Pennfield Pizza
1432 Capital Avenue NEI don’t usually work Friday nights, but I was offered a couple hours of overtime for some pretty easy work, so I took it. The kids were going to bed right after I left anyway, so I wasn’t missing out on anything other than a little extra sleep.
I ended my night on the northeast side of Battle Creek. Actually, in Pennfield Township. It was still fairly early and I was hungry. There’s a few food options on that side of town, but you know me, always hoping for something local.
I found a pizza place that was open until midnight and, since it’s Friday night, I decided to grab a pizza and go home and drink a couple of beers.
Pennfield Pizza is on Capital Avenue NE just north of the Bailey Park in Pennfield Township. It’s a stand alone building on the east side of the road just south of J Bartlett Drive.
The menu is pretty simple. They have three crust options, four size options, and a large selection of toppings. They also do a few sub sandwiches, a wet burrito, and the typical bread sticks and calzones that go along with most small pizza places.
I called in my order just before 10:00. I just wanted something simple. A large, thin crust pepperoni pizza. I could tell the order taker was getting swamped and I knew that a football game at Pennfield High School had just let out, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. After putting my order in, he tried to upsell me on bread sticks, calzones, and, when I said “no thank you” to those, he tried to sell me a dessert calzone as well. I wish everybody had online ordering……
Anyway, he said it would be about 20 minutes and I was only five away. I needed to get gas and then I sat in the parking lot and watched Last Week Tonight on Youtube to kill some time.
Pennfield Pizza is a small place, but it was packed on this Friday night. As I assumed, a lot of people had come down after the football game. All of the tables were full in the dining room and everyone was wearing green. There is a small counter near the back of the dining room near the entrance to the kitchen and that’s where I headed to see if my pizza was ready.
There were a couple people working the phones and the cash register. I gave one of them my name and they disappeared into the kitchen and came back out with the pizza box. The cost was about $12 before tip which I put on my card.
The box seemed heavy when I picked it up so when I got to the car, I opened it up to make sure I had the right pizza. It was a large pepperoni, but it was the regular crust not the thin. I had a feeling the guy taking the order got that wrong. Oh well. Again, I wish everybody had online ordering.
I drove back to Kalamazoo and grabbed a beer before plopping myself down in front of the TV to watch the local news’ high school football highlight show.
Pennfield Pizza has been in the same family since the early 1970’s and they have used the same recipes for years. The crust is home made, and to me, that was quite noticeable. It was a very chewy, doughy crust. It was god and had a lot of flavor, but my personal preference is a crust that is a little crispier and has a little more snap to it.
14″ Pepperoni Pizza
The pizza was topped with a decent amount of cheese and pepperoni. The cheese had a nice golden brown color to it which I love. That’s the kind of thing I like to see carry over to the crust. The toppings stopped quite a ways from the edge of the pizza leaving a pretty big handle to hang on to.
Pennfield Pizza achieved it’s mission with me. I wanted a pizza and I got a good one. It’s not the best pizza I’ve had in Battle Creek, but the regular crust really isn’t my style. I would have like to have gotten the thin crust I ordered. I would totally stop in to Pennfield Pizza again if I was nearby, it was tasty, but it’s not the kind of place I go out of the way for.
SW Michigan Dining 
