One thing that perpetually frustrates me is you can never know what a gluten free crust is going to look like until you order it. Even a thorough Google search of the restaurant and the words “gluten free pizza” won’t do you any good. It’s like they’ve got something to hide…
This brings me to today’s Restaurant Breakdown of Figaro’s Pizza and Pub in San Marcos, TX. I’d been hearing for a while that they had a gluten free crust and today in that prime hunger time that is too late for lunch and too early for dinner I decided to give it a try.
Visiting their online menu, I was pleased to see they did indeed have a gluten free crust. I was a little less pleased to see that it was a $3 upcharge. Gluten free is only available in the medium size (12”) pizza which is a minimum of $12 to start (plus $3 for the GF).
When I picked up in store, I saw one of their gluten full personal sized pizza. That crust was thick and fluffy so this certainly wasn’t a thin crust establishment.
The gluten free pizza, however, was disappointing. I will preface this overview with the fact that I am not a thin crust kind of gal. I like a good thick, bready crust on my pizza. I will also say that there is a difference between a crunchy cracker crust and just a crust that refuses to rise no matter how much the chef yells at it.
This Figaro’s crust, unfortunately, fell into the latter category. While it was not the straight cardboard taste and texture that seems to plague many gluten free crusts, it was thin, flexible and mostly bland.
As for the other ingredients, I will applaud Figaro’s for their use of cheese. A lot of pizzas go sauce heavy and cheese light. This one went heavy on both. It was a little too much sauce for me, but I have to say the amount of cheese was excellent. Plus they use 100% real cheese! (see box at the bottom)
TL;DR I am grateful to Figaro’s for trying their hand at a GF crust, but, especially being the only GF thing on the menu with a $3 “GF tax”, the thin and bland crust left much to be desired.
Gluten Free Gal 