When we lived in upstate New York, there was a late night TV commercial that flashed a gorgeous pizza on the screen while a deep and melodious voice asked, "Are you hungry right now? Just pick up the phone and dial. Your pizza will be delivered fast, hot and delicious."
"Hell Yeah," was usually our response, followed by a lament that it was just an ad, and the real pizza probably sucked. We never ordered. One night though, the 'hell yeah' was followed by a "let's do it just this once." When it arrived, of course we were sorely disappointed because ... it sucked. And it wasn't even fast or hot. Bummer.
Every so often these days we get an urge to order a pizza. Hard as it may be to believe, we can order a gluten-free vegan pizza and it WILL arrive hot and delicious. No kidding. Last night, in honor of National Vegan Pizza Day, we ordered the garden special from Razzi's Italian Restaurant — roasted eggplant, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, fresh garlic, and Daiya mozzarella with homemade organic pizza sauce. Sometimes the crust seems so good I find myself questioning whether it's really GF, but I never get stomach pains after I eat it so I guess it really is an especially well-done GF version.
Razzi's is like a 'normal' neighborhood Italian restaurant except they have four different menus — traditional, gluten-free, vegan, and gluten-free vegan. Even more unusual, the offerings on each menu are virtually the same. If you want calzones you can get them on any of the menus. Gyros, grinders, hummus and pita? They're all there. They even have something called "sorta-sausage" on the vegan/GF menu. And they deliver — in case we're too tired or lazy to drive to the restaurant.
Not that I want to make you jealous, but we also have a very well-regarded vegan-owned, all-vegan pizzaria in Seattle called Pizza Pi. We don't eat pizza very often, but when we're in the mood for it, and don't feel like cooking, it's nice to know we have so many choices. Do you have restaurants like these in your city?
I always fail at celebrating Vegan Pizza day, and always regret it the following few days.
ReplyDeleteDon't know that I've ever had eggplant on a pizza, but I love eggplant so it's probably great. So cool that they have 4 separate menus.. vegan/GF folks in NYC have a fair amount of options (Slice, Vinnie's, Two Boots, Viva) but I'm not sure there's a consensus on "well-regarded" if only because pizza is sacred here.
Also, I don't think there's delivery - at least out here in Queens/Brooklyn, but in the manhattan, for the city that never sleeps and doesn't have a large enough kitchen to move in, they probably deliver. It's a nice treat, when you can get it.
This was, I believe, my first vegan pizza day celebration, and now that I don't have to actually make the pizza, I'm inclined to celebrate again.
DeleteThe eggplant tastes great on the pizza — think eggplant parmesan on a crust. I'm sort of afraid to admit that the other mentioned restaurant isn't my favorite because other people like it so much, but oh well. We have lots of other options for GF vegan pizza here, too, but none seem quite as well thought out as these two. And I haven't tried them all. Being from Phila., where pizza love is pretty fierce, and having grown up with a father who owned an Italian restaurant, I, too, have high standards, and GF crust can never really equal a perfect wood-fired-oven-crust made from wheat, but Razzi's is pretty darn good!
And yes, delivery is a bonus!
I didn't even know it was vegan pizza day. How awesome to get vegan pizza delivery, it looks so good! Even better than some pizza I've gotten in a restaurant. It's probably a good thing there's no delivery available here, I would be getting it all the time. :-)
ReplyDeleteI only knew about vegan pizza day because it kept popping up on my facebook page and on other people's blogs. Seeing all those pizza photos of course, made me want pizza, too. We manage to control the urge to order pizza every day. :)
DeleteI forgot it was vegan pizza day & now wish we would have went out for some! Oh well.
ReplyDeleteWe have to go out of town for any decent vegan pizza, unless if we make it ourselves, of course. That's terrific that you can get delivery!
It still amazes me that we can order a vegan pizza!
DeleteI think you can celebrate a little late.
Oh man, this place sounds like pizza heaven! We celebrated Pizza Day a little late over here. My husband picked up a vegan pie from Uncle Maddio's near our house this evening.
ReplyDeleteBetter late than never with pizza, and many other things. I think it's amazing that it took pizza places so long to get with the vegan options, but I'm glad they finally did.
DeleteI usually freeze half of my pizza when I make it, so that I have it for just such an occasion. But, wouldn't you know I was all out and it's too hot to cook! Instead, I celebrated with Indian food; bhindi masala might not be pizza, but it is good. Glad you represented. Very impressive delivery!
ReplyDeleteIndian food isn't exactly pizza, but is worthy of celebration any time.
DeleteWe used to get a large and save the leftovers but we always ate them for breakfast the next day. Now we get a medium and there are no leftovers. No leftovers for when we need them.
I don't eat pizza often either. I like to keep it 'special' and make a ritual around making or ordering one and going someone nice and cosy to eat it. Brighton in the UK has a little nook in a bohemian part of town, called www.pizzaface.co.uk Gluten Free & vegan!
ReplyDeleteThose of us with vegan pizza places are really lucky!
DeleteThat pizza sounds so good! Wow. I hardly ever eat pizza either, but we have vegan/gluten free options here too. Pizza Luce and Galactic Pizza both have nice options, as do quite a few others in the area.
ReplyDeleteCourtney
It's amazing how vegan choices have increased! Maybe someday everyone will be vegan. :)
DeleteWow, you are so lucky! vegan and gluten-free is amazing. They already look weird when I order vegan pizza here (if I find a place that doesn't use milk!!! for the dough). They'd probably throww me out if I wanted a gluten-free pizza:)
ReplyDeleteI remember the days when I used to order pizza without cheese and the restaurant workers would look at me like I was crazy. Times have certainly changed — at least around here. Now sometimes I ask them to use only a little (vegan) cheese because I don't like my pizza too cheesy, but that seems too hard for the pizza cooks to do!
Deletewow this places sounds friggin amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty surprising menu, and I really like the pizza!
DeleteOh, your such a shameless showoff! And then rubbing it by asking if we had such place...as if. Harumph. Jealousy. Envy. Covetousness. Sigh. Lucky girl. I wonder how far they'll deliver? :-) I wish I had known about Pizza Day. Miss Rachel posted about it too. Remind me next year. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteIf someone reminds me, I'll surely remind you. You people in California have it all. What are you talking about?
DeleteParts of California have it all. In Sacto, we get what we can get. No vegan pizza joints here, unfortunately.
DeleteI missed out on vegan pizza day this year, but we have a few places (in Portland, OR) to get good GF/vegan pies. Rudy's Gourmet Pizza is a two minute drive from my house and they always deliver hot and fast. I sure do love my little vegan bubble. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just found your blog! I lived in Seattle for 10 years (Capital Hill & Ballard) before moving back to Oregon 3 years ago. I love the pictures of the Fremont parade on your last post, and miss Pizza Pi. I'm really looking forward to following your blog and seeing Seattle. I miss it a lot.
Portland is such a beautiful and fun place to live — you're so lucky to live at the center of the vegan Universe!
DeleteI'm so impressed you have a pizzeria that does both vegan and gluten free and tasty to boot!
ReplyDeleteIt's not our only one but it's our favorite. :) And they deliver.
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