STANWOOD It took my friend and I a few minutes to figure out what’s different about Jimmy’s Pizza &Pasta. Once we did, it was obvious. This restaurant is exactly what it is a pizza place for families, with servers who really like what they’re doing.
According to our hostess, Jimmy’s has been in its Highway 532 location for 17 years, and longevity usually gives a restaurant a self-assured feeling. For us, that self-assured feeling translated into being able to relax because we were in the care of experts.
The restaurant’s interior incorporates arched windows, brick walls and wooden chairs and tables in three large, casual and inviting dining rooms. Originally, we were the only party in the middle dining room and were promptly moved to a table in the adjoining dining room when we asked to be moved.
Like the name indicates, the menu focuses on pizza and pasta plus grinders and salads. The lunch and dinner menus are identical with smaller portions and prices for lunch. My friend and I were really hungry by the time we arrived for our recent Saturday lunch, so we ordered appetizers, pizza and pasta.
Jimmy’s main dish salads include the expected chicken Caesar ($8.38 for a large) and Italian Chop Chop ($7.59 for a large), which is one of my favorites. It tosses lettuce, Canadian bacon, pepperoni, salami, olives and tomatoes in a creamy Italian dressing. If you haven’t had one, it’s a great summertime lunch or dinner.
The grinder selections are made on 10-inch hoagie rolls with mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce or lettuce and tomatoes. Filling choices are Canadian bacon, salami, pepperoni or meatballs ($6.49 to $7.49).
For our appetizer, we picked the Mediterranean sampler ($5.99). It’s a large platter with a dish of feta cheese, a bed of fresh spinach leaves, mounds of Greek olives, pepperoncinis and lots of thick tomato slices. It’s all lightly sprinkled with olive oil and we added salt and pepper. For the first time in ages, I had more olives than I could eat. Everything on the platter was fresh and cooling.
My friend selected spaghetti with meat sauce and added a couple of meatballs to his order ($6.59 plus $1.49 for each meatball). I considered some of the other pasta choices such as baked cheese ravioli with fresh spinach, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and olives in marinara sauce ($8.99) and spinach, mushrooms, zucchini, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and pine nuts sauteed in butter, garlic and marsala wine. This combo is served over angel hair pasta ($9.79).
But “pizza” is the other part of this restaurant’s name. So, pizza and a beer for me. According to the menu, Stella Artois is the No. 1 beer in Europe. It’s a lager that has been brewed in Belgium since 1366. It went well with the pizza my friend and I made from the extensive list of toppings. We had sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms on our large pizza ($17.50).
The crust was a successful compromise between thick and thin, which was another first for me. Usually pizza places are good at one crust but not the other, or at finding a middle thickness. All the ingredients were fresh and flavorful as well as plentiful. My friend enjoyed my pizza as much as I liked his spaghetti. The meatballs were larger than expected and very good. The spaghetti was perfectly cooked and the sauce was filled with large chunks of meat and a kiss of sweetness.
As she boxed our letover pizza and spaghetti, our server understood that we had to skip the desserts, which include chocolate “mudd” cake ($4.59), New York cheesecake ($4.19) and, of course, tiramisu ($4.39). By the way, she smiled every time she came to our table, which was as delightful as was our perfect pizza crust.
Herald restaurant reviewers accept no invitations to review, but readers’ suggestions are always welcome. Reviewers arrive unannounced, and The Herald pays their tabs.
Contact Anna Poole at features@heraldnet. com.
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