Kalamazoo Pizza Company
2120 South Sprinkle RoadI feel like I just wrote a blog entry on fast-fired pizza places and now, here I am, doing another. I told you this was a fast growing segment of restaurants.
It also feels like it’s been a really long time since I wrote a Kalamazoo specific blog entry. Sorry about that. There hasn’t seemed to have been a lot of new restaurants opening lately.
Not a lot, but there is one that I’ve been somewhat excited about. The people that own Camzie’s Pizza turned their little food cart in to a brick and mortar take out pizza business. They still have the mobile oven for events, but a permanent location just opened up in Kalamazoo Township.
Kalamazoo Pizza Company totally redid and moved in to the small building on Sprinkle Road near Sweetwaters Donut Mill that used to be a Chicken Coop. The building is now a drive up or walk up window only with a new tin exterior with a custom built oven hanging out the front. There’s no seating or even an indoor area. The walk up window on the north side of the building is covered, but it’s still “outside”. Typically, I would have used this option as I hate drive throughs, but there was a Pepsi truck unloading for the Sprinkle Mart next door blocking all the parking.
I actually wasn’t even sure if the place was open yet. L and I had tried a couple of weeks ago to get pizzas, but we didn’t realize they were still doing work. When we went back earlier this week, the “open” sign wasn’t on and I couldn’t see anyone inside. The business hours listed 11:00 AM as the open time and this was after 11:30. As I was sitting there, someone walked out from the back door and turned the open sign on, so I pulled around to the drive through to place the order.
The great thing about all these new fast fired pizza places is the indiviualness. In my family, we can order three different pizzas and everyone gets what they want. I started with a six inch pizza for L. The first two toppings are free, but L only likes pepperoni so that’s what I ordered her. For myself, I ordered a 12″ with pepperoni and bacon. J was just in the mood for cheese and without looking at menu, she just said, “get me fancy cheeses.” There are no fancy cheese, so she just got a 9″ cheese pizza.
The total cost was just over $25 and it took a little over five minutes to cook all three pizzas. When they were done, they were handed to me in three pizza boxes through a screen window near the front of the building.
J was still at work when I got home and B hadn’t had a nap all morning due to us running errands while L was at dance camp. I set L up with her pizza so she could start eating while I grabbed a slice for myself while I rocked B to sleep.
L told me later she loved her pizza. It’s a nice thin crust with some burnt edges. The 6″ pizza is small enough that L can eat it without me having to cut it into smaller pieces. She ate half of the pizza (which is good for her recently) and I put the other half in to the fridge for later.
6″ Pepperoni Pizza
I grabbed a couple pieces for myself and took them to B’s room to eat while I was rocking him. The pizza had a great smokey flavor to it and the ground beef was applied heavily giving every bite a little bit of a meaty taste. The 12″ pizza isn’t quite enough for a big guy like me, but most people would be more than satisfied. I love the thin crispy crunch the edges of the pizza have, but the middle is still soft and chewy and just want to collapse under the weight of the toppings.
12″ Pepperoni and Ground Beef Pizza
I think J was a little disappointed the only cheese on her pizza was mozzarella, but she still said it was quite tasty.
9″ Cheese Pizza
The only downfall to Kalamazoo Pizza Company is their topping list. It’s…rather ordinary. It’s delicious…but you’re not going to find anything crazy that you wouldn’t find at a typical pizzeria.
Camzie’s Pizza was sort of a pioneer in this area when it came to the fast-fired pizzas. We had them for the first time three years ago when they set up shop at Flesher Field in Oshtemo. Since then, the trend has kind of taken off and you’re seeing more and more of these Neopolitan-style pizza places popping up. It’s soon going to be hard to stand out from the crowd. I love what Kalamazoo Pizza Company is and I love that they’ve found a permanent home in Kalamazoo. The pizza has always been delicious and the pizzas we had this week were as well. Kalamazoo Pizza Company has managed to do what so many people hope food trucks do eventually and that is gain enough traction to put down roots in the community. Their pizza is always going to be an option for us and would be moreso if we lived on the East side of town.
SW Michigan Dining 