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daiya + gardein = awesome vegan pizza
32August 18th, 2009vegan cheese
daiya vegan cheese pizza with gardein crumbles
a couple nights ago i got together with some friends and had a good old-fashioned vegan pizza throw down. the los angeles vegan pizza scene has kind of exploded lately, since daiya vegan cheese has become available at purgatory pizza, cruzer, whole foods and zpizza—so i went for quite a while without making pizza at home.
luckily now, daiya vegan shreds are available not just on take out pizza, but for to-go purchase by weight at nearly every whole foods in the los angeles area. no more ordering online and paying outrageous shipping fees—now you can take a stroll to the nearest whole foods and buy as many containers of daiya as you can carry. i suggest you follow my lead, round up some friends, and throw your own pizza party.
we made several pizzas, although some of them were devoured before i could photograph them. in addition to covering the pies with daiya, we also topped them with products from one of our favorite fake meat providers, gardein. if you haven’t had gardein yet, you really need to find out what you are missing. they have the BEST mock chicken product around, as well as mock pulled pork, mock beef, and other mock meats. you can find their stuff at whole foods, trader joes, fresh and easy, and even sometimes at ralphs. for more info, check out their website.
on the pizza pictured above, we used gardein’s meatless crumbles which were insanely delicious. they were soft and flavorful and tasted so much like what i remember ground beef tasting like…but without the weird animal texture. my favorite pizza of the night, however, was the one pictured below: white sauce, sauteed mushrooms, garlic, gardein chik’n strips and daiya vegan cheese. this thing was freaking incredible. the white sauce was filled with herbs, oil & seasoning, and was the perfect compliment to the meaty chik’n strips.
white vegan pizza with daiya cheese and gardein chick'n strips
these chik’n slices are definitely one of my favorite gardein products—i have had omnivores tell me they taste way better than real chicken. they are moist and full of flavor, but not overly dry like gross real meat. seriously, a bite of these mixed up with melted daiya and oily sauce is nothing short of heavenly.
as you can tell, the pizza shindig was a huge success thanks to all the amazing toppings, and also to the excellent pizza chef studiodrome who spent a lot of time in the kitchen making these things.
so what are you waiting for? everything you need to make the pizza of your dreams is available at nearby supermarkets. to think a year ago in los angeles, there were basically no vegan pizza options—and now we can make incredible vegan pizzas AT HOME with cheese and meat that taste like the real thing…it’s pretty damn amazing.
check your local whole foods for daiya vegan cheese, and check gardein’s website for where you can find their products.
oh, and if you feel lazy and want a gardein daiya pizza made for you, head on over to purgatory pizza. i’m pretty sure they are the only place that carries both these products right now. and they make the best pesto pizza with gardein chik’n that i’ve ever had.
Tags: daiya, gardein, pizza
31 responses to “daiya + gardein = awesome vegan pizza” 
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Just a quick heads up, Fresh & Easy has Gardein chick’n strips for .99 a box. At least at the Eagle Rock one has them for that price. We bought 10 boxes! No idea why they are so cheap since every other Gardine product is still $4.50 there, but I’m not complaining!
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i nominate quarrygirl as the best vegan pizza party host EVER!
thank you & mr. meaner for a fabulous evening! and studiodrome & c&d for their food prep, and foodeater for bringing those yummy truffles. i can’t believe how much pizza and grilled cheese and chocolate and ice cream i ate =/ gosh, that white pizza was fucking amazing…
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white pizza was the star of the night… pizza star anyhow. studiodrom ekilled it in the kitchen. thanks!
kevin.. the F&E in hollywood had every gardein product for 99cents a couple weeks back. i loaded up, but now everything is back to 4-5 bucks. bummer
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My Whole Foods (Long Beach) is using Diaya but wouldn’t sell me any. 🙁 I’ll have to keep checking with them.
I don’t know what the deal is with Purgatory. I tried to go there on Saturday. It was closed. It was 5:30 in the afternoon! I was so disappointed. When I drove by I noticed Purgatory got a B so I looked ’em up on lapublichealth.org and found these violations.
RODENTS – ACTIVE INFESTATION (MAJOR) –
PURE FOOD / SPOILAGE (MINOR)
HAIR RESTRAINTS / OUTER GARMENTS / NAILS / RING(S)
DISREPAIR
NON – FOOD CONTACT SURFACES – NOT CLEAN (MINOR)
STORAGE
UNAPPROVED TYPE / IMPROPER USE / IMPROPER INSTALLATION
WIPING CLOTHS – NOT CLEAN / INADEQUATE SANITIZER / STORAGE
IMPROPER CONCENTRATION / TEMPERATURE / MISSING SUPPLIES
NOT CLEAN
RODENTS – NO ACTIVE INFESTATION (MINOR)
OPEN DOOR / AIR CURTAIN / NOT FULLY ENCLOSED
DRESSING ROOM / PERSONAL ITEMS
REFUSE / CONTAINERSSome of these are minor but active rodent infestations and general uncleanliness… Yum!
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miss anthrope August 18th, 2009 at 09:31
mike: purgatory opens at 6pm, it says so on their website. i think they are opening soon for lunch though, i will keep you posted.
i’m not sure what the whole story is on past health violations, but i do know they had some people who broke health code sharing a kitchen with them and they are GONE now. i have been inside the kitchen recently, and it looks clean to me.
you should give purgatory a chance. i have never heard of anyone being disappointed with their food.
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Janette August 18th, 2009 at 09:44
WHAT?! I didn’t know Whole Foods was carrying Daiya now. WOW! I am definitely going to go get some and make some pizzas. These look great. I love gardein too, but I haven’t had it on a pizza.
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chef studiodrome! i love it. had a great time grubbing on pizza and panini and truffles and beer! thanks for hosting. we’d be happy to come back and cook in your awesome kitchen anytime. 🙂
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miss anthrope August 18th, 2009 at 10:05
miss alix: i think you and studiodrome need to open a PIZZERIA/BAKERY. i would be there every single day.
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i still haven’t tried daiya. i guess i have no excuse now. is it better than teese?
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jennyw August 18th, 2009 at 10:35
I don’t know what stores there are in Los Angeles, but if there are any better alternatives to Whole Foods, like local co-ops, I’d suggest buying there. Some reasons to boycott Whole Foods:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/13-0
Personally, if the only grocery stores in town were Whole Foods and Safeway, I’d still pick Whole Foods. But I live in the Bay Area, where we have better options, like Rainbow Grocery, the COG, etc.
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Locavore August 18th, 2009 at 10:37
Locali on Franklin also has Daiya cheese and Gardein. You can find everything for your vegan pizza party at Locali!
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justinPDX August 18th, 2009 at 11:13
i don’t live in los angeles, but i just ordered 3 bags of daiya from veganstore.com. i will tell you what i think. i wish we had it up here.
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msmerymac August 18th, 2009 at 11:26
You are reading my mind – I’ve had pizza on the brain since yesterday. Of course, I have a block of mozzarella cheezly sitting in my fridge. I’m thinking I’ll go simple, with a tomato-garlic-basil-olive oil chunky sauce, topped with cheezly. Maybe some pine nuts. This is definitely a weekend project for me. I can’t wait to try it.
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Thank you for hosting a great party with amazing food! Dinner at your place, surrounded by friends trumps any restaurant in LA.
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I tried daiya for the first time last week. I have to disagree with Scott. Daiya is way better than cheesly. It actually melts.
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You are the pizza queen! Thank you soooooo much for hosting such a tasty & treat-filled pizza party! It was great to see you guys!
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Christin August 18th, 2009 at 15:20
are they selling it by weight in a certain section? after asking 3 people at the whole foods at santa monica and fairfax i finally found someone willing to scoop some out and sell it to me at salad bar price, but it didn’t seem like something they were supposed to be doing…
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queenie August 18th, 2009 at 18:49
mike, are u the same FUCK that has left comments in the past; if so — get a life; if you are a new FUCK, try to hook up with the other one that has commented in the past & go teach your kids or a whole classroom of kids capitalization/punctuation if that is your dream or goal in life. leave the rest of us who just want to read this blog and informative/productive comments alone!
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Vegetarian August 19th, 2009 at 06:15
Have you ever tried a mix of cheddar and mozzarella daiya on a pizza? That’s a winning combo!
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Hay Mike. Come see for yerself. We’ve always gotten an A until that one time 6 or 7 months ago and would not be open now were what you’d written the case. We’ve been inspected twice since then and I’m just waiting for our letter inspection, (health inspector is late on it grr….) as our A is due again. Thank you for driving by. Come when we are open next time! 🙂
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aj_vegan August 19th, 2009 at 08:11
I was on a vegan cheese hunt yesterday and finally found Daiya cheese at the Brentwood Whole Foods.
After going to the one on Fairfax & 3rd. They sell them in medium-sized plastic containers, moderately priced depending on weight. Man did that taste good! -
miss anthrope August 19th, 2009 at 08:36
erin: you are right!! i don’t know if green peas offers gardein on pizza though…
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Michelle August 19th, 2009 at 11:33
FYI, Daiya just gave Quarrygirl props and a link to this post on their Facebook page…
“Have a look at this great blog from quarrygirl on the pizza party she hosted on Friday:”SWEET!! 😀
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this page was exactly what i’ve been looking intended for! I found this blog bookmarked at a friend of mine. i most certainly will also share it. many thanks again!
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