No pizza generates such vitriol as Chicago style.

New Yorkers dismiss it as a misguided layer cake or, more often, a poorly arranged casserole. Celebrities such as Jon Stewart and the late Tony Bourdain have heaped scorn on the dish. Even many Chicago natives prefer the thin crust tavern pizza.

Yet the deep dish pie has a loyal following.

Staff at Ohana Pizzeria in Fulton lament customers wandering in minutes before closing to order the restaurant’s Chicago style pizza. But it happens, and quite often.

Because of its heft, the pie requires about half an hour in the oven, which is the reason for its famous inverted format. Cheese would bubble and burn if left so long under heat, so it layers the bottom. Meat and vegetables are arranged next with the sauce -- uncooked chunks of crushed tomato in proper Chicago style -- spooned on top.

Like all pies, Chicago’s deep dish pizza depends on its foundation. While the crust towers over toppings and one might need the help of someone like Mike Singletary to easily carry some loaded pizzas from oven to table, the dough is not burly.

The crust gathers its strength from a crispy fried patina, as well as its sturdy biscuit-like character. At Ohana it carries a nutty, toasted savor and a hint of earthen spice.

Where the crust thickens on the edges it can be a tad underdone. But the crunch and mellow tang complements the sauce and cheese.

Ohana uses marinara instead of crushed tomato, but that is within the rules. Modestly sweet with a sharp edge and raspy, herbal tint, the sauce has presence enough to cleave into a pad of rich mozzarella.

Pad may not do justice. Perhaps mattress is a more apt description of the melted layer. In Chicago style, it’s OK to go heavy on the cheese -- and the cooks at Ohana appreciate ballast suited to the city of broad shoulders.

It’s rich and creamy, playing nicely with the other elements. Yet if Ohana strays from tradition, it’s in skimping on other toppings.

Italian sausage and the rest tend to be muzzled by mozzarella.

Chicago style has tradition. The departure from flatbread forms of pizza began in 1943, when Pizzeria Uno was opened by Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo.

As with most dishes, however, there are points of contention -- not that Chicago style was first served by Uno, but the pair’s role in its creation.

Rudy Malnati worked at Pizzeria Uno and claimed to have come up with the notion of a deep dish, fried crust, inverted topping pie.

Former Uno staffers and the dispute over the recipe’s origins spawned other famous Chicago style destinations. Gino’s East popped up in 1966, with a former Uno cook in the kitchen. The Malnati family decided to get even by opening Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria in 1971.

Lou was the son of Rudy Malnati. Some will tell you, however, that his crust might not match the original.

Rudy Jr. added to the list of famed Chicago style restaurants with Pizano’s in 1991. The question is which son -- one, both, neither -- ended up with Rudy’s recipe for the dough?

So that’s just another little spat over Chicago style. But if it is as satisfying as the version served at Ohana, does it matter whether the dish falls outside the accepted definition of “pizza” or which restaurant adheres to the first recipe?

Simply put, Chicago style pizza may redeem the city for giving us the Cubs.