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
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.
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
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 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
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
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.
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.
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 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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8:33 am on June 16th, 2009
nomnomnomnom… i still want a calzone. now i need to try the lasagna, too!
9:13 am on June 16th, 2009
that chik’n parm looks stomach achingly amazing!
9:51 am on June 16th, 2009
Oh man *drool* I miss baked pasta.. I did a ratatouille last night that was amazing but now it pales in comparison to that melty plate of goodness.
9:53 am on June 16th, 2009
This is *HUGE* — is it me or is this starting to feel like the beginning of a citywide movement? Going today!
10:04 am on June 16th, 2009
Oh yes. I will be checking this out on my way home from work (Glendale) within a week. Thanks SO much for this post!
12:37 pm on June 16th, 2009
we had a cruzer vegan pizza party last week, and everyone loved it! the BBQ chicken was my fav. we also tried hawaiian, onion/mushroom, and assorted veggies. yay, cruzer, look forward to trying the pasta.
1:49 pm on June 16th, 2009
Wow. It looks like I need to start planning another trip to LA
2:31 pm on June 16th, 2009
Are you kiddin’ ME?!?!?!? Wow…
4:47 pm on June 16th, 2009
Wow… I really want to make a trip to California now
Maybe when the weather gets chilly enough up here in Canada!
Thanks for the post… all the best!
-Thomas
9:47 pm on June 16th, 2009
I live in Glendale and was washing my clothes across the street from Cruzer’s and went inside to see if they had the vegan options as well. Was very stoked to see that they in fact did. One of the ladies from Farm Sanctuary who is helping out with this cause was there trying some of the options and we talked for awhile. Very excited to see a place offering vegan options just a few blocks from my house.
9:49 pm on June 16th, 2009
oh man … wow… wow… wow
5:45 am on June 17th, 2009
Why isn’t Cruzer’s in Santa Monica yet?????
such a spoiled vegan and I like it:)
1:38 pm on June 17th, 2009
wow looks great, and thats darn good pricing too!!!! yum!
5:57 pm on June 19th, 2009
wow!! i think i want to move to LA just so i can frequent this place
7:58 am on June 24th, 2009
I live near the Glendale Cruzer. My boyfriend and I got a large vegan chicken pizza last weekend and hurried it back to his place. He loved it. Unfortunately, the Daiya cheese upset my (admittedly delicate) stomach, nor was I fond of the texture. Next time, though, I think we’ll try it with half cheese (for him) and half no cheese (for me), because the rest of the pizza was really, really good.
2:28 pm on October 23rd, 2009
I was delighted to find a vegan pizza place in Glendale, of all places? I dashed over there today to try a cheese pizza with garlic on a WW crust. It’s very good and I would definitely recommend it.
4:52 pm on February 6th, 2010
While running some errands on Pacific in Glendale, I stopped by and ordered the vegan spaghetti from this place, it was good. The guy behind the counter was really nice too.
I will going back to order a vegan pizza soon.