Posts Tagged “pizza”
Pizza Cookery is an archetypal wood paneling era pizza parlor… giant tables matching the walls meant to seat groups and families, comfy seating, children running around being obnoxious, saw dust on the floor, overflowing pitchers of beer, and a new addition to the love affair we’re having here… entirely separate Vegan and Gluten Free menus. It’s actually quite astonishing when you walk into this place and it’s all red-blooded, meat eating America like, and then you get handed your very own vegan menu, just for you. This place is lively and packed on the weekends (though we were seated within less than 5 minutes of waiting), and it’s one of the most well integrated restaurants I’ve been to so far that caters so well to both carnivore and vegan satisfaction. Nothing fancy, just a good old fashioned good time while kicking back with tasty food.
First the pizza- the pizza rules. They use Follow Your Heart cheese, and they use it well. My fellow foodeaters Alix & Shawn and I ordered a large 16 incher with mushrooms and vegan pepperoni. They also have a vegan smoked chicken as well as all the usual pizza toppings like bell peppers, black olives, tomatoes, and also fresh basil, garlic, cilantro, pineapple, jalapeño, eggplant, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts… basically anything good you might what on it. The pizza was huge and smothered in melty-hot vegan cheese, tangy tomato sauce and a truly delicious crust. [If you are one of those people who don't eat their pizza crust, know that I consider you a weirdo.] They also slice it up all funky to maximize the amount of slices you can share, you end up with oddly shaped yet fun to eat mostly rectangular slices, I got one that was an oblong triangle shape. You can also order smaller pizzas or even mini individual sized versions. For the gluten free set, they’ve got you covered with a staff that’s trained in separate food handling ready to make you gluten free pizzas, pastas and salads. Tags: Philly, pizza, sandwich[Update 10/12/09] Sadly That’s Amore is closing it’s doors this week and is no more :( That’s Amore. Actually, it’s an anomaly. That’s Amore is an all vegetarian / vegan Italian restaurant in Cerritos. In a strip mail. No really, think about that for minute. Cerritos is one of the last places you’d think to find a vegan friendly restaurant, not to mention an Italian one. After all Italian food is all about the cheese, right? Sure, but did you really think that would stop us vegans from enjoying it? No way, Jose. The fine folks at That’s Amore, a pleasant family run operation, have mastered the art of making vegan cheese indistinguishable from the real thing. They’re using Follow Your Heart cheese, which, unless you posses the secret magic power that enables you to get it to melt properly, you already know can be tricky to work with. Well the chef at That’s Amore has that power and this faux cheese melts at their command. They’ve got it down to a science… a breakthrough if you will. But first we need to discuss the Bruschetta.  Straight up, That’s Amore makes a mean bruschetta. While bruschetta is a pretty simple concept, crusty bread with tomatoes, garlic, capers, basil, olive oil, they’ve managed to make it into an art form here. This bruschetta was 100% scrumptious! By some kind of precise combination of ingredients they’ve concocted a perfectly delicious appetizer that had my companians and I all greedily eying the last piece, quite ready to fight for it if necessary. Guess who won? In these abysmal and uncertain times of economic calamity, who doesn’t like to save a buck or two on their grocery shopping? That’s why I was really excited to find that Whole Foods is now making a knock-off version of one of the best vegan frozen entrees that is available, Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza. Amy’s pizza is known and loved by many as a truly delicious frozen pizza that’s 100% vegan and available in many super markets, including Whole Foods. Whole Foods has also started carrying their own version of the same thing under their home label, 365 Everyday Value. I assumed this would be the same as Amy’s pizza just boxed as the Whole Foods brand, much like they do at Trader Joe’s. The great thing about this Whole Foods version is that it’s nearly half the price… Amy’s goes for $8.99 while the Whole Foods pizza is only $4.99. Too bad the low price is the only great thing about it. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
As described, it involves: “No cheese. Topped with marinated organic shiitake mushrooms, roasted red peppers, sweet onions and marinated artichoke hearts. Non-dairy/no cholesterol.”  The sauce is onion based, not tomato. The weird thing is that I am an avid & avowed onion hater, though it’s mostly in their raw form that I despise them. Cooked into food I don’t mind them, and in certain preparations I actually like them. Sweet onion pizza sauce is one of those ways. One of my all time favorite foods on the entire planet is the green onion based Indian pizza at Zante’s in San Francisco. Should I ever have to choose my last meal, Zante’s vegan pizza with everything would be it. Amy’s pizza tastes nothing like Zante’s of course (nothing can ever come close), but it does share that unique sweet onion sauce approach to pizza. If something can make me actually enjoy an onion, you know it’s got to be good. |
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Did you get to hang out in oldschool pizza parlors when you were a kid? How great was Shakey’s with their big wooden booths and delicious pizza you could keep going back for more of, pie after pie? My parents threw me a birthday party there when I was in first grade, I have fond memories. My friends and I switched to loitering at our local Pizza Hut after school when I was in junior high. I haven’t been to a place like that in years considering they’re a cheese & sausage fest, but finally we vegans get to experience that kind of pizza hang out fun again, nestled deep in the west valley at the Woodland Hills Pizza Cookery.
First lets talk a bit about Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza (No Cheese). This is one delicious pizza as far as things that come out of box and into your oven are concerned. I loved this long before I went vegan and I still do today. Amy’s pizza is the one item in the freezer aisle I always have a tough time resisting. 
