Upper Crust

Plus: Food Matters, Eat 101, The Mix, Wino and Sippin' Out

By Volcano Staff on May 29, 2008

Upper Crust

They like it deep in Chicago, and New Yorkers swear they do it best. What about Tacomans? We do it gourmet, dahling! Thin-crusted and loaded with toppings, upscale pizza is thriving — low-fat diets be damned. Posh pizzerias have captured the genre, replacing fraternity crowds with fashionable foodies.

One of my new old favorites is the Upper Crust Pizza & Eatery next to Magoo’s on North 21st Street. 

They serve three pizza sizes; four hand-tossed crust flavors and three sauce choices support a variety of topping options, including wild mushroom medley, roasted walnut, eggplant, goat cheese, chicken breast, chorizo sausage, and many others.

Upper Crust also serves four specialty pizza options that arrive as works of art.  The Chia Pizza — tomatoes, cheese and salad tossed with vinaigrette — resembles, well, a salad. The Checkerboard marinara and pesto sauce pizza mocks a game board, with roasted red bell pepper stripes marking up the board with circular goat cheese slices topped with a single Kalamata olive as the playing pieces. — Jake de Paul

[Upper Crust Pizza & Eatery, 2714 N. 21st St., Tacoma, 253.752. 0900]

Food Matters

Eat 101

The Mix

What we’ve been eating/ drinking:

Wino

Rosé — makes you laugh, doesn’t it? Most wine lovers still don’t realize that rosé wines made a comeback — that many labels carry them, and that opening a few bottles makes an excellent party.

Rosé comes from red grapes crushed and only allowed to stay in contact with its skins for a short time. It’s not completely clear why the rosé tumbled from grace, but for years most middle-income homes kept a bottle or two chilled for Saturday night bridge games.

Rosé perfectly compliments a warm summer evening. Great for a post lawn mowing, or to get appetites going during hors d’oeuvres, Rosé provides both refreshment and internal air conditioning.

Mark Merrill, owner of Pour at Four, also offers a little trick he picked up about serving chilled wine. The day before, pour the rosé into ice cube trays. Then, when you serve the rosé in glasses, pop in the rosé cubes to keep drinks cool — and keep adding as necessary.
Now that’s thinking. — Ken Swarner

Sippin’ Out