Jimmy’s Pizza &Pasta has been feeding diners in the Stanwood area for 30 years and the fans are legion. Go there after the rush on a midweek night and the place is still full of people.
In all these years I’d never been there. So on a recent evening when I was craving pizza (who doesn’t once in awhile?) and I decided I had to try Jimmy’s, my husband was happy to oblige.
We ordered two glasses of the smooth 14 Hands’ Columbia Valley cabernet sauvignon ($6.50 each). We sipped and relaxed while we waited for our Mediterranean pizza. A small, which we ordered, is $17. A large Mediterranean is $25.
This is a good Greek-style pizza. Normally, we prefer thin crust, but Jimmy’s is nice: fresh, well-seasoned, cheesy. The Mediterranean is topped with pesto, mozzarella, mushrooms, onions, fresh garlic, red peppers, Parmesan, oregano and Italian sausage. Yum.
We couldn’t eat it all and had to take a few slices home. The thing about good pizza is that you don’t have to heat it up to enjoy the leftovers. It was just as tasty the next day right out of the fridge.
A small Jimmy’s special ($15) is topped with bay shrimp, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, green peppers, mushrooms and olives. That sounds good, too, but next time I am trying a small Jimmy the Greek ($16), with fresh spinach, feta cheese, chopped garlic, olives, mozzarella, tomatoes, sausage and oregano,
Other pizzas include the standard choices: Hawaiian, vegetarian, sausage-mushroom-pepperoni, all meat and an everything-on-it sort. Other choices include ranch-bacon-chicken and the Italian, which sounds good and is a mash up of pepperoni, spinach, olives, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella, lean beef and a drizzle of Italian dressing.
The other half of what Jimmy’s does is pasta.
For this part of the menu I had to rely on my colleague, Herald reporter Kari Bray. She knows Jimmy’s; she lives in Stanwood.
Kari’s favorite dish is the seafood fettuccine ($14.50). Not only is it Kari’s top choice, it’s the “all time house favorite,” according to Jimmy’s menu. This dish involves pan sauteed scallops, Pacific cod and tiger prawns in a garlic butter alfredo sauce.
“It’s fabulous. I highly recommend it,” Kari said. “They use chunks of seafood and not just a few baby shrimp like you get a lot of places. Their sauce is creamy, but not too heavy.”
In addition, Kari has enjoyed the baked ravioli skillet dish ($13.50) with mushrooms, zucchini and olives in marinara and mozzarella. The veggies are fresh and flavorful, she said, and the marinara doesn’t overwhelm.
My colleague also recommends the spaghetti and Greek mizithra cheese (made fresh from goat milk and whey) and paired with a half rack of baby back pork ribs ($15).
Jimmy’s also serves salads, including the house salad ($3.20), a small Greek ($7.50) and a small Caesar ($6) as well as entre salads such as the hot chicken salad, the blue cheese chop chop and the shrimp Caesar — ranging in price from about $10 to $12.
Instead of a pizza, a person can order a grinder with similar toppings, priced from $7.30 for small to $11 for large.
Honestly, the place is popular for all of its food. To-go orders are welcome.
Brothers John and Chris Markezinis evidently named the parlor for the father Jimmy and lived in their dad’s cabin on Camano while they got the business up and running. It’s obviously paid off.
Can’t wait to go back.
Jimmy’s Pizza &Pasta
9819 Highway 532, Stanwood; 360-629-6565; www.jimmyspizzastanwood.com.
Alcohol: Beer and wine.
Vegetarian: Yes.
Hours: Opens at 11 a.m. daily.
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