Maryland-Style Pizza Is Sweet & Smoky: How It Differs From Other Pies

American regional pizza is getting more attention with the growing popularity of Detroit-style pizza, old-school New Haven and New York styles, and Chicago's deep dish and tavern styles. With this new focus, people are starting to highlight some of the lesser-known regional pizzas. Pizzas like St. Louis' cracker-thin crust with Provel cheese and the controversial Altoona-style, which uses American cheese, are getting more notice, for better or for worse. One little-talked-about pizza we find intriguing is Maryland-style.

Maryland-style pizza differentiates itself with a sweeter variation than simple tomato sauce and smoked provolone cheese atop a rectangular, pastry-like crust. The style originated at Ledo Pizza in 1955. Now a chain with over 100 locations, the first was in Adelphi, MD, just outside of Washington, D.C.. You can find the style at other pizzerias in the area, centered in Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

People debate over what makes this pie unique. Its thin, pastry-like take on crust is certainly non-standard, giving it more of a French flatbread feel. Sweet pizza sauce isn't anything new, but it is rather uncommon. Smoked provolone is also not unheard of as a topping. Put it all together, though, and it's distinctly Marylander.

The Maryland-style pizza was created by Bob Beall, a tobacco farmer, liquor inspector, and former minor-league baseball player with no pizza experience. He taught himself how to make pizza in order to open a restaurant as a business venture. Its rectangular shape, giving it a look similar to the unique grandma-style pies, was a result of circular pans being hard to find at the time. What came out was a result of his trial and error.

Thanks to his business acumen, Beall's shop took off. He opened up next to the University of Maryland, drawing in hungry students, and right on the border of a dry county, attracting an older crowd looking for alcohol with their meal. Thanks to his sports background, his pizzeria was a place to see some of his famous friends hanging out. Yogi Berra, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, and Mickey Mantle were known to pop in and enjoy a pizza. This success sustained the restaurant and made its pie known all across the region.