Jean Kay's Pasties — Restaurant in Iron Mountain

After every mini family reunion, we all pick up pasties to-go so we can dine later on our Iron Mountain hometown favorite meal. I was lucky to sample pasties at this location and at the one in Marquette. Prices and closing times differ between the locations. But a business reflects the potential of each location customer's preferences. Their steak and swede pasties never fail to impress my palate, and the crust is of excellent quality. They are 5-star! My 3-star overall rating was over services, not food quality:

1. Iron Mountain's shop closes by 5:30pm and often we were unable to make it there after the 5pm shift ends. A minor addition of 15 to 30 mins could empty the shelves last of the last pasties of the day as commuters head home.
2. The Iron Mountain menu is very limited compared to the busier Marquette shop near campus. The addition of a small variety might be nice to try; maybe on phone-ahead orders made the day prior.
3. I ordered my pasty and drove a home a long distance only to find it was a veggy pasty without swede. It was the wrong order; but also, the veggy pasty is rather bland and unimpressive compared to another savory veggy pasty from a competitor. I was disappointed in the swapped order so I just stopped buying....for a while. I was sulking over my disappointment since it would be months until I could get a 'good' pasty again. I have since re-patronized the shop in Iron Mountain on visits to...

Abouit 100 years ago, my grandparents operated a little lunch counter/cafe at the location where Jean Kay's is now located. My dad told me that Grampa had a daily blue plate special, steak, and pasties...and apple pie. Although Grampa lost the business in the depression, he kept making pasties. I remember them as having steak, potato and onion. Although, rutabaga, or swede, as they're known in Cornwall, are tradiionally an ingredient in a Cornish pasty, Grampa didn't use them. I was ecstatic when I stopped at Jean Kay's last week and found that the steak pasty has cubes of staek (not ground!!!!), potato and onion. Perfection in a pastry shell. The pastry was sturdy enough to hold the ingredients, but wasn't tough and was crimped on the side as pasties ought to be. Truely the best pasty I've had at ANY pasty shop in the UP, and better than most I had when visiting...

By far the BEST pasty maker in the world. The breading is wonderful, the steak and potatoes is great, and they offer half or fully baked pasties. Fully baked ready to eat that day OR half baked ready to cook later or freeze. After moving away, I still fly all the way from the Seattle area to Iron Mountain just to buy pasties and take them back in a cooler. They are $6.95 each. My family loves them that much. They do ship them but with shipping costs, it makes each pasty to be about $13 each. It’s worth traveling back to get them to save money but to also visit my grandmothers grave who died of COVID. We love...