Palermo Pizza – Caledonia
9325 Cherry Valley Avenue SESometimes my job is a whole lot of waiting. We ran in to that issue Sunday night as we drove around the Dutton/Caledonia area trying to kill some time. My co-worker asked if there was any place to eat seeing as we had at least an hour. Everything in Dutton seemed to be closed, so I pulled out my trusty iPhone and Googled what was in the area.
I saw we were close to M-37 and I knew there would be someplace to eat there. I was sort of in the pizza mood and somehow, she was in the mood for McDonalds apple pie. I was able to make both of those moods a reality with a well-timed stop at a pizza place I have passed many times on my way to Barry County.
I stopped at the Palermo Pizza on Cherry Valley Avenue (M-37) in Caledonia. It’s just barely inside the Caledonia city limits on the far east side of town tucked in to a pretty heavy business area with several small shopping plazas. There is a McDonalds right next door, so C.W. could go get her apple pies while I ordered a pizza for myself.
The shop is really small and only set up for carry-out and delivery orders. There’s a small order/pick-up counter as you walk in and large conveyor belt pizza ovens behind that. I had already looked over the menu before I went in, so I knew it would be quick. I had considered for a second ordering one of their pasta dishes, but it was really a pizza I wanted so it was really a pizza that I ordered.
I chose a 14″ Meat Lovers pizza which comes with all the usual pizzeria meat toppings….ham, sausage, bacon, ground beef, and pepperoni. The cost was right around $16 and I was told it would take about 15 minutes. I chose to go back to the car where I could plug my phone in and just sit in the parking lot until the pizza was ready.
A little over 15 minutes later, I walked back in and the pizza was just coming out of the oven. The lone employee sliced it and boxed it up for me then I headed back to the car. It was about time for us to pick up the task we were in the area to do, so the pizza would have to wait a little bit.
Our task took longer than expected and smelling that pizza in the back seat of the car was excruciating. I was so hungry at this point and the pizza smelled so good. Instead of making a mess on my shirt, I opted to wait until we got back to the office to dig in.
As soon as we walked in the door, I had that box open was starting to dig in. The pizza was entirely covered in meat. There were big balls of sausage and tiny, crispy pieces of bacon in every bite. The style of the pizza was pretty standard delivery pizza with a thick crust, but it was very well covered in all of the meaty goodness of the toppings.
Palermo Pizza has seven locations in the area and they do pizza-by-the-slice during lunch hours and a huge 24″ pizza. They are attempting to franchise the stores using the name Toarmina (another region in Italy…it’s actually, like Palermo, on the Island of Sicily ) and there are 18 stores already up and running in Michigan and Mississippi. The two brands are like siblings. Toarmina was founded in Detroit while West Michigan got a relative of the Toarmina family and the Palermo Pizza brand……at least that’s the story on their respective websites….
Palermo Pizza another one of those delivery pizza that is what it is. It’s good pizza and better than the national chains in the area…and a place that locals will defend against any outsiders as the best pizza they’ve ever had.
14″ Meat Lovers Pizza
14″ Meat Lovers Pizza
SW Michigan Dining 