Turns out, "Chicago-style" didn't always mean "deep-dish."

Even today there are Chicagoans who argue about the true nature of Chicago-style pizza: deep-dish or stuffed. But before those two came along, there was something called "Chicago-style thin crust." This pizza is still popular in Chicago ("Deep dish is for tourists," notes Chi-towner "JeffB" on the message board Chowhound). In fact, one of the city's longest-running pizza chains, Aurelio's, serves nothing but thin-crust pizza. Somewhat randomly, they also have a location in an out-of-the-way strip mall in Roseville, Minn. The pizza there is phenomenal: a cracker-thin crust topped with mozzarella cheese all the way to the edges, homemade sausage bursting with fennel flavor and a sauce so fresh you see tomatoes when you taste it. And like Chicago's rigid streets, all of Aurelio's pies are cut into square grids. Sound familiar?

It's not just Aurelio's. Ask Rob Dubnecay of Chris & Rob's Chicago Taste Authority, the Twin Cities-based hot dog and pizza outfit specializing in all things Chicago: "Square-cut is what we grew up with in Chicago," he says. "That's how we serve it. It drives people crazy here, actually. They always ask for it cut into slices instead."

By Dubnecay's estimation, Minnesota pizza isn't quite the same as what he ate growing up. For one, Chicago thin crust is thinner. "It's supposed to crunch when you cut it, with crumbs flying everywhere," he says. "Here it's a little thicker, and it tastes like it's made with bread dough. It's not supposed to be that way." Still, when asked if there might be such a thing as Minnesota-style pizza, he just laughs. "Really? No, I don't think so."

And like that, after chasing the elusive origins of Minnesota-style pizza halfway across the country, our trail goes cold. The grand Minnesota pizza tradition, it appears, is a sham. Chicago, already full to burping with deep-dish pride, demands our slice of the pie, too. To top it off, grown pizza men are laughing in our faces.

Then, like an angel in the darkness, a voice offers a different story: