A couple of weeks ago I got a nice email from Michelle Flowers, who along with her husband Dave own and operate a pizzeria in North Pekin called, Mickie’s Pizzeria and invited me to stop by sometime on the MBIP Year of Pizza Tour. This is what I love about doing this blog, I have never heard of this place and it’ll be fun to hit a place that I’ve never been to before. To the MBIP Mobile!
We are off and headed towards North Pekin on this, our 13th week of pizza. Hope that number doesn’t jinx us!
We made it in one piece, looks like 13 won’t be an unlucky number for us tonight after all! Wow, this is a big place!
Love that pizza and beer neon in the window!
Okay, let’s go in and let this week’s pizza adventure begin.
“Hostess will seat you.” Okay, so where’s the hostess?
Oh, she’s right here! This is Nicki, the pretty hostess on duty and right before she got to seat me...
Michelle and Dave, the owner’s of Mickie’s came up and said hi. They’re super nice people and offered to give me a little tour of Mickie’s and who am I to turn down a little tour. Okay, let’s go touring!
Here’s the dining room, very spacious in here and don’t let the empty tables fool you, it’s a very popular place, a friend of mine works around here and told me they pack them in. I’m just here late after work and the place is winding down for the evening. Michelle and Dave told me they opened Mickie's in October of 2002, so it's been here for well over a decade.
The kitchen area is back here, through door number one. Carol Merrill flashback alert!
The kitchen is huge, this photo doesn’t do it justice. I’d need a wide angle lens to capture the whole room and that’s not in the MBIP budget! I love the Cheap Trick floor in here!
This is Tyler who’s putting the finishing touches on a freshly made pie. Michelle and Dave are serious about their pizza and they told me everything, including the crust is made fresh on the premises daily. They told me that the pizza recipe is a secret recipe from a family in Pekin who dabbled in pizza restaurants through the years. They have some spices and seasonings made especially for them, insuring a unique, one-of-a-kind taste. I can’t wait to try it!
Wow, that’s a massive pizza oven there!
While Mickie’s is a pizzaria, there’s other food available including sandwiches, chicken wings, pasta, soups and salads. Here’s some of their Venetian Potato Boats coming out of this oven. It smells so good back here!
Mickie’s has a full selection of drinks, bottled beer and here’s their taps back in the prep area in front of the kitchen. It’s a nice selection, we’ll see what they get on the old Spike-O-Meter.
Okay, time to sit down and order our pie, I’m starvin’ like Marvin over here after that tour! I think I’ll sit in one of these booths over here.
Michelle gets my booth all fixed up, you sure get first class treatment in here!
Speaking of first class treatment, here’s Nicki with an ice-cold bottle of beer. I placed my order and now its just a matter of time till this week’s pie arrives!
Here’s my view of the pizzeria from my vantage point in my booth.
There’s more booths lined up against the front windows.
Check out this trophy up near the front counter...
They won the 2013 Best Local Pizza contest held by WMBD, WYZZ and CIProud. Okay, let’s see if they live up to this impressive title!
Michelle introduced me to Bryce, who was up front picking up a pizza. Michelle said he’s their number one customer and Bryce told me he comes here at least three times a week for a pizza. He told me it’s hands down his favorite pizza and that he usually gets a plain cheese pie.
Meanwhile, back at the booth, the condiments are out and it looks like it’s just about dinner time. They offer two types of hot sauce, Sriracha and another blend in an unmarked container. I was hoping it was homemade hot sauce, but Nicki told me it was Frank’s Hot Sauce. There’s no escape from that stuff! Sheesh!
I started off with an appetizer of the Mickie’s Chips, which are hand-cut, homemade potato chips.
Wow, they’re really good. Paper thin and crispy and the cheese sauce is zippy and tangy, very delicious!
And here’s the main course, Nicki serves up this week’s pizza pie!
Wow, so far it’s living up to it’s award-winning status, it looks fantastic and smells even better.
It’s fresh out of the oven and really hot, so I’m letting a few pieces cool down a little bit.
I got a pizza with smoked bacon, onion, sausage and extra cheese and it definitely is worthy of an award. The sauce is tasty with a little zing to it and the cheese (Michelle told me they only use fresh Provolone on the pies) and the smoked bacon definitely were stand-out ingredients and they were so tasty. The crust is nice too, it’s thin crust, but not cracker thin and it’s got a nice taste and texture to it. The pizza definitely has it’s own taste to it, courtesy of their secret spices and seasonings. I loved it and it’s definitley worth the trip to North Pekin to try it out, if you haven’t already.
Okay, I got close to halfway through and was stuffed. The pizza here may be thin crust, but they’re really generous with the toppings and it is filling. The pizza here is great and it’s a really friendly and fun atmosphere. Thanks to Michelle, Dave, Nicki and everyone at Mickie’s, it was a great stop!
Okay, fast forward a day and it’s time for the next day, cold pizza test...
Delicious, it really holds up well and it may just be my favorite cold pizza of the tour so far! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Pizza Rating
Three and a half Chef Boyardees—The pizza definitely lives up to its award and reputation. Well worth the trip to North Pekin...as someone commented on an earlier post, it may be the only reason to go to North Pekin!
Mickie’s Pizzeria
137 Radio City Dr.
Pekin
309-382-1333
facecrack page
Mickie's Pizzeria Express
(Carryout and Delivery only)
109 McKinley
East Peoria
309-699-1333
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