with a sweet tomato sauce. It originated in Steubenville, Ohio and is served in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, mostly in and near the Ohio Valley region of those states.
Ohio Valley–style pizza was invented in Steubenville, Ohio, by Primo DiCarlo when he returned to the United States after serving in World War II.[1] DiCarlo had eaten pizza in Italy during the war, and attempted to recreate it in the United States. In 1945 he opened the Original DiCarlo's Famous Pizza Shop with his parents Michael and Caroline,[2] Italian immigrants who had opened up bakeries in Ohio and California.[3] Their shop was the first licensed pizza restaurant in Ohio.[4] They opened a second location in Wheeling, West Virginia,[5] four years later.[6] They subsequently opened locations in Weirton, Glen Dale, and Wellsburg, West Virginia.[7] A 1949 article in the Wheeling News Register described their pizza as "an Italian bread dough base garnished with a sauce of tomatoes, parsley and green peppers that's seasoned with oregano, served with anchovies, cheese, pepperoni or mushrooms."[5]
The pizza is known for its distinctive cold toppings which are added after the pizza is cooked. It was nicknamed "The Poor Man's Cheesecake" in the 1940s.[8] In 2018, DiCarlo said he did not remember why the pizza was originally prepared that way but speculated that it may have been to avoid burning the toppings.[2] The style became a part of local cuisine in Ohio and West Virginia,[9][7] and was replicated by several other chains.[10][11] However, its method of preparation is polarizing,[12] and it has been negatively compared to Lunchables.[5][13][14]
Ohio Valley pizza is characterized by a square crust topped with sweet sauce and baked in a rectangular sheet pan[4] at around 550 degrees Fahrenheit.[15] The sauce used on an Ohio Valley–style pizza is typically a sweet,[9] lightly seasoned tomato sauce made with green bell peppers, oregano and olive oil. The sauce may be cooked or uncooked before spreading.[5]
It is removed halfway through baking and topped with additional sauce and small amounts of cheese.[8] The cooked pizza is then topped with cold ingredients including shredded Provolone cheese and often pepperoniorbanana peppers.[3][16] The cheese melts slightly due to the heat of the pizza but the other toppings remain uncooked.[9][7]
The pizza is cut into square slices,[17] and served by the slice.[9] Some restaurants allow customers to purchase additional shredded cheese in a bag to sprinkle on top of their pizza.[18]
