Upon learning that I’m vegan, 9 out of 10 people will respond by saying some variation of “Oh my stars, I would just keel over and die right here on this spot if I couldn’t have my beloved cheese!” For the 6 years I was a vegetarian, I said the same exact thing. But then eventually I went vegan and, oddly enough, I never miss cheese. Well almost never–since I’ve gone vegan the only time I crave curds and whey is occasionally when I make spaghetti I think it might be nice to have parmesan to go with it. And I don’t mean a fresh, gourmet parmesan. I mean the dry, shitty Kraft kind. It’s not like I was never into cheese either (au contraire, I was known to go through a small wheel of gouda in one day and I would eat goat cheese smeared on anything and everything). You would think I’d get cravings occasionally, but for whatever reason I just don’t.
A couple days after I had gone to Lucifer’s, I heard that ANOTHER pizza place in Los Feliz was now offering vegan pies, this time, with the infamous new Daiya cheese which is so cheese-like it has been known to cause vegans to questions whether it actually contains dairy. The place is Cruzer Pizza and, despite being a frequent customer of Cruzers neighbor Cap ‘N’ Cork, I never even knew this place existed. Cruzer is literally a hole-in-the-wall with a counter and no seating, so I ordered a half Hawaiian, half vegan pepperoni and mushroom pie to go and brought it to the boyfriend’s for lunch.
In general, I am not a fan of meat analogs, but I thought if I was trying the fake cheese, I might as well try it with the other new vegan options offered. Both sides of our pie were insanely delicious. We have to start with the cheese. Cruzer uses a mix of Daiya’s mozzarella and cheddar flavors, which seems like an odd choice–I don’t remember cheddar as being a typical pizza cheese–but let me tell you, the two cheeses melt together in a delightfully gooey mess. I am struggling to find the words to describe the sheer awesomeness of Daiya, but I feel that any description I could come up with would be inadequate. Let’s just say Daiya cheese on a pizza rocks my world. Oddly though, Daiya also has a tendency to stick to one’s teeth but it is extremely minimal–nothing like the adhesive bond that Teese seems to posess.
Even more surprising than me loving a fake cheese, is me loving the fake meat Cruzer uses! The ham on our Hawaiian pizza was so delish! The thin squares are sweet and salty bites that thankfully don’t taste enough like real ham to gross me out. The fake pepperoni (pictured at top) is not the greasy round slices one finds on regular pizza but instead are little spicy crumbles, more akin to bac ‘n’ bits in size and shape. As for the mushrooms, they are not dry, limp button mushrooms but are so big and juicy they might actually be portabellas.
Cruzer had me hooked from the first bite, so it wasn’t long before I was dialing them up for a delivery, this time going for a pie with fake chicken and mushrooms. Everything was as delcicious as before…except the chicken which was too much like the fake meats that I hate–thick, chewy, and way too close to real chicken for me. But no worries, I just picked it off and crammed an ENTIRE PIE into my big German head (please don’t tell anyone this). I had to run an extra 99 miles the next day to make up for it, but it was so worth it!
Until recently, I rarely had any sort of craving for cheese, but now that Daiya has entered my vernacular, I often find myself daydreaming about the gooey, stretchy, tasty pizza served at Cruzer. If Lucifer’s has any desire to keep a vegan customer base, they need to ditch the Teese and start piling on the Daiya.
1958 Hillhurst Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323.906.8603
Cruzer Pizza
4449 Prospect Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323.666.0600
awesome review of lucifer vs cruzer!
isn't the daiya fucking INSANE? i love that stuff. you should try the lasagna and pastas at cruzer too, they are soOOOooooOOOOOo good!
oh man, i am so happy places all over LA are getting daiya. whole foods, purgatory, cruzer and zpizza. we've got it MADE.
Though neither of us is vegan or vegetarian, we always like to try things out. Two new places to look into…
Your analysis of Teese vs. Daiya is right on! Now you just need to get some Daiya and start cooking with it at home, trust me, you will not be disappointed!
Yum! Cruzer's pizza looks amazing. I haven't had Teese yet, but do love the Daiya!
ooh, cruzer sounds really good! i wish i was in la so i could try it =)
i've tried cashew cheese at cafe gratitude in sf, and it was pretty good. it didn't totally taste like real cheese but it had a good consistency.
I am so jealous! I have to start lobbying for local pizza places to serve Daiya.
Thanks for the comments!
I've only ever tried one kind of vegan cheese, and it was made with rice. Needless to say, it was disgusting!! it tasted like a wax brick. But I've been hearing good things about the recent developments in cheese, so I'm dying for a slice! Unfortunately in Canada I haven't seen Daiya or Teese, so I'll just have to bide my time with nut cheeses.
Now I really want pizza!! You lucky LA girl!
I'm not feeling too ship-shape after drinking like a hundred alcoholic beverages yesterday, and I cannot stop thinking about pizza, soooooo I'm going to dial up Cruzer to deliver me some fake cheese hangover cure right NOW!
wannabeavegan–I have indeed started cooking with it at home. I have made some AMAZING grilled cheese sandwiches. I think I have to cut back though because the only thing I can think to pair the cheese with is bread, tortillas, pasta, etc. Its making my fruits and veggie intake go down!
the twins– Cashew cheese is delish but it is nothing like Daiya. I don't even really consider cashew cheese to be a cheese knock-off, its really more like a pate almost. It's good but Daiya will knock your socks off!
laurakins–Daiya rolled out in Canada long before it came to the US so you should be able to find it somewhere!