just a quick post to let you know that cruzer pizza los feliz, LA’s only vegan pizzeria, now has some new and delicious additions to their menu.

starting today, cruzer is offering daiya cheese-filled bread sticks and philly cheesesteak sandwiches with match meats in addition to their vegan pizzas and salads!

having tried the daiya bread sticks today, i can say they are nothing short of revolutionary. much thinner and richer than a calzone, these long bread tubes are coated in garlic and oil then filled with insanely stretchy vegan mozzarella. dipped in marinara sauce, they are absolutely perfect and remind me of my dairy-eating days more than anything….minus the cruelty. seriously, you must try them!

the philly cheesesteak sandwiches are equally rave-worthy, with the kickass combo of match meats, daiya cheese, sauteed vegetables, and vegenaise. the bread is soft and fluffy, the meat is salty, the cheese is melty, and the vegetables are cooked to perfection! i of course, ordered my sandwich w/o bell peppers, and it was the best vegan cheesesteak sandwich i’ve ever had. i liked mine spicy, so cruzer was happy to throw in some jalapenos as well.

so if you haven’t been to cruzer, i dunno what you are waiting for. let’s see…

1.) they are the only vegan pizzeria in LA
2.) they offer daiya, field roast, and gardein
3.) they are the only establishment in the western US to carry match meats
4.) they have vegan cheese-filled bread sticks
5.) they serve the best philly cheesesteak sammies ever
6.) they have a QUARRYGIRL PIZZA

you have no excuse not to go.

cruzer pizza
4449 Prospect Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 666-0600
open at 4pm daily

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i hate the holidays, but man i love holiday food. the best thing about this annoying time of year is that several different vegan companies all release their version of the stuffed roast. over the weekend, i had the chance to try a roast by a great company that’s relatively new on my radar, match meats.

their stuffed holiday roast consists of crispy faux chicken packed full of sauteed vegan sausage and vegetables. of all the different brands of roasts i’ve tried, this is definitely the one that tastes the most like real meat. get one of these and bring it to a holiday party full of omnivores, and it’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser. it doesn’t have lots of grains or vegetable flavors in it, but instead a really authentic chicken and sausage taste. as a vegan, i thought it was pretty great…it tasted like meat, but without all the gross textures.

the bad news is, match is based in st louis and right now these roasts are only widely available to our friends in that area. i was lucky enough to receive my roast directly from match to sample (yep, one of the perks of having a vegan blog!), and now i’m sad i can’t just pop to whole foods and buy another one. however, match has been kind enough to post the recipe for this roast online, so us here in LA can make it at home! it calls for basic ingredients, as well as some match vegan meats which you can buy online from cosmo’s or vegan essentials. the recipe looks super easy to, so i will probably end up giving it a try.

just check out this cooking demo by match’s very own chef freddie, where he shows us how to make the roast:

i have heard rumors that some restaurants in LA may start carrying match, which would be awesome. until then, you should bug your local whole foods about it. as we’ve seen, whole foods is pretty good about listening to its customers.

i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again…i think match is a company that makes vegan meat so realistic tasting, it may convince a few omnivores to switch to our side. i sure hope i’m right!

for more on match, check out their website…and follow them on twitter.

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super real-tasting vegan crab cakes: creepy or awesome?

after making these cakes using match meat, i am gonna have to go with AWESOME. the match meats crab is made from plant protein, but it has a taste and texture just like the real thing…which is at first a bit unsettling, but ultimately delicious.

i followed the recipe for crab cakes listed on match’s website (it’s super-easy to make, BTW), which involved mixing the faux meat with vegenaise, vegetables and herbs before cooking it. i tasted a bit of the mixture as i was going along….and DUDE, i have never had such an authentic fish taste without eating fish. it was so trippy, but kind of cool at the same time. it tasted a bit like tuna, the kind drenched in mayo on a sandwich that i used to eat when i was a kid.

i formed the miracle vegan fish mixture into little balls, breaded it with panko, sauteed it and baked it just like the recipe said…and wow, these things came out perfect. i drizzled them with some homemade tofu sauce and served them up with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts, delicious!

if you haven’t had match crab yet, i don’t know what you are waiting for. this is the kind of product that is really going to change the way people eat, and might actually get omnivores to consider a vegan diet.

and for those of you are creeped out by this product or all judgmental, like, “we shouldn’t eat vegan stuff that emulates animals…” you are missing the point! match meat is totally vegan, so embrace it! it’s like when some really sexy person in their 20s plays a high schooler in a movie and you feel all weird and pervy for thinking they are hot—don’t! they aren’t really in high school, and this isn’t really meat!

right now you can find match in stores on the east coast, or online from cosmo’s and vegan essentials…but i am really hoping it makes its way to los angeles whole foods markets at some point in the near future.

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match vegan chicken quesadillas with daiya cheese.

have you tried match premium meat alternatives yet? this stuff is insane.

recently match sent me some samples to try, and i used their very versatile “chicken” to whip up some vegan quesadillas.

with the help of daiya cheese, this was hands down the best and most “real” tasting vegan quesadilla i’ve ever had. you could serve this to an omnivore, and they would never know they were eating vegan meat & cheese. seriously, this tasted just like the standard rich appetizer so many restaurants serve.

match is a vegan meat alternative that’s so convincing, it’s just unbelievable! you cook with it exactly like you would meat, it acts like meat, except no harm goes into making it. i seriously think that it’s this kind of product that could sway omnivores to consider a vegan diet—it’s game-changing.

if you live on the east coast, you can probably buy match at a store near you. unfortunately for us here in los angeles, right now our only option is to order it online…both cosmo’s vegan shoppe and vegan essentials carry it. the possibilities are endless with this stuff.

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