Food find: Tusayan is a waste of a town

This is a tale of two cities. The first is called Chicago, a glittering town of history, art and amazing pizza. The second city is Tusayan, Ariz., a town that also glints in the night, but that's where the similarities end. This blink-or-you'll miss it town is located just outside the South entrance to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I am convinced that it's sole purpose is to offer sub par services to tourists.

Because I was not astute enough to make hotel reservations, Tim and I had to spend the night there in a gross, overpriced hotel that served prepackaged processed muffins and instant oatmeal for their continental breakfast.

I digress. Anyhow, we had to eat dinner and all that was left open was We Cook Pizza and Pasta. The name is as original as the pizza.

We ordered the pesto pizza, a premium pie. It came with a pesto base in lieu of marinara, cheese, broccoli, red peppers and pine nuts. I assumed the pine nuts would be part of the pesto, but apparently that's not how they do it in these parts.

In addition to that quirk, the vegetables on top were not parboiled or otherwise partially cooked before serving. They were crunchy and practically indigestible. And there wasn't nearly enough pesto to keep the pizza moist throughout the cooking process. The crust was good, but that was about the only thing on this pizza that wasn't gross. Here's hoping that perhaps since we ordered a designer pizza, this was just outside of their area of expertise.

Otherwise, this place should be renamed to We Barely Cook our Pizza and Pasta.