During my first few weeks of wandering around Chicago, I stumbled upon a street in Wicker Park that had some adorable shops and restaurants. Unfortunately I could not, for the life of me, remember the name of the street or how to get there. Lucky for me, Tim remembered the name of a pizza place on the street, and that restaurant just happened to be Crust, located at 2056 West Division.
When we returned to explore, the weather was unusually cold and although we did not plan to eat at Crust, it just happened to be there when I decided I had had enough of the weather – I needed a warm place to sit. Unfortunately, Crust was right across the street and that is where we ended up.
Like most places that are trying too hard to be swish, the interior decorators went crazy with mixed mediums, displaying poorly-framed, pretentiously artistic photographs against white washed brick; a ceiling with futuristic wooden slats; ultra-polished steel lighting fixtures and furniture that looked neat but was really uncomfortable.
Plus the place was freezing! I should not have to put my jacket on in the middle of eating dinner! Unacceptable.
But the real downer was not the decor…it was the bland, overpriced pizza that arrived at my table.
Only in Wicker Park could you find a pizza that costs so much and tastes like nothing.
A Margherita-style pizza is hard to mess up. All it takes is really flavourful, punchy tomatoes; a salty, creamy mozzarella and an olive oil that is both rich and gives you a peppery kick as it goes down. Oh, and let’s not forget about the crust. Since a Margherita relies heavily on the tomatoes and cheese for its taste, then the crust should be hand-tosses and the toppings should be completely covering the pizza (a little edge is okay…).
You may be thinking, “If it is so easy, then how did Crust screw it up?” Obviously it is because they were lazy and not did not give a crap about their ingredients. I barely recognised that the tomatoes were tomatoes, save their texture. They were just as insipid as the mushy cheese that teetered on being gummy. The crust completely lacked personality and the olive oil tasted buttery, which means it was probably rancid.
I might get crap for this but I do not care. Yes, I am sure there is at least one good thing on the menu but if you cannot get the basics right, then your more complex dishes certainly do not deserve my attention.
Crust: Avoid it.
Dev xx
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