Zpizza- Spreading Great Vegan Pizza Throughout the Land
Zpizza is a national chain with stores in seventeen states, with three locations in my local Raleigh area. They make both traditional and gourmet brick oven pizzas. The big score for me is their offering of vegan cheese as a mozzarella alternative as well as a dedicated specialty vegan pizza. This is a great thing.
Ever wonder why many vegetarians won’t just leap on over to becoming vegan? I think it’s the cheese. Ask, and many people will tell you that the hardest thing to consider giving up is cheese. There is even a debate on whether casein, a main ingredient of dairy cheese, is physically addictive. In my pre-vegan days, I loved clogging up my arteries with good ole casein and cholesterol infused Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp. If I was having a bad day I’d slice up a block and eat away. Better than chocolate. There is nothing like a good pizza though, and while I have truly enjoyed a few cheese-less versions, I’ve missed this gooey tradition. This was a big find as I can now rest assured that when I crave a pizza, I know where to head off to.
Zpizza has a classic pizza parlor feel unlike say, a California Pizza Kitchen, where specialty pizzas are about 4 dollars more. You walk in, look up at the menu and order. Go pick a seat and they’ll bring it out to you on a silver pizza tin, and sit it next to your paper plates. We ordered two small pizzas. One, the Berkeley Vegan (10.25) with marinara sauce, vegan cheese, vegan meat crumbles, zucchini, red onions, bell pepper, mushroom, and tomatoes. This was a loaded pizza. The crisp zucchini and thick chunks of vegan crumbles weighted it perfectly and gave my hand something to hold, and my mouth lots of texture to enjoy. The crust was not a traditional say, NY style, but it was crisp and doughy without being over chewy.
So what of the cheese? The brand used is Daiya, and it’s very good. Melted very evenly across the pie. When it was very hot and first served it had more of a cream consistency than chewy. Didn’t care for that. But, given a few minutes to cool the cheese settled and began to stretch and pull in more traditional ways. Daiya can be found in Whole Foods for those interested in homemade pizzas.
Our second pizza was made vegan by substituting the cheese. We chose the Provence (9.75) with classic sauce, artichoke, capers, tomatoes, garlic sauce, and basil. Wanted to see if the menu was easily made vegan. It is. FYI, many of the pizza choices will work this way. Zpizza offers no vegan pepperoni (yet), but of the 12 specialty pizzas, I believe 10 of them can maintain their goodness with a quick switch of cheeses and in a couple of cases taking the chicken or sausage off. The Provence was tasty. The garlic wasn’t overpowering and the basil was fresh.
Overall, a good experience. Service was quick. Classic feel with no bells and whistles. Will be back.
Urban Spoon reviews of Z Pizza
Zpizza National Link
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