A Detroit-style pizzeria at 399 Barrington Street in Spreydon, on the south side of Christchurch. The pizzas are baked in the rectangular Detroit style, with a light, airy base, a crisp caramelised cheese edge, and tomato sauce on top. The house sauce is designed to be drizzled or spread over each slice. The restaurant is known for its Margarita Regina, Meat Feast with ham, pepperoni and a smoky jalapeño frankfurter, and a Pepperoni pizza. It also makes a coleslaw packed with vegetables, beans and egg. An alcohol-free IPA is listed on the menu.
Orders are pick-up only, placed online with a chosen pick-up time. The website says it is in a soft-launch phase, with orders limited, and the pick-up hours it shows are 11am to 1pm and 4pm to 9pm. The brand says it uses locally sourced produce, cheeses, meats and flour. The website quotes no customer comments, so there is no view here on what customers say. The price range is listed as moderate.
Tucked into 399 Barrington Street in Spreydon, Brick and Crust is bringing a slice of Motor City to Ōtautahi Christchurch. The focus here is Detroit-style pizza — a rectangular, thick-based pie that's become a cult favourite worldwide for one simple reason: the crust.
Detroit-style pizza originated in Detroit, Michigan, and gets its shape from the steel pans it was traditionally baked in — the same pans once used to hold small automotive parts in the city's factories, back when Detroit was known as Motor City. The best pans today are still US-made blue steel, and that heritage shows in the result: a base that's light and airy on the inside with a crunchy, caramelised crust around the edge.
The build is deliberately back-to-front compared to a typical pizza. The cheese blend goes right to the edge of the pan first, where it crisps up into a golden, almost lacy border as it bakes. The tomato sauce then goes on top, which keeps the base from turning soggy no matter how loaded the toppings get. It's a small technical difference that changes the whole experience of eating a slice.
Brick and Crust keeps its Detroit-style line-up focused rather than sprawling. The Margarita Regina keeps things classic with tomato sauce, house cheese blend, fresh basil and parmesan. From there it gets heartier: the Pepperoni, the Smokey Jalapeno Cheese Frankfurter (with jalapenos for a kick), the loaded Meat Feast combining pepperoni, ham and smokey jalapeno cheese frankfurter, plus a Veggie option with mushrooms, capsicum, pineapple and olives, and a Hawaiian for the pineapple purists.
Alongside the pizzas sits a veggie-packed coleslaw — built with fresh vegetables, beans and egg — and the house sauce, described as an iconic condiment designed to be drizzled or slathered straight onto the pizza itself rather than served on the side. A small drinks range rounds things out, from classic Coca-Cola and Coke Zero through to alcohol-free beer, cider and IPA options for anyone after something with a bit more character than a soft drink.
What sits behind the menu matters as much as what's on it. Brick and Crust sources its produce, cheeses, meats and flour locally, working with suppliers it trusts to deliver the freshest ingredients while keeping food miles down and supporting the local economy. It's a straightforward philosophy: obsess over making great food fast and easy, using the best ingredients available close to home.
Brick and Crust currently describes itself as being in its "soft launch era." Orders are placed online and are pick-up only, with customers booking a collection slot in advance — a system that keeps things running smoothly while the team eases into full operation. Because orders are limited for now, getting in early is worth doing rather than leaving it to chance.
You'll find Brick and Crust open Thursday through Monday, across two service windows — late morning into early afternoon, and again from late afternoon into the evening. Whether it's the Detroit crust that draws you in or the coleslaw and house sauce that keep you coming back, it's a compact, locally-minded menu built around one very good idea done properly.