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vegan at pizza port in solana beach
9June 17th, 2011more restaurants (not LA), san diegoUPDATE 8/31/11: just confirmed that the dough at pizza port IS vegan. here’s the official word from the restaurant: All of our dough is vegan as well as our traditional tomato sauce (not the pesto or ranch).
oh man, sometimes i forget how good GOOD cheeseless pizza is. sometimes i’m all caught up in the technology of stretchy melty-liciousness, that i forget to savor the flavor of exceptional sauce and perfect crust. pizza port in solana beach provided me with a much needed wake up call.
pizza and beer: 2 of our favorite things.
not only does the small family-friendly pub brew their own beer, but they also make their own pizza. and they’re damn good at it. first let’s discuss the pizza, because i know the majority of you are just interested in food. it was off the chain. after verifying that the normal crust (sorry, i’m not sure about the wholegrain!) and sauce were both vegan, we ordered directly off the menu—the “garlic veggie pizza”, sans cheese.
small garlic veggie pizza (no cheese): spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and garlic. $8.25
this was astoundingly good. pizza is my favorite food, and i’ve eaten A LOT OF IT. from incredible cheeseless chain dining, to unbelievable vegan chicago deep dish, to homemade experiments with every possibility melted on top. this pie could definitely hold its own with the best.
“it” really is all about the crust. i don’t know what “it” is, but pizza port definitely has “it”. “it” is that thing that makes me want to eat ten thousand slices. the soft yet crispy, the doughy yet light. i could eat it for the rest of my life. the same goes for pizza port pies. not to mention, the garlic veggie comes with my favorite toppings EVER. spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh garlic. hell yes. no modifications necessary to those.
next up, the beer!
when we hit up pizza port, we were very unsure of their home brewed vegan offerings, so we stuck to a safe and wonderful double IPA guest tap: pliny the elder. the DIPA went down well with the excellent food. sad but true, i don’t know of anywhere in LA to get such a great beer/vegan pizza combo (until mohawk opens).
since our visit, i’ve emailed pizza port to inquire about the vegaocity of their on-site brewed beers, and this was their response. (let’s go drink some chronic, yo!)
At all of the Pizza Port locations we have very few beers that are vegan friendly. We strive to make the best beer that we can make and have found that to do so we must use some animals byproducts in our processes. We don’t not use isinglass in our beers but we do use gelatin. It is used as a fining agent and isn’t in the glass that you get at the bar. It is used in the process. I realize and respect the fact that true vegans do not allow any animal byproducts in the preparation of what they eat. One of the only beers that we make that is truly vegan is Chronic. It is filtered through a paper media made set of filter pads. Our Hefeweizen, when on tap is not filtered at all and is therefore vegan. Some of the stouts that we make are also not filtered or fined and therefore have no animal byproducts in them either. If you have a specific beer in mind that you are unsure about, please let me know and I will get you an answer as to what is in the beer or not.
huge thanks to pizza port for being knowledgeable and getting back to me on that so soon, and for offering insane vegan-friendly pizza with some of the best sauce and crust i’ve ever tasted, and for boasting impressive guest taps.
the solana beach location is like an elevated version of the crappy pizza parlors i grew up with. huge community tables and big screen TVs that seem designed to host the post-game children sports crowd (little league and AYSO: i’m talking to you!) but with insanely good food and craft beer.
i honestly had to pinch myself: wait, what? as a vegan beer drinker, i am enjoying a “family friendly” restaurant near sandy-fucking-eggo?!
yes. if this is where the future is headed, i like it.
135 N. Highway 101
Solana Beach, CA 92075
(858) 481-7332
Sun – Thur: 11am – 10pm
Fri – Sat: 11am – midnight
8 responses to “vegan at pizza port in solana beach” 
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I’m growing tired of brewpubs claiming they “have to” fine with isinglass or gelatin. Such a cunty copout.
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quarrygirl June 17th, 2011 at 22:12
@dickie thon: I AGREE!!!!
oh, and after consulting w/ the my better half regarding this blog post, i realized that one of the beers pictured is actually blind pig. oh well, still an awesome ipa!
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Lastofthepirates June 17th, 2011 at 22:53
Pliny the Elder is my favorite beer of all time. Always good to see chains, or anywhere with it on tap. Blind Pig is also great. Just love Russian River brews in general.
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RickyC June 20th, 2011 at 20:42
We called this Pizza Port location last summer and talked to the manager, they told us whey was in the crust. Please double check with the manager when you eat there.
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I was in San Diego for the NHC this weekend and went to both the Solana Beach and Carlsbad Pizza Ports. Both places told me the cheesless pizza was vegan.
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Sleep July 13th, 2011 at 07:42
Yeah, Pizza Port in Carlsbad does the same. If ever in Oceanside go to Hill Street Cafe, pure awesomeness.
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Lauren July 26th, 2011 at 17:18
I love QuarryGirl! I’m headed to a BD party here on Fri and will be getting cheeseless veggie pizza! Thank you for the report!
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dickie thon June 17th, 2011 at 22:07