What Makes Quad City-Style Pizza Totally One-Of-A-Kind?
Chicago deep-dish pizza is a well-known pizza style, but Quad City-style pizza from Illinois has also garnered buzz. Quad Cities is the region where Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline in Illinois face Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa (technically, there are five cities). The region's pizza has a unique look and flavor compared to other parts of the country. It starts with a sweeter dough that features malt, and in the case of Harris Pizza — one of the original QC-style joints — it is made with molasses. That dough rises on the thicker side and is usually about a quarter-inch thick but has a softer texture. "Most of the QC-style pizza crusts are a mixture of light, fluffy, and crisp," Eric Ludtke, the owner of Gunchie's Pizza, told KWCQ. Gunchie's has locations in both Davenport and Rock Island.
Besides the thicker crust, the tomato sauce on QC-style pies packs more kick than a typical sauce and is often mixed with red pepper flakes. Fennel sausage is perhaps the most popular for toppings, and the pies are usually covered with an abundance of toppings, as Ludtke mentioned to KWCQ.
Plus, QC-style overloads the mozzarella, but with a twist. The cheese goes on last, after the toppings, as Ryan Mosley, owner of Harris Pizza, told USA Today. Once cooked, QC-style pizzas are uniquely cut.
A different-shaped slice
Instead of using a pizza cutter and cutting the pie into triangle slices, Quad City-style pizza is cut into thin strips. First, the pizza is cut down the middle and then separated into strips on each side, usually with scissors. "So I actually have ... custom-made pizza shears," Ryan Mosley told USA Today. Harris Pizza has been slicing pies in that fashion since the birth of QC-style pizza.
Harris Pizza is known as one of the originators of QC-style pizza, along with Frank's Pizza. Both places opened in the '50s at a time when pizza was just getting started in the Quad Cities region, but neither can agree on which restaurant was the first to start slinging pizzas. Mosley comes from good QC-pizza lineage, as Harris Pizza was opened by his grandparents, Leonard and Mary Harris, who eventually handed over the keys to their grandson.
The person behind another of the region's more famous pizza joints also got their start at Harris Pizza. Clint Doran worked there for 25 years until 1993. After years in the industry, he was offered the opportunity to branch out and open his own spot, Clint's Pizza House, which he ran with his wife. When the couple retired, they gave the business to their son, Brandon Klugger.
Another defining quality of QC-style pizza is that the original taco pizza was made in the Quad Cities.
The first taco pizza was a compromise
The taco pizza was created at Happy Joe's, one of the most popular pizza places in the Quad Cities area. According to the restaurant's founder, Joe Whitty, he made his first taco pizza in 1974. Not wanting to add often-requested tacos to the menu, he compromised by making a taco pizza, as he told The Dispatch in 2004. The pizza became wildly popular and was eventually copied by other restaurants.
QC Pizza is one of the joints that also offers taco pizza. Here, it's topped with sausage that was cooked in taco seasoning. Instead of the traditional mozzarella, cheddar cheese is used. Then lettuce and tomatoes are added and topped with a layer of crushed Doritos. What makes QC Pizza notable is that it offers Quad City-style pizza in Minnesota.
The demand for QC-style pizza has grown over the years, evidenced by the expansion of the pizza style throughout the country. In addition to QC Pizza in Minnesota, multiple QC-style places have sprung up, including Roots Pizza in Chicago and Generations Pizza in Georgia.