Rasmus Pizza Restaurant

Walked in to check out the food and the owner and his buddies were sitting around chain smoking.
Besides being against the law, it’s disgusting.
I wonder if their delivery customers know to expect a layer of nicotine on their food.

After a vacation to the Balkans I was in the mood for some local Balkan experience. You will find that here. Very friendly European staff and ownership. Clean, fairly priced, unbelievable Sarma and cevapci. If you don’t know what those items are, hmmm, maybe order the pizza, it’s good too.

Yea, I would eat this pizza again. I have a teensy fascination with this non-​Italian ‘za phenomenon, such as Pizza Art, and the now defunct (much to my chagrin) Pizza Bubamara. I believe this is a Bosnian restaurant, definitely Eastern European, serving up quite a variety of pizzas, other pasta dishes, and then the familiar «Che-​vup-​chi-​chi», and the more adventuresome and non-​pizza like «Breaded Veal Brain.»
The place, a pie-​shaped room on the corner of Elston and Lawrence, has the feel of a 1960’s rec room, and a Quentin Tarantino movie. It is The Anti-​Crust (a reference to the boîte by that name.) Not the most welcoming feeling upon entering, so I decided to order a pizza to go: a 10-​inch pizza Rusticale (sliced cooked ham, mushrooms, pepperoni, garlic, tomato, cheese, olive.) It was $ 8.00 on the outside window menu, and $ 11.00 on the inside menu. I ordered a Beck’s while I waited, and watched and listened to the handful of other patrons, and listened to the entertaiiner, who kept directing his comments to me, since I may have been the only one listening to him.
He was an Asian fellow, very atonal, with a guitar, He had a big flat white cap which covered his eyes, long braided black hair, a shiney silver shirt, a beige vest and black pants. I did not recognize any of his songs, and one had the lyrics «I want to have a boyfriend just like my dad’s.» This did NOT capture the attention of anyone else in the room, so I wondered if I was hearing things. Or again, just the only one listening.
Anyway, I took the pizza home, shared with roomies, and it was met with acceptance. I have to say that I like the Bosnian crusts. Chewy, a little sweet and yeasty, but definitely «homemade.» The pizza was just a tad overdone-​you know when the cheese looks like Old Florida person tanned skin, a bit leathery. I liked that there was very little tomato sauce. There are about twenty different varieties of pizzas, and all quite original.
Unless you are going with a large group to soak up the unique, albeit surreal ambiance, I would try them for delivery or takeout first. The pizzas range from $ 8.00 to $ 30.00 for 10″, 12″ or 20″ depending on ingredients. And as I pointed out, I would try it again. And so would my dad’s boyfriend!