Two men standing in a bar with the word DropTop mural on the wall.

Joe Maino had undertaken a deep study of Detroit-style pizza and Jason Branham was looking for his next project. They teamed up to open DropTop. | Photo by J. Adrian Wylie

An expert in Detroit-style pizza and a veteran restaurateur are collaborating on a full-service and takeout business they expect to appeal to both Saline locals and destination diners.

Joe Maino and Jason Branham’s DropTop Pizza includes a vivid dining room and bar along Saline’s main drag, with a back entrance for takeout orders and grab-and-go food and drinks.

“We just wanted something a little more vibrant, a little more energetic,” Branham says of their remodel within a vintage building. Ypsilanti artist Gary Horton spent a month enlivening the length of a wall with a pop art–style mural featuring classic muscle cars. Maino, a Detroit native, says the Motor City theme is appropriate, since Detroit’s distinctive deep-dish pies with caramelized crusts were first baked in rectangular trays used in the auto industry.

In addition to the convertibles on the wall, “drop top” describes the way they sauce the pies. The crust “is rather thick, but it’s really light on the inside,” he says. “We finish the pizza with fresh sauce after it’s baked, so that allows the dough to actually cook through thoroughly. So that’s a fresh taste that you get, as opposed to a sauce being baked on the pizza that reduces and gets deeper in flavor. This is more vibrant.”

Maino’s background at Zingerman’s, working in the Bakehouse and Roadhouse, led to a scholarship to study with the late Shawn Randazzo, whose prowess elevated Detroit-style pizza to national prominence. A social media following and cross-country consulting ensued.

Living most of the last few decades in Ypsilanti, he became a regular at Branham’s Maiz Mexican Cantina in Depot Town. Branham, a Saline native, had been looking to expand but found that his large, all-scratch Mexican menu was too labor-intensive to scale efficiently. Premium pizza seemed more promising, leading to their partnership. Saline’s city staff connected them with landlord John Dunn, who divided the former Smokehouse 52 BBQ space into two units (the other is now Whitepine Studios).

“Saline was proactive and reached out to us and kind of made it happen,” Branham says. “Saline is a small town, but we’re really trying to create a destination for people to come from a pretty wide range.”

As at Maiz, generous happy-hour deals are aimed at filling the sixty-seat dining room: “half off draft beer, half off sangria, half off the house cocktails, half off our starter menu,” he says. “And that’s going to be twice a day from two to five and then eight to close.”

A dozen or so specialty pizzas are the prime draw. The dough is made fresh daily, and each eight-by-ten pie is cut into four slices, so everyone gets a corner. They’ll also offer smashburgers on homemade buns, chicken wings, and vegetarian-friendly starters including salads, roasted broccolini, house-made hummus, fried artichokes, and waffle fries.

A variety of sangrias will be on tap at the full bar. For the after-school crowd, milkshakes will be $5 from 3 to 4 p.m. weekdays, with boozy versions available for adults.

They’re eschewing delivery in favor of a lively dine-in experience and dedicated to-go entrance near the city parking lot out back. A grab-and-go cooler will be stocked with prepared foods and drinks—everything from a handy lunch option to a bottle of wine to bring home with pizza. For dessert, there are ice cream scoops, pints, and cookie sandwiches from Ann Arbor’s Blank Slate Creamery.

At the end of September, with nearly all approvals in place and a staff of about two dozen recruited, they hit a snag with their final city inspection, so the rollout—to be completed in phases—was pending as the Community Guide went to press. More than 1,000 Instagram followers await. “It feels like a long time to some of the public watching, but it’s been much longer for us,” Maino says with feeling.

“Really, the only full-service restaurant that’s doing Detroit-style around this area would be Buddy’s,” he notes. “And I think as soon as we open, people will see a clear difference almost right away.”

DropTop Pizza, 107 W. Michigan Ave., Saline. (734) 460–1345. Opening date TBA. Tues.–Sat. 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sun. & Mon. noon–9 p.m. droptoppizza.com