Jaspare’s Pizza (Mendon)
120 N. Nottawa StreetWe stayed at J’s parents house a little longer than I think we thought we would on Sunday but it was such a nice day. The kids, for some reason, decided they were going to swim in a freezing cold lake and we all took a quick boat ride to look at some of the house around where Nana and Grandpa live.
J asked me around 4:00 if we should just order a pizza and eat there before heading back to Kalamazoo. Our plan was to feed the kids then get them in the car almost ready for bed by the time we got home.
My in-laws eat most of their meals when they eat at The Local in Centreville. The place has fantastic food and they keep adding more. They added pizzas just before Nana and Grandpa went to Florida for the winter and that’s what they’ve been eating since they got back. They offered up that option but there are so many more pizza places we need to try out.
J suggested Jaspare’s Pizza in Mendon. The tiny carry-out/delivery restaurant is very easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. It’s on Nottawa Road just north of the intersection with M-60/Main Street but it looks like any other house on any other street in the town. It doesn’t look like a business and if it wasn’t for the temporary but permanent sign strung between two posts in front of the house, you’d think someone was living there…not cooking delicious pizza.
We had called in an order for two thin crust pizzas and two garden salads. My in-laws live maybe ten minutes from Mendon so I gave it a little time before I headed in to town.
I just parked right in front of the building on the street when I got there. The front door leads to a tiny area that is probably big enough for three people to stand comfortably. The order counter separates the kitchen from the pick-up area. The lone employee saw me walk in and came out of the back to grab my pizzas off the conveyor oven that sits right up front. I paid the $35 tab in cash then headed back to the house to eat.
We got two large thin crust pizzas since I’m about the only one who likes pepperoni anymore…even though both kids loved it at one point. The thin crust pizza is somewhere between a cracker-thin crust and a traditional delivery pizza. It’s cooked so it comes out nice and brown but it’s still a little chewy towards the center. The pepperoni’s give on a pretty thick layer of grease which I like but I know that’s not everyone’s thing. I ate about 3/4 of this pizza on my own which is kind of how I figured things would go.
The cheese pizza was exactly the same as the pepperoni but with no pepperoni’s and slightly less grease. The kids ate it up and J said she always forgets how good Jaspare’s is because it never really made it in our rotation when there was a location on Stadium Drive. We were so entrenched with Cottage Inn at that time we never really branched out. That’s not really as true anymore.
We got two salads because that’s usually what L wants for dinner. She didn’t eat as much this time so we could have gotten by with just one but the second wouldn’t go to waste. J’s parents would eat it throughout the week.
We picked the Garden Salad because it’s the simplest. It’s just lettuce, tomato, croutons, and mozzarella cheese. We chose ranch dressing because, again, it’s what L likes. The salads are almost overflowing out of the Styrofoam containers they come in.
As summer starts to roll in to Southwest Michigan, we’re going to be spending a lot more time in St. Joseph County. I still have other pizza places I want to try and other restaurants we need to get to but this won’t be the last time we order pizza from Jaspare’s. It’s always delicious and the proximity to the lake house is a plus too.
SW Michigan Dining 