Crust Pizza opened up in East Peoria last summer and got a good review from MBIP pal, Phil Luciano shortly after the doors opened. However when I read the review I found out that they weren’t serving beer back then, so I put this place on the back-burner of my mind. I recently found out that they are now serving bottled beer, so it’s off to Crust Pizza we go!

We are off and rolling towards Crust Pizza in East Peoria. The temperatures have been high for this time of year. Right now it’s about 43 degrees out. The good news is that the snow is melting and going away. The bad news? It’s brighter than fuck-all out here! I need to look into getting some prescription sunglasses one of these years!

Okay, through the magic of these here interwebs, you’re spared a white-knuckled ride over the bridge and we have arrived at Crust Pizza in East Peoria.

Check this out, they’re closing early today for a Christmas party. Wow, I guess they don’t realize that Christmas happened like almost a month ago! Oh well, I’m not going to tell them and be the asshole who spoils the party! I need to come back here in February to wish them a happy new year!

Let’s go in and get our 51st pie of the tour.

You order over there at the front counter, I’ll wait for this family to order and then we’ll move in.

Chelsea (on the left) took my order but she’s too young to ring up the beer, so Sandi came out to do that! Thanks ladies, that’s what I call teamwork!

There’s not a bar in here, so we’ll pretend we’re civilized adults and eat in the dining room. I like the wooden wall over there.

The tables are highly polished wood and you put your number on top of it and your pizza pie is brought out to you. Note that my number is 15. 15 backwards is 51, the same number as this week of the Year of Pizza Tour! I don’t know exactly what this means and I hope someone out there does and can tell me.

There’s a salad bar/wagon up in the front near the counter that you order at.

They have a daily luncheon buffet in here that goes for 9 bucks and that includes pizza, a drink and the salad bar. Let’s go check out the pizzas lined up over there.

Wow, a nice offering of pizzas, I count eight and there’s bread sticks at the end. The first pizza is a dessert pizza that looks really tasty.

As I mentioned in the introduction, they have beer now and here’s a whole cooler filled with different varieties.

Obligatory mirror shot!

Okay, we’re back at the table and I’ve lined up the three hot sauces they have here: Tabasco, Sriracha and of course, the ever-present Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

I’m guessing the pizza will be delivered in 3...2...1...

Boom, there it is, delivered with a pretty smile by Chelsea!

I got a specialty pizza called “The Lotta.” It’s a four cheese pizza and the cheses are: Mozzarella, provolone, cheddar, parmesan and ricotta. The cheese balls that look like butter on top of the pizza is the ricotta cheese. There’s several styles of pizza you can choose from and I got the hand-tossed New York style. I’ve eaten my share of New York pizza through the years, so we’ll see how this stacks up to my memory.

Okay, time for the all-important cooling process and a great excuse to get another beer while that process is taking place!

Wow, this is one tasty cheese pizza! All the cheeses have strong flavors coming through but it’s the ricotta that makes this so special, it’s creamy and somewhat sweet, which plays nicely with the sharpness of the other cheeses and the tangy sauce. And the crust is definitely New York style. If you’re a cheese pizza fan, like I am, you definitely need to check this out!

This is all I can eat, but it was so good! I can’t stuff myself because I’m going out for Sunday dinner tonight with my family. So I’ve got plenty of pie for the next day cold pizza challenge!

And look tomorrow is suddenly today and it’s time for the cold pizza challenge. The two bottles of beer in the MBIP Craft Beer Corner of the MBIP Fridge are from Amber, who brought over a six pack last week and we drank four of them. Those are the two leftovers. Thanks, Amber!

It’s delicious! Thanks to everyone at Crust Pizza for the nice hospitality and great cheese pizza! One more week to go! We'll see you all tomorrow!