A Chicago Hou-Lee Trinity of Dough, Sauce & Cheese – That’s Shanghai
The Place
Pizza is up there as one of the most unifying and polarizing of iconic worldly foods. In Chicago, pizza is a sacred entity; when attacked by New Yorkers, Neapolitans, Sicilians, Californians and the lot, us Chicagoans circle our deep-dish walls in defense, breadsticks at the ready.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That’s
While some will balk, objecting that real Chicagoans don’t eat thick crust pizza, they’re wrong – of course we do. But our go-to, neighborhood pizza, consumed on the daily, will forever and always be the thin-crust.
And this is not just in Chicago; this underrated pie that is finally receiving its long overdue recognition is a Midwest staple found in local pizza taverns from the lakes of Minnesota to the dairy farms of Wisconsin, from the cornfields of Iowa to the central plains of Ohio.
For those from the American Midwest, tavern style pizza is a cracker crust pie – haphazardly sliced into squares – concealed by charred-edge pepperonis, pools of fat forming in each spicy meat-ring’s center, at a neon-lit dive bar with Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ playing in the background.
It’s nostalgia on a plate.
And finally, it’s made its way to Asia, at Shanghai’s very own Zup Pizza Bar – a 90-seater spot above Jax Bistro on Fumin Lu.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That’s
Following numerous popups around the city, Zup – the brainchild of Chicago born and raised Wayne Hou and partner Lee Tseng (Liquid Laundry, Boxing Cat) – opened in the middle of pandemic takeout mode in August of 2022 to popular acclaim.
Having spent 19 years in China, the majority of which was in Dalian as the owner of a New York pizza chain called Brooklyn, Wayne is no stranger to pizza culture of the East.
“Deep dish wouldn’t work as a staple in Shanghai because it’s too dense, and New York style has its bases covered already with Homeslice and Joe’s,” he explains. “So this is where Chicago tavern style pizza steps into the limelight – fitting…
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