PAULOS: So Seth, I just want to start us off by showing how we make our sauce for the Tibs pizza, which is our signature dish.

SETH: So Tibs, this is a Ethiopian meat dish?

PAULOS: Yes, you can pretty much find it at any Ethiopian restaurant.

So we've got a little garlic and butter that we'll add to the pot.

And then we can go ahead and add our onions, jalapeños.

SETH: There are a lot of jalapeños going into this dish right here.

PAULOS: Oh yeah.

SETH: This is a spicy Tibs dish.

PAULOS: For sure.

Now, we can go ahead and add the meat.

SETH: And it looks like this beef's already been seasoned?

PAULOS: Yes, we marinate it overnight with some spices.

You don't want to overcook the meat too much at this stage, we just want to get a nice sear on it.

We're going to go ahead and add our crushed tomato sauce.

SETH: Secret family recipe?

PAULOS: Just the classic crushed tomato look that you'll find on any Detroit pie.

Now that we've added the sauce, we can add a little bit of the berbere.

As this stews, I'm just going to put a little bit of ghee in here, it really boosts the flavor.

And we could just stir that up.

So, Seth, we're going to go ahead and turn the heat down, and just let this stew for about 20 minutes, but I've got some Tibs already made, so why don't you follow me?

SETH: Sounds good.

Let's do it.

All right, this looks good.

So what am I looking at in the pan here, chef?

PAULOS: We've got a par-baked crust in here.

When it comes to making Detroit pizzas, you could par-bake, or just bake fresh.

It really just depends on what kind of oven you're working with.

So the cheese we've got here is a Wisconsin brick cheese.

It's kind of like a white cheddar, but also like a mozzarella at the same time.

It's essential.

SETH: A Wisconsin cheese, Detroit pizza, so we're looking at a Midwestern pie just through and through here.

PAULOS: Absolutely.

But, it's not like that Chicago stuff.

SETH: Chicago, forget that.

So how do you go about getting this pie put together?

PAULOS: So we'll start with the cheese.

We go edge to edge.

SETH: You put the cheese down first before the sauce?

PAULOS: Cheese before the sauce, because if I put the sauce under, it might create kind of a soggy pie, and we don't want to mess with the structure of the dough.

SETH: We do not want that, for sure.

PAULOS: We can go ahead and add these red onions.

And then we're going to go with our standard crushed tomato sauce, which goes on every pie.

SETH: So even before the Tibs goes down, you'll do a little regular sauce.

PAULOS: Absolutely.

We'll just go with our two stripes.

And then once we've got that, we can go ahead and add the Tibs.

SETH: Nicely stewed.

PAULOS: Oh yeah.

So, we finish with the jalapeños.

SETH: More spice.

PAULOS: Oh yeah, we want to keep it hot.

So now that we've got this all topped, we can go ahead and put it in our 425 degree oven.

And it bakes for about 12 minutes, and we will have a nice crispy finish after that.

SETH: Sounds great.

Can't wait, chef.

Chef, this final product looks fantastic.

I'm just going to dig right in.

PAULOS: Let's get it.

SETH: Cheers.

That's excellent.

And I got to try a bite here on the edge.

I'm a little nervous about these jalapeños, but I'm just going to give it a rip, and see how it goes.

PAULOS: For sure.

SETH: That is a crispy, crunchy crust of a pie.

I really like that.

PAULOS: Oh yeah.

I mean, you can even ... And then you see the bottom right there, just the way all the cheese kind of drips down through the pan, I mean, it just creates like, the best bite.

SETH: With the jalapeños too.

It's got a kick, but it's not overwhelming.

PAULOS: Yeah.

I used to put a little bit more in all of the pizzas, but people started to kind of complain about the spice level a little bit, so I decided, let's just keep that specifically for this Tibs pizza, and then everything else can be more of a classic Detroit pie.

SETH: So since you started, you've seen kind of an uptick in popularity in Detroit-style pizza?

PAULOS: Yeah.

When I moved here, there was no Detroit pizzas around, which is why I even started all this.

So some people like to say that you know, it's trendy, or just like having a moment, but I do it just because this is my favorite kind of pizza.

SETH: And I know from my experience, there's a lot of folks in the Midwest here in the DMV, and I know people from Detroit have a lot of pride in the city of Detroit.

PAULOS: Yeah.

It's awesome to kind of bring these two worlds together, one being the city, and also the Ethiopian heritage that I have in my family.

So being able to put these two together is really something special.