No schnitzel, but you can still get beer at new pizzeria that opens Wednesday at former Hofbräuhaus in Rosemont
A year after the last schnitzel was fried and oompa played, a portion of what was a former German beer hall in Rosemont is set to reopen Wednesday under a different restaurant name and concept.
But the new venue will have at least one thing in common with the old one: beer.
Crust, a pizzeria and craft beer bar, will open at 11 a.m. Wednesday within the Parkway Bank Park entertainment district, taking up 13,400 square feet of the 20,000-square-foot former Hofbräuhaus Chicago.
The space has been transformed inside and out over the course of the last year, but the old brewing equipment - a 2,000-liter Kaspar-Schulz brewery designed, engineered and built by hand in Bamberg, Germany - has stayed in place. Brewmaster Rob Hunter also has remained on staff to produce a selection of about a half-dozen signature and seasonal/specialty beers.
The menu features 16 pizzas; each are individually-sized at 12 inches, but can be shared. They include The 312 (red sauce, mozzarella, house made Italian beef and giardiniera) and The Shroom (white garlic Parmesan cream sauce, black truffle cream, mixed mushroom, arugula and shaved Parmesan).
For diners not into pizza or beer, the menu offers other entrees, shareables, salads, desserts, wine and cocktails.
The pizzeria and brewery is the brainchild of father-and-son businessmen Joe and Mike Matuschka, who operated Hofbräuhaus for eight years under a lease with the village. Amid rising costs and shrinking profits, they decided to retool, and last April, they bought a portion of the former beer hall for $2.165 million and started renovations.
Still to come on the other side of the wall in the subdivided building: a 5,000-square-foot Pete's Piano Bar and 1,800-square-foot Tiki Tiki bar.