And the balut pizzas. Those will be simply divine.

For a variety of reasons, I generally like to wait about six to nine months before walking into a new restaurant. In reading prior reports about Crust, I'm glad I waited. I had my first ever meal there last night. Previous reports of bland, inconsistent, tasteless pizzas are (at least based on my one meal) a thing of the past. My experience is much more in line with ronnie_suburban's.

I don't think Crust is a destination-dining event (the flavor of the crust doesn't linger in my memory as much as that of Coal Fire), but I'm hard-pressed to come up with a casual drinks-and-a-bite place on Division that I've enjoyed as much.

We ordered a "farm salad" (read: mixed greens), flammkuchen, and Italian sausage with shaved fennel flatbreads. The salad was pretty to look at, clearly fresh, and dressed perfectly. The flammkuchen had nice balance overall (I was worried about over-saucing the bechamel) with sweetness from onions and a mild smokiness from the bacon. I really enjoyed the sausage and fennel as well--nice zippy flavors.

Overall, the pizzas had a nice, consistently crisp exterior and a tender interior. Everything that passed us by looked and smelled good and we snapped up every last bit we had. A solid meal of straight up good wood-oven pizza.

I was also delighted by the beer list, especially when I found they had 22oz bottles of Flosmoor Station Nut Brown Ale. More about this in "Something To Drink".

Best,
Michael

Though I went twice right after Crust opened, I hadn't returned until last week, during which I visited twice. I had almost exactly what Michael did on one of the trips and drew the same conclusions. I drank the Pinkus Ur Pils, instead, and thought it paired nicely with the salad and pizza. Next time I'll try the Flossmoor Station.

I really enjoy Crust when I go which was alot last summer. The patio is nice and spacious and aside from the flammkuchen flat bread, the watermelon mojitos were divine. Can't wait for the weather to start warming up!!


Anne

I was last at Crust about a year ago and remembered a very tasty (though not transcendent) pizza. We went again last night and it wasn't nearly as good. The crust was thicker than I remember--soft and a little soggy. Also, we ordered two pizzas which were brought out at the same time, but at two (completely) different temperatures. The cold flammkuchen really suffered. My dining companion wondered aloud whether they had dropped it in the sink. I realize every place can have a bad night but since I wasn't over the moon about Crust in the first place, I probably won't go back (Coalfire's not too far from there). They have a great beer selection and I enjoyed a drink with one of the infused vodkas. An apple tart desert was above average. Anyone have any recent Crust experiences?

thaiobsessed wrote:Anyone have any recent Crust experiences?

In fact, yes. My experience was similar to yours. I was never a fan of Crust but their pizzas are even worse now. A flammenkuchen bore little resemblance to the original and managed to somehow be bland despite the presence of bacon, and the ash gray crust was leaden and overly chewy. The sausage calzone we ordered looked great at first, but was also bland, suffering from a poor combination of ingredients, especially the inclusion of spinach, which watered down the ingredients, and the ground sausage was an unappetizing pale gray and looked like it had been boiled prior to placement in the calzone. A spinach salad with avocado (too little), parmesan and a balsamic dressing (boring) had the taste, texture and looks of something that came straight from a Earthbound Farm bag, and the execution of a mediocre home cook who had just watched Sandra Lee -- a plate of mounded plain spinach, a few slivers of avocado strategically placed around the plate, some shaved parmesan on top for presentation and a few tablespoons of dressing over the top.

I think that this place has waved the white flag in its attempt to compete in the "flatbread" genre.

I will say this: They made the bar larger and reconfigured the space so it's a little more workable and comfortable. The modern CB2-style furniture is still uncomfortable, dated and overly styled for this type of (or any type of) restaurant.

After having some really good experiences at Crust in 2008, my lastest adventure was truly disappointing. I agree that the crust itself was so chewy it actually hurt to eat after awhile. The salads were still fresh, but not nearly as tasty as I remembered. I use to really like this place but I don't think we'll be going back.

Either the folks at Crust have been reading this thread or they knew they were having a problem, because my wife any I had a very good meal at Crust tonight.

Looking to use as many of our 2009 A La Cards as possible before the end of the year we decided to give Crust a shot (not having read the last few posts on this thread). We both really enjoyed it. I had the carbonara pizza which had bacon, peas, and a runny egg (and some other stuff that I'm not remembering). The only thing soggy about the crust was when it absorbed the wonderful yolk from the egg. The rest of the crust had just the right amount of chew, and the edges were nice and crispy with random bits of char throughout. The wife had an eggplant and arugula pizza that she enjoyed enough to bring home the leftovers (and she never does that). The pizzas and some JK Scrumpy Hard Cider made for a very nice dinner. I will definitely be going back.

Seeing this thread bumped up reminded me that, come to think of it, we did have a really poor meal at Crust over the summer. The service was fine, etc., but the food (particularly the pizza crust!) was really sub-par. Like, bizarrely so, as if the pizzas were missing key ingredients. It was very strange, since I'd had OK pizza there before shortly after it opened, and if someone had blindfolded me and suggested I was eating at a different restaurant I would have believed them. Good to know it wasn't just us.