Mista, The Loop

Mista
134 N LaSalle
Chicago

Date of Last Visit: Sometime in January. I forget the exact date and my camera battery died so the photos aren’t dated.

The Victim: Michelle

The Damage: $10

The Background: Michelle and I have been trying to have lunch forever, but the stars just haven’t been aligning. She is a social media maven–she’s on a panel at SXSW if that gives you any indication–and an original blogger and WordPress aficionado. She is also a vegetarian. Chicago…not an easy city for vegetarians.

She’d already been to The Oasis Cafe (why I haven’t written about The Oasis, I don’t know), so I was struggling to pick a new place. Luckily in this instance, Michelle came through for me. It was she who suggested the local pizza chain Mista, a chain I’d never heard of before she sent me the link.

The Entrance: Mista in the Loop is small and compact. This creates a problem because you want to get a pizza, but you also want to sit down. And there are very few seats. Mista solves this by having a gentleman on staff who saves your table for you while you go get your pizza. Good thinking.

Mista bills itself as a fresh, organic, and natural pizzeria. I opted for the Florentine–organic baby spinach, ricotta, mushrooms (none in sight), and organic garlic. Eight or so minutes later, it was ready.

This is a very crispy pizza. As a New Yorker, I am definitely a fan of all things thin-crusted, but part of me felt this was just a bit too thin and crispy for me. The ingredients themselves were top notch, but I couldn’t stop thinking that I was eating a big cracker with pizza sauce on top. Hmmm.

The Verdict: Different. Not bad. But maybe not for me?