Even though the Bay Area is a hotspot for food and restaurants, the vegan / vegetarian restaurant scene around here is pretty, ehm, easy to comprehend. After living here for a few years, I have been to most places, and new finds are rare. So I was shocked (shocked!) to learn that there is a vegetarian / vegan pizza place operating in Oakland that I have never heard about before: Pizza Plaza. I found out about them in a weird way too: while researching People's Doughnuts (a local company specializing in vegan doughnuts), whose website lists Pizza Plaza as one of the places that sell their doughnuts. For one reason or another, PP stayed under my radar all this time. So, last week we ventured over the Bay to check it out after work.
Pizza Plaza is in a fairly residential neighborhood on Shattuck Ave in North Oakland. Its dining area is small (four tables) but very clean and welcoming.
The place was empty when we arrived (as usual with pizza shops, a good deal of their business appears to come from takeout and delivery). Inside, two very friendly employees greeted us.
The menu is extensive. They offer all the vegan toppings you would expect, as well as several vegan non-pizza dishes.
Teese has made its way to Pizza Plaza as well. As far as we could tell, it was used on everything we ordered that came with vegan cheese.
We wanted to try a little bit of everything, so we ordered:
Cheese-garlic bread.
Buffalo wings.
And following the recommendation of the guys working there...
...a medium (14") pie of the "Plaza Vegan" (chopped garlic, sun dried tomatoes, vegan pepperoni, black olives). The crust was a respectable whole wheat, and the toppings were delicious, nicely balanced against each other, not too much of anything. This pizza gets the Ethical Pizza stamp of approval! It is definitely recommended you stop by, if you're in the East Bay and crave some vegan pizza.
Of course, the above was way too much for the two of us, so we had plenty of leftovers, which were thoroughly inspected at home:
3 comments:
i love that last photo :)
also the Buffalo wings look exactly like these drumsticks i got at a place in D.C. wish i could find out who makes them!
The drumsticks are an Asian thing, and they are readily available at many Asian markets around here, most notably at Layonna's in Oakland. We usually buy them in 10 lbs. bags and keep them in a bucket in the freezer.
Wow! (Said with awe, and desire of this pizza and that cheesy bread and everything pizza plaza has to offer a vegan.)
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