Smitty’s Pizza
113 E. Chicago StreetWe’ve had a busy couple of weeks. I’ve worked quite a bit of overtime and the kids have had a lot of extra ice skating. We’ve been on the road a lot.
The kids both decided to join the synchronized skating teams at the club this year and the first competition was a weekend deal at Wings Event Center.
J and L picked up some volunteers shifts at the competition but B was still a little too young to help out. The original plan was for him and I to stay home but I got offered an overtime shift. The work was in Coldwater so I came up the plan to drop B off at J’s parents near Sturgis, go do the job in Coldwater, then come back and pick him up.
The job took about three hours which is what I was expecting. When I was done, I looked up pizza places along the way back to J’s parents. There were a couple options in Colon but it was actually one in Bronson that caught my attention.
I picked Smitty’s Pizza in downtown Bronson. The old bar/restaurant sits on Chicago Street which is also US-12. The building is pretty typical for a small town downtown. There are a row of turn of the century buildings all built touching each other along one side of the street. Smitty’s Pizza is one of four storefronts in the large building between a hardware store and an antique shop.
I called in my order before I left Coldwater. I picked a 16″ Meat Lovers and a 12″ cheese. I knew B wouldn’t eat the all meat pizza and I wanted to get something for him as well as something to share with my in-laws.
When I ordered from Smitty’s, I guess I was expecting a carry-out pizza place but that’s not the case. Smitty’s Pizza is a classic small town bar/restaurant. There’s large bar near the back of the space decorated with Christmas lights and TV’s hanging over the displayed liquor bottles. There were a few people hanging out watching a football game when I stopped in to pick up my pizza.
There’s also a pretty large dining Beer signs, twinkle lights, and sports jersey’s are the main decor. The creaky hardwood floors give off that cool old building vibe.
The two pizzas, before tip, was right around $30.
My in-laws had B all bundled up and ready to go when I got back to the house but quickly took his coat and boots off when I walked in with a couple of pizzas.
I went for the Meat Lovers pizza first. This pizza is fantastic. I’m a big fan of Chicago Tavern Style pizza and this is that. The cracker thin crust could have used more of a crunch to it but it was done in the same style as Southside Chicago pizza. The pizza is cut into squares (I guess y’all in Michigan call that “Party Cut”) and it’s topped with a delicious sweet sauce that overflows from underneath the cheese. The meats on the all meat pizza are pepperoni, ham, sausage, and bacon. The meats were mostly under the cheese so the didn’t fall off when I picked the slices up. The pizza was super greasy but that’s something I love on pizzas like this. A lot meat means a lot of grease. Nothing a few paper towels can’t deal with.
The cheese pizza was simple but it’s cooked the same way with the same delicious sauce underneath the cheese. There is a place in Oak Lawn, IL that we would eat at all the time when J’s parents lived there. This pizza is very similar to to that. It’s not quite as good but if the crust would come out a little crispier, it would be close.
Smitty’s Pizza quickly became one of my new favorites. The pizza joint isn’t all that far from my in-laws…maybe 20 minutes or so, yet it’s not one we had ever heard of. Being Chicagoans, we all have a pretty snobby attitude towards pizza. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eat anything as long as it doesn’t have any veggies on it but Smitty’s Pizza is good the way pizza is supposed to be good.
SW Michigan Dining 