I was in Chicago on a recent trip staying out in the Des Plaines/Rosemont area as I like to do when I go to Chicago for business. One afternoon, I was looking for some place to get something to eat near the hotel and I found that there was a new brew pub that specialized in Neapolitan pizzas in a spot where the Hofbrauhaus used to be. I decided to head over to Crust Brewing to check the place out.
The father/son duo of Joe and Mike Matuschka were the ones behind the Hofbrauhaus, a franchise of the world famous Hofbrauhaus in Munich, Germany. They opened their Hofbrauhaus in 2013 in Rosemont's entertainment district and followed it up with a St. Petersburg, FL location in 2015. They ended up selling the St. Petersburg Hofbrauhaus in 2017 to focus solely on the Rosemont location.
The Matuschka's were no strangers to the hospitality business in Chicago as they owned the famous Crobar dance club before closing it in 2010. In 2011, Mike Matuschka opened Leader Bar, a popular eatery on W. Irving Park Road and soon opened a German tavern Uberstein in the Wrigleyville area. They were also involved in the Max Bar, a dance club in the Lincoln Park neighborhood that opened in 2006. While Mike Matuschka still owns Leader Bar, he closed Max Bar and Uberstein to focus on Hofbrauhaus soon after it opened in 2013.
At 20,000 square feet, Hofbrauhaus was a giant beer hall with German music and large enough to handle the big crowds that would visit the restaurant during their annual Oktoberfest celebrations. For six weeks in the fall, Hofbrauhaus was the place to be for all things German. (Note - I visited Hofbrauhaus in 2015 to try their food and beers. Click here to see Road Tips write up on the Hofbrauhaus.)
But, like everything, things change. The public trend of getting away from heavy German food was weighing heavily on the Hofbrauhaus. And it became apparent that the beer hall couldn't sustain its overall business just on Oktoberfest revenues. There were proposals put forth to cut down on the size of the Hofbrauhaus to possibly half the original size. The pandemic was the death knell for Hofbrauhaus as the Matuschka's were forced to close the restaurant in February 2021.
However, the Matuschka's still held the lease on the space and went to the city of Rosemont - who owns the property - with a proposal to change Hofbrauhaus into a brewery/pizza restaurant. They still had the brewing facilities that they had purchased from Germany on site, and changing out the layout of the space to put in a new kitchen and a large bar in the center of the restaurant had to be approved by the Rosemont village government.
After the approval was made, work started on the new venture in the spring of 2021 with hopes to be open in the summer of 2021. However, like many construction projects started during the pandemic, it was plagued by delays due to supply chain issues. The new Crust Brewery opened in February of 2022 in the south side of the building. In the other half, Pete's Dueling Piano Bar - which originally had opened in the Rosemont entertainment district years ago before closing - took up about 5,000 square feet of the former Hofbrauhaus, while Pete's Tiki Tiki, a tiki bar, took the remaining 1,000 or so square feet of the building.
I pulled up to Crust Brewing around 1:30 p.m. on a weekday. (see map) I was lucky to get a parking spot in front of the restaurant as there is a large (paid) parking garage that's a bit of a walk from Crust.
The center piece of the restaurant was a large rectangular bar that featured a number of flat panel televisions on the sides. I had my choice of sitting somewhere in the restaurant, but I decided to belly up to the bar.
Directly behind the bar was part of the main room dining area. On the brick walls was the Crust logo with more flatscreen televisions. Thick wooden-topped tables under direct LED lighting were waiting for customers to fill them up. This was dubbed the cocktail bar area and could be cordoned off for private events.
To the far right side was a modern and sleek open kitchen including a large pizza oven and a grill area. Long tables for larger groups or communal dining were in front of the kitchen. In all, Crust had a number different spots that could accommodate large and small groups.
Opposite from the kitchen toward the front end of the restaurant, just over a half wall with glass partitions was another dining space that featured booths and tables. Near the front door was a small bar area that could be used for private parties for drinks and hors d' oeuvres. In all, the inside dining areas at Crust can seat 350 people with another 100 seats available on the patio during warmer months.
In a room just steps from the bar were the large vats for brewing the beer on the premises. Rob Hunter was the brewmaster during the Hofbrauhaus days and was sort of forced to follow the beer recipes handed down from the original Hofbrauhaus in Munich. With the shackles off, Hunter has explored other style of beers including 8 regular varieties along with occasional seasonal beers.
It wasn't all that busy that afternoon and the diverse music selections they had playing over the sound system from the likes of Loren Gray, Clayton Anderson, Mark Ronson, and the English rock band James were a nice background distraction from the sports and news talking heads shown on the televisions around the restaurant.
Sitting at the bar, I was handed a food menu by one of the two bartenders working that day. A young man and a young lady, the two tag-teamed on the service duties for me. The young lady gave me a beer menu to look over and I immediately saw that they had a hazy IPA - the Hazed & Confused - on the beer list. I ordered a pint of that beer to enjoy while I looked over the food menu.
The first thing on the menu were the shareable appetizers that included a spinach dip with focaccia bread, spicy cheese curds, beer-steamed mussels, and crostini bread slices served with a creamy burrata cheese. They also had a handful of salads on the menu in which protein items such as grilled shrimp, marinated skirt steak, and lemon garlic salmon could be added to the greens. Crust also featured a few sandwiches and burgers on the menu with sides such as truffle fries, onion rings, and mac & cheese available.
But their big pull are their wood-fired pizzas. All the pizzas at Crust are 12" in size and cut into sixths. And they feature a choice of either a red or white sauce on the pizza. There were a dozen specialty pizzas on the menu with the red sauce and 10 different types of specialty pizzas with the white sauce. Pizzas with individual choices of toppings were available as well.
I certainly didn't want a pizza for lunch - I was going out for dinner with a client later that evening. But I felt that I needed something to tide me over for the meanwhile. I ended up getting the basic cheeseburger with American cheese, grilled onions, and something called a "fat boy" sauce. It was served on some wax paper on a small baking sheet. For an extra $2 bucks I got a side of their parmesan truffle fries.
The burger was good - the bun was a little stiff, but it didn't detract from the overall taste of the burger. The burger was juicy and flavorful, cooked to a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle. The cheese oozed off the sides of the burger patty and the onions didn't overpower the flavor. The fries were fine - and there were plenty of them. Overall, I'd call it above average all the way around.
Possibly in the future I'll head back to Crust Brewery for a pizza at some point, but for now the burger I had for lunch gave me an introduction to the place. Even though the place is big, I didn't feel like I was eating in a cavernous establishment. The service I had from the two bartenders - especially from the very attentive female bartender - was superb. I enjoyed the burger and the hazy IPA beer they had on tap was also very good. I'm sure it can get pretty busy at times at Crust - the entertainment district can get sort of crowded, especially at night. But for a leisurely lunch with a burger and a couple beers, I sort of liked going to Crust Brewery.
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