165 W. Superior StreetFriday night is pizza night. How many times have I said that recently?
J actually met a group of friends and their kids at Bell’s with the idea that I would join them there after work and grab a burger to-go. That didn’t happen. I was stuck in northern Allegan County on an assignment and I wouldn’t get done until about 6:30.
I told J not to wait for me and I would just order a pizza on my way home. I was fairly close to Wayland so I decided to check to see if there was something nearby that I haven’t been to yet…and wouldn’t you know it? There was….sorta.
Stefano’s Pizzeria claims to be the King of Pizzas. The business is located on Superior Street just west of Main Street in an old strip mall that sits quite a ways off the road. The last time I was in this building, it was Wing Kingz..which was owned by one of the co-owners of this restaurant….who was also a co-owner of Joe’s Way Pizza…which was also co-owned by this restaurant’s namesake. Following along so far?
If you were familiar with Joe’s Way Pizza, you’re familiar with Stefano’s….as long as you knew them before Uccello’s bought them out. The owner of this restaurant sold Joe’s Way to Uccello’s owners with the agreement he wouldn’t open a pizza place near their restaurants. Well, Uccello’s moved out of Wayland and Joe’s Way came back….only to be sued for using a name they no longer hvae the rights to….so the pizzeria became Stefano’s Pizzeria. AND, if you’re familiar with the Stefano’s name from Bella Mia Pizzeria & Italian Grill by Stefano from Mattawan, then you’re familiar with this restaurant as well. It’s the same Stefano but he didn’t like being 53 miles from his restaurant so the Mattawan one didn’t work out.
Alright, so this iteration of a pizza joint in Wayland…I called in my order about twenty minutes before I was ready to leave for work and drop my co-worker off where we left his car. J and the kids had already eaten at Bell’s, but we knew the kids would want pizza when they saw me come home with one. So, I got myself a 16″ Pepperoni pizza and also grabbed a 12″ cheese for the kids.
When I got to the restaurant, I wasn’t sure if I walked in the right door at first. There are no tables. There’s just green walls and folded pizza boxes stacked from floor to ceiling. I turned to my right and found the small order counter the looks in to the kitchen. An employee asked if I had called in an order. I told her yes and gave her my name. She ran my credit card while someone else grabbed my two boxes out of the warmer.
Just like we figured, the kids wanted pizza when they saw me walk in the door. The 12″ was about the perfect size. They surprisingly ate half of it. I guess they didn’t eat their mac ‘n cheese at Bell’s, so it was a good thing I came home with a cheese. J also grabbed a slice and made a quick comment on how good it was.
I was surprisingly not as hungry as I thought I was and I only ate about half of my 16″ pizza. I really liked the crust which had the consistency of being hand pulled. The sauce was nice and sweet and there was a lot of gooey, melted cheese. The pepperoni grease combined with the cheese grease gave the pizza a somewhat salty taste though…or maybe the salt was added somewhere else. The cheese pizza didn’t have the some flavor so I’m guessing it was coming from the meat. It wasn’t an overpowering salty flavor but it is something I wasn’t really expecting. It didn’t stop me from eventually finishing the pizza though. It was still quite tasty.
My bill was just a little over $23 before tip. I enjoyed Stefano’s when we had it in Mattawan and I enjoyed the pizza I brought home from Wayland the other night. I always like carry-out places like this when I’m traveling. Every community has their own go-to pizza place and while there are bigger and more well known restaurants in Wayland, Stefano’s is that local place where you pick up a pizza on Friday night and bring home for the family…just like I did.