• June 16th, 2009quarrygirlcruzer pizza, LA restaurants

    recently i brought you the news that cruzer pizza in los feliz was offering pizzas topped with daiya cheese. now just a couple weeks later, i am happy to say they have not just expanded their menu and added many vegan pasta options, but they are also now serving up all their daiya cheese and fake meat creations at both the los feliz location and the glendale outlet. i hit up cruzer in glendale last week to try out their new vegan stuff, and i can tell ya that daiya is just as good (if not better) in pasta than it is on pizza.

    vegan chicken parmigiana. $9.99

    vegan chicken parmigiana. $9.99

    i’ve never had real chicken parmigiana, so i can’t really compare, but cruzer’s version of the italian classic was a bed of fat spaghetti noodles in a thick sauce, topped with soy chicken and covered in daiya cheese. they really piled on the cheddar and mozzarella daiya, and stuck it all in the oven so it melted up right nice.

    cruzer-vegan-chicken-parm-cu

    for ten bucks, the portion was huge. it’s definitely enough to share and even then have some left over. it was really great tasting daiya in a pasta…all scrambled in with the soy meat and noodles, you seriously wouldn’t ever notice that this is ‘fake’ cheese.

    vegan meat spaghetti. $9.99

    vegan meat spaghetti. $9.99

    we also tried out the vegan meat spaghetti, which was the same noodles as in the chicken parmigiana, but mixed up with soy ground meat and covered in cheese. again, the daiya was awesome; perfectly melty, stretchy and flavorful. this tasted just like an old school meaty cheesy pasta dish you get an italian restaurant…i’ve never tasted anything like it since becoming vegan.

    cruzer-vegan-meat-spaghetti-cu

    cruzer also has other vegan pastas that i haven’t tried yet, including lasagna and eggplant parmigiana. my only advice is to call ahead if there is something specific you want, because when i was there they didn’t have the lasagna. oh well, i can’t wait to go back and try it.

    vegan pasta menu at cruzer pizza

    vegan pasta menu at cruzer pizza

    of course in addition to pasta, both cruzer locations are offering up good ‘ole daiya vegan pizza as well. i tried out the thin crust from the glendale restaurant with tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and vegan sausage. definitely some of the best vegan pizza around.

    large daiya cheese pizza with mushrooms, tomato, garlic and vegan sausage. $20.99

    large daiya cheese pizza with mushrooms, tomato, garlic and vegan sausage. $20.99

    by now you all probably know how i feel about daiya, but just to remind you, this stuff is amazing on pizza. it melts, stretches, and feels just like real cheese. cruzer also mixes the cheddar and mozzarella together to give it more flavor, and it makes for an absolutely delicious pie.

    cruzer-glendale-cheese

    just to be clear, cruzer is take-out pizza place, so while there are a few stools to eat at inside, it wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. do what i did, call for your pizza and pasta in advance, take it home and relax with a good movie and a bottle of wine, if that’s how you roll.

    cruzer-glendale-int

    rumor is, cruzer is gonna keep adding more vegan stuff to the menu. i hope that’s true, because everything i have tried there has been excellent. go check it out if you haven’t already, now you have a cruzer in the valley AND los feliz to choose from.

    cruzer-glendale-ext

    cruzer pizza
    1200 N Pacific Ave
    Glendale, CA 91202
    (818) 500-1289

    and

    cruzer pizza
    4449 Prospect Ave
    Los Angeles, CA 90027
    (323) 666-0600

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