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Cruzer Pizza; featuring Daiya cheese
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Vegan meat pizza
When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and this is exactly what I thought when I heard about Cruzer Pizza in Los Feliz. Cruzer Pizza is one of the first places in LA to serve the rumored gloriousness that is Daiya Cheese on its pizza. Daiya is the latest and greatest in vegan cheese technology. I love pizza, so this was a phenomenon that I had to check out.
When I arrived at Cruzer Pizza, I was a little worried. The establishment is little more than a door into a building with a small countertop, three barstools and a kitchen. Clearly, their business is based on delivery sales. A stack of bright yellow vegan menus sat on the countertop. I picked one up and my eyes glazed over. It's been a while since I had that much choice before me, and especially at a pizza place. All of the items on the vegan menu use 100% vegan ingredients. Here is a sampling of what you can expect:
Vegan Pizza - Vegan cheese pizza, vegan chicken pizza, vegan meat pizza, vegan bbq chicken pizza, vegan veggie pizza, vegan Hawaiian pizza, vegan margareta pizza, vegan calzone.
Vegan Pasta - Vegan meat spaghetti, vegan lasagna, chicken parmigiana, vegan spaghetti, vegan veggie lasagna, eggplant parmigiana.
I was overwhelmed. What to do? I had to go all the way. I ordered to vegan meat pizza, which boasts Daiya cheese and mock pepperoni, sausage and ham. I am usually not a huge mock meat fan, but since I was there, I wanted to be impressed. We waited about 20 minutes for our food to be prepared. As we lounged about at the countertop bar, I noticed that there were a few stacks of pamphlets from Farm Sanctuary on the counter. This was a place I could really appreciate as they were clearly doing their best to appeal to the vegan community. The one irony I couldn't ignore was the bottled water in the fridge that touted the March of Dimes logo; an organization that relies heavily on animal testing for its research. It just felt odd to be looking at that plea for support on the water bottle with the Farm Sanctuary pamphlet in my hand.
The pizza was ready and I was full of anticipation. Trust me. No one is a bigger cheese-substitute skeptic than I am. When I opened the box, I was almost sure they had given me the wrong order. I was looking at a pizza with a bonafide cheese melted all over it. I could see the gooeyness even before I pulled out a slice of the pie. I have to tell you that I've tried them all, and nothing even comes close to what Daiya offers. Despite what you may think when you take a bite of its melty, creamy deliciousness, it is, indeed, made from 100% plant based ingredients and Cruzer puts together a vegan package in its pizza that is simply impossible to dislike. The sauce was amazing and it was cooked perfectly. The area around the edge of the crust had little crispy bits of the Daiya cheese that had been slightly overdone, just as you would expect with a 'real' cheese pizza. As I pulled a slice apart from the whole, the cheese pulled and stretched and had almost the exact consistency of its cruel counterpart. It was phenomenal. I wasn't too impressed with the mock meats and picked most of them off, but, to be fair, Cruzer can't be blamed for that; I'm just not a fan of mock meat. The staff were friendly and it was pretty busy while I was visiting. For future orders, I will probably take my food to go...and there will be future orders.
If you are in the Los Feliz area, go check out Cruzer Pizza. You won't be disappointed. If you aren't in the Los Feliz area, make some time to drive out there and check it out. You won't be disappointed. It's worth the drive.
Cruzer Pizza: 323-666-0600 4449 Prospect Ave, Los Angeles Ca 90027
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