525 S. Broadway StreetI’ve blogged extensively about pizza in Southwest Michigan for about ten years now. I hate to be that guy, but there is nothing like Chicago pizza. No, not the touristy stuff you get downtown and on the north side (although I do like that too). I’m talking about the south side cracker thin crust.
Palermo’s 95th is by far my favorite pizza place in the world. I’m excited my in-laws are moving to St. Joseph County so they’ll be closer to my kids but man am I going to miss Palermo’s.
Over the years, whenever I complain about pizza someone will always bring up a place in Cass County. I have only been to Cass County twice in the ten years I’ve lived here and the place was never open when I was driving through.
My Friday night overtime work took me way down south almost to the Indiana-Michigan border in southern Cass County. I was able to time it out so that I could get back to Cassopolis before 10:00 and get the pizza I’ve been missing out on all these years.
Marcello’s Pizza & Subs is on Broadway Street right at the intersection with Reed Street. It’s right on the corner where M-62 and M-60 meet up and across the street from Stone Lake. The building is precariously situated pretty close to the busy road but there is a large parking lot to the south with plenty of room for the small dining room and carry-out business done here.
Marcello’s Pizzeria was first suggested to me about ten years ago….not long after I started this blog. The thing is, it’s been through three owners in that time. The original owners sold to a family from Chicago with no restaurant experience then they sold to a guy out of Edwardsburg who wanted to open a restaurant of his own after working in kitchens for several years. The recipes for the dough and sauce are are the same but there has been some additions and subtractions on the rest of the menu over the years.
The inside of the restaurant has a small dining area with maybe a half a dozen tables on a faux brick floor that’s lined with wood paneled walls.
The order counter is right inside the door. There’s a small wooden counter that sits right in front of the door to the kitchen. I had put my order in online using Slicelife.com. I was kind of pushing it because I put my order in to be ready at 9:45 P.M. They close at 10:00 so I knew I had to get there. I walked in at 9:43 and a man came out of the kitchen and asked if I was (guy who had a carry-out order). I said yes and he went to the kitchen to get it. I paid online with my credit card and already tipped so I just grabbed my pizza and headed to the car.
The Chicago influence is still showing in the storre. Not sure if that is new since 2014 or what but I was super excited to order a large thin crust pizza with Italian beef and hot giardiniera. That’s a combination I can’t get enough of at my favorite Chicago pizza joints so when I saw it was an option here, I jumped at it.
The large pizza is really large. The 18″ pizza actually fed me for about three days. As soon as I got back to the car, I threw the box on the hood and popped it open. I wanted to have at least one slice hot since it would cool down quite a bit on the hour drive back to Kalamazoo.
The pizza was a really good thin crust but I wish I had asked for it to be cut in squares. The large triangles were hard to eat but the flavor was fantastic. There will little bits of Italian beef tucked underneath the cheese and good hot giardiniera mix covering the pizza. The pizza wasn’t super spicy but there was a little bit of a burn. The peppers would have been great on a sandwich as well. It’s a good mix of carrots, celery, jalapenos, and green olives. The sweet sauce helped control the spiciness a little bit and the crispy outer ring of the crust had similarities to the delicious thin crust pizzas on the south side of Chicago.
Marcello’s Pizza & Subs’ biggest drawback are it’s hours. They’re only open Thursday through Saturday 4-10 PM and Sunday 3-9 (in the winter…Summertime they’re also open on Wednesday evening). That’s still within prime pizza eating time but the few times I’ve been to Cassopolis, it’s been during the day.
The pizza from Marcello’s reminds me a lot of the Chicago style pizza I am going to miss with not having relatives in the area anymore. It’s not quite the same but it’s close enough. Next time I would ask to cut the pizza in to squares instead of the triangles. I think the smaller slices would allow me to focus more on what’s under the cheese and not as much make sure whatever’s under the cheese doesn’t slide off on to my lap. I can tell you for certain I’m looking forward to my next evening trip to Cassopolis so I can pick up another one of these delicious pizzas.