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Italian American Fusion restaurants and catering in Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona
Crust Pizza & Wine Cafe
6989 N Hayden Rd Suite A9
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
Phone 480.948.3099
Crust Italian American Fusion
100 N 3rd St
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone 602.261.8336
Behind the scenes of Crust concepts you will find 3 partners from the east coast where determination defines their passion. An Arizona twist on old world traditions, Crust Restaurants combine Italian American favorites, homemade pizza and flavorful wine. Mike Merendino has partnered with friends and coworkers Ryan Mitchell and Duke Hornia with intentions of expanding Crust Restaurants throughout the valley.
Mike Merendino, a Long Island native, grew up in his fathers pizzerias where recipes can be traced back to his grandparents in Sicily. With culinary skills exceeding most chefs his age, Mike has developed a menu for the original Scottsdale location not limited to pizza but including authentic as well as classic style dishes. Merendinos father created the idea of the Pizza Rustica to New York years ago. It is basically a thin stretched piece of dough layered with simple and fresh ingredients. The unique shape comes from small towns in Sicily where pizza took any shape depending on the amount of dough someone had. As long as it was stretched thin and cooked in stone ovens, it was considered pizza. The Pizza Rustica was born and took on its own shape. Mike has taken the Rustica and further developed it to where it has now become the staple at Crust and has taken Crust to be known as Home of the Rustica.
Ryan Mitchell, originally from New Jersey, is a multi-dimensional restauratuer with promotional and management skills as well as an accredited mixologist behind the bar. Having traveled most of the United States, living in Australia for sometime and working in several bars throughout the Phoenix area, Mitch is constantly seeking alternative recipes for classic or contemporary libations.
Duke Hornia, who grew up in Manhattan, is a certified Sommelier and brings 30 years of restaurant experience ranging from chains to 5 Diamond restaurants all over the country. Duke has created an eclectic wine list mixing old world and new world wines along with personal favorites. This list encompasses a generous number of varietals by the glass as well as half bottles.
Crust attributes its early success to its great atmosphere, excellent value, unrivaled recipes and most importantly the positivity throughout the company. At the end of the day, whether numbers are high or low, the only certainty is tomorrow will come. It will be our passion and determination that we have control over to take us to the next step. This is what we love and why we are here. Knowing there are many factors that will dictate ones success our motto remains "Just keep going."
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CrustRestaurants
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