Green Lantern Pizza

We finally made it to the one that started it all. The Madison Heights Green Lantern has been on the corner of John R and 12 Mile since 1955, and walking in feels like exactly that — dark, old-school, and a lot smaller inside than we’d pictured. The ambiance is basic in the way a genuine institution can afford to be: no reinvention, no design moment, just booths and a bar and pizza that’s been the same argument-settler for seventy years. Our server was friendly in a down-home, glad-you’re-here kind of way, and we left full and feeling well taken care of, which is most of the job.

We ordered one of the specialty pizzas and a round of boneless wings; the large sent us home with leftovers that made the next day’s lunch a small event. We don’t usually cover chains, but this one’s a genuine Detroit original — the whole 16-location operation grew out of this room — and that’s squarely our ethos. Would we go back? Probably to a different branch for the room; we’ve got the Berkley location on our list for exactly that. But the original earned our respect, and it’s a solid entry in the Eat column when you want pizza with some history under it.