Review: Jan’s Village Pizza
Author: Indy Food Geek | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Westfield, IN
Jan’s Village Pizza
108 S. Union St.
Westfield, IN 46074
http://www.jansvillagepizzas.com/
As is often the case when trying someplace new for dinner, I get well into my meal and exclaim, “I should be reviewing this!” You’ll have to excuse the picture of a half-eaten pie.
After testing out a number of nearby pizza purveyors in our new hometown, we finally got around to trying Jan’s Village Pizza. One look at Jan’s website will tell you that she thinks pretty highly of her pizza. She puts particular emphasis on her fresh, hand-made dough and insists that each topping is sourced from the absolute best suppliers in the area. All of these things are important, but the proof is in the pudding. You can pile truffles, 24 karat gold leaf, and puppy dog kisses on a pizza and still have it taste like dirt. There is an art to making pizza and the ingredients don’t always save the pie.
What I Got: Small with green peppers, mushrooms and Italian sausage, $9.49. Small buffalo chicken specialty pizza, $8.49.
If you paid attention in fifth grade English, you probably thought I was making use of foreshadowing in that introduction, but alas, Jan knows how to make pizza! Her beloved crust was obviously hand-stretched and was baked just to my liking. The crust had a few bubbled up burnt spots like a good Neapolitan pizza should, and the cheese was very creamy, almost buttery tasting. Indeed the toppings were as fresh and flavorful as advertised. The real star, for me at least, was the sauce on the traditional pizza. The website says it’s homemade and it’s really pretty good. Very smooth, slightly sweet, garlicky, and just the right amount of herb. Overall, this pizza was excellent.
The buffalo chicken pizza was a bit of a disappointment. My wife and I used to order “The Hot Chick” from HotBox Pizza when we had one nearby and I guess we were expecting something along those lines when we ordered this pizza. Don’t get me wrong, it was technically good, just not what we were hoping for. The buffalo ranch sauce was a lot of ranch and not-so-much buffalo. Coupled with the slightly buttery cheese, the taste started to get a little too rich. The crust was equally good on this pizza, but the overall flavor was a bit of a let-down.
Would I Buy It Again? Definitely yes to Jan’s and the traditional pizza, but I would probably avoid the buffalo chicken signature pizza next time. They have a lot of signature pizzas if that’s you’re thing, but they do a classic pizza so well it seems like sacrilege to fuss with it.
-Indy Food Geek
Tags: buffalo, crust, Jan's Village, local, Pizza, Westfield
I love Jan’s buffalo pizza! There is a great pizza buffet during weekday lunch too – includes a lot of pizza, salad, soup and spaghetti for a decent price.
splitting hairs, but that doesn’t look close to what I consider Neapolitan. I’d still love to try it!
@tom h – you’re absolutely right… this isn’t a Neapolitan-style pizza… in fact, it reminds me a lot of really good bar pizza. The crust was what reminded me of a Neapolitan-style pizza… The perfect amount of chewiness with little blackened bubbles. The toppings (in both quantity and flavor) are most definitely in the American style.
Looks tasty, review sounds good (great writing yet again – but what is foreshadowing?)
My real concern is whether or not it tops Hotbox. Thoughts? I’ve only had HB Pizza once (while I was sh**-housed downtown) but i do, in fact, remember wanting to get in bed with it after taking a few sultry nibbles….
Is this better? No comparison?
your mention of “bar-pizza” has me intrigued, though
Puppy dog kisses… ha ha. Pizza looks good.
@buttercrust: Your drunkenness clouded your judgment of Hot Box Pizza. If you ever had it while sober, your opinion would be completely different. It’s awful.
@buttercrust – Unlike my colleague, I do not hate Hot Box, but I’ve only ever had it from the Broadripple location. Like I said, I used to order the Hot Chick on a fairly regular basis… it satisfied the craving for pizza and wings in one fell swoop. Was it amazing? No, but I’d still put it above the 3 national chains… Probably on par with Marcos. I got a traditional pizza from HB once and totally regretted it… I would definitely say that Jan’s beats Hot Box, but they don’t really seem to be competing… so I’m not sure if it matters. Haha. As far as the “bar pizza” comment goes, I wish I could elaborate… If you get a chance to try Jan’s, I think you’ll know what I mean. I didn’t mean this as a bad thing… I’ve had great pizza at pubs and bars, and there are some common elements throughout.
Hot Box Pizza is by far and away the worst pizza chain we have here in Indy area…even their Cheese Stix are horrible, and smell just as bad.
I’ve had Jan’s lunch buffet on several locations, and it is probably the best buffet option behind Roselli’s.
@Indy Food Geek & buttercrust: This link from Slice.com may help you with defining what a “bar pizza” is. It’s actually kind of a cool little post that Slice did to define all the regional pizza styles. You’ll have to scroll down a little, but they do have a link that leads to pictures/definitions of bar pizza.
Thanks for the tip IE! Looks like Jan’s lands firmly between the Midwestern and Bar-style pizzas. No canned mushrooms here though… Very cool site! I didn’t even know that some of these “styles” actually had names, but I’ve had a fair number of them!
No canned mushrooms is key for me. Site looks interesting and the pizza looks good. I am convinced to give it a try.
A 20′ pizza sounds like a future WIBIA eating competition.
On Hot Box like Olive Garden, when all you can talk about is the breadsticks, that is not a good thing.
The one time I went to Jan’s, I really liked it. But they’re a bit too far from where I live in Noblesville. Until recently, our best pizza available for delivery was Pizza by the Harbour (Harbour Hot Chicken, nom nom nom) but now that Greek’s Pizza opened on 10th Street where Sinclair’s used to be, that’s our new pizza place. Of course, I’m willing to make the 15 minute drive to pick up Pizzology every now and then. We’re lucky to have some decent pizza options in this area. If only we had more Chinese options, especially for delivery!