Ich Bin Ein Bjorn!

Pepperoni, Artichoke and Mushroom Vegan Pizza

Pizza. Pasta. Passion! 

     Bjorn Moschinski is a vegan rock star. Not only did he formerly direct the venerable Kopps (my next review!), pen three cookbooks, appearances on TV, but he also has a new Italian venture called Mio Matto, which is conveniently located above the Veganz store. Pretty awesome especially as self-taught chef, I might have a cook crush on him. Anyone wanna translate a cookbook from German to English? Not to mention a conversion from metric to the loving and anachronistic imperial system, because, you know, we Americans love paying tribute to Cesar and the Romans in the form of a measuring system. Regardless, someone needs to tell Huffington Post to pull their heads out of their asses and that, yes, Germany has a celebrity vegan chef. Does that suffice? 

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     Enough about america's misguided measuring system and back to food. The special one loves Italian food and so few vegan options exists (except for New York's recently moved and hopefully still open Three Brothers Pizza) so it was a no brainer to check out his new place. Even though it was raining, after a drizzling day at the Berliner Dome, including hundreds of steps to the top and an obligatory umbrella purchase, we splashed down to Mio Matto. Luckily, it wasn't too far from one of the trains. Best of all you can feed two bellies with one stop! Lunch and then shopping inside an all vegan grocery store and shoe store. Pretty sure this is a must when visiting Berlin. And a big middle finger to the Huffington Post, an all vegan Italian place. Boy, it sure was hard to be vegan in Berlin. This city makes New York nervous. 

Pasta Bologense Sauce

Pasta and Passion!

     The Mio Matto motto's is pretty simple Pizza, Pasta and Passion. There's no surprises here. As usual, the special one and I went into divide and conquer mode, though we had to not go overboard because we had dinner reservations for Kopps. We bought wanted the pizza, I saw several different ones that looked interesting, but I decided to go with the pasta bologense because it sounds fancy; it's essentially a meat based pasta sauce. Don't get me wrong, it was tasty, but damn that pizza was fabulous. It was one of those lunch dates where I couldn't stop staring at the special one's meal. The pizza was perfection, a crisp crust, cooked perhaps in a wood fired oven (I'm guessing here) with some of the best vegan cheese I've had. Not to mention the artichokes and the pepperoni. I'm not sure what they are using, but damn Bjorn knows his way around the kitchen. This was perhaps one of the best pizzas I've ever had. All hail Bjorn! 

Decor of Mio Matto

Rustic & Fancy!

     I'm not sure if you can use rustic and fancy in the same sentence, but like the food the decor of Mio Matto shows the attention to detail of Mr Bjorn. As you can see in the picture, wood panels were prominent with a purple tiled roof, complete with chandlers. Yeah, like I said rustic and fancy. Although we were there for lunch, I hard it turns fancier for the dinner service. Like the desk clerk told us, you need at least a week to see (and eat!) all of Berlin! If you're thinking of a vacation, Berlin is the vegan mecca with pretty rad tourist things to visit.

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Thomas Henry Ginger Beer

Spicy!

     Along with the food, I was really hoping to try Europe's ginger beers. It's no secret I'm a ginger fanatic, so trying every ginger beer I come across is a given, despite the impressive German beers on tap. This (Thomas Henry) was the first ginger beer I was impressed with, it lived up to one of, if not my favorite ginger beer from maine root. Spicy just like the label says or as I say, like sticking a straw into ginger. 

German Strudel Pudding 

Dessert! 

     Remember when I said we had dinner reservations and we had to go light? Yeah, I like to contradict myself in the same review. I couldn't pass this up and almost two weeks of navigating 3 countries public transit system was taking a toll so a latte and this german pudding sounded awesome. The whole trip I've been photographing the menu so I could remember everything or at least connect the bites. Call me lazy. Either way, I didn't at Mio Matto so I declare it to be a german pudding strudel with peaches. Pretty awesome, I dare say. It was the perfect ending to a meal and heading down to Veganz and to tourist trap of checkpoint charlie! 

Mio Matto 

Veganz to the right!

Berlin Dome

One of the few building to surviving the WW bombings!

Berlin Wall Art

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Enter The Brotherhood!

Seitan Bacon Ranch And Margarita Pizza

The Best Of Both Worlds!

     I'm sure he's not English, but we should be looking into knighting or whatever the Long Island equivalent would be (maybe a parade?) for Jay Astafovic. He designed a menu that has quite possibly that best Italian restaurant that I've been too, even the New York Times have noticed. Italian vegan food is one of the most under served cuisine in the vegan world and Three Brothers Pizza Cafe comes out swinging. I've never seen a menu quite like it, pizzas, pastas, entrées and appetizing appetizers! It's like Philly's Blackbird Pizza but on steroids! 

 Mozzarella Sticks

My First Vegan Mozzarella Stick!

    And good thing, too! The special one and I arrived in the big apple to see Florence and the Machine at Radio City Music Hall with stomachs grumbling and luckily our gracious hosts heard our gurgling stomaches (the kale chips on the plane can only get you so far!) and suggested Three Brothers being that we were already close. They didn't need to say much more than vegan pizza, but we had no idea what we were getting into. Our server didn't either, she stopped taking our order after the pizza, but we keep going! I wanted the Dr Cow aged cheese plate, but unfortunately, they were out. Unless you order it online, Dr Cow doesn't make it out to my neck of the woods so I wanted to give it a try after Vegan Brew's awesome review. I settled for my first mozzarella stick, which usually are more melty inside but were still amazing. As you can see from above, they didn't last long! I had to guard this one just to get a picture!

Baby Spinach Salad    

The Grilled Portobello Makes This Salad

    Of course, we wanted to try everything so we split up to to sample as much as possible and we passed around our plates like communion offerings. Plus, Leftovers, aren't such a bad thing, right? I normally don't like portobellos. Maybe, it's years of crappy restaurants thinking vegans only eat hummus and portobello sandwiches, but this was awesome. The grill marks give it away, but it had this wonderful smoky flavor as well and looks like it was just picked that afternoon. I'm a mushroom believer again! Oh, and it came with a cashew cheese from Dr Cow's. It was a little grainy, but it had a nice funk to it. Now follow me as we march to the pizza! The seitan bacon ranch pizza jumped out at me, but our hosts suggested the Margarita pizza so we did halfsies! Wow, the seitan bacon ranch pizza came out with,maybe an inch or two high piled with toppings. You almost needed a spotter just to lift a slice! Taste wise it had this delicious sweet smokey flavor. The Margarita was the perfect companion with a clean and crisp taste of garlic, tomatoes and mozzarella. I definitely recommend this combination because more tastes are better than one.

Penne Alla Vodka

This Ain't No Ordinary Red Sauce!

     I know you're thinking that's all we ordered, but we kept going. With a bunch of  names like puttanesca, bolognese, scampi and marsala, I had to taste one of the entrees, too. The vodka and pasta as I called it spoke to me so I answered back and ordered it. While it might look like a regular sauce, this was a creamy delicious sauce that's hard to describe. I've never had anything like it, but I know yummy when I taste it! To top things off, you can even add grilled seitan, tofu or bacon to any of the pasta dishes for only $2. I mean how awesome is that. After all that it's hard to get excited for a seitan cheese burger, but it was home made and the french fries were perfect. I'm not sure if they offer dessert or not because we were stuffed and armed with doggie bags. I know you're disappointed in my sweet tooth, but we did manage to hit up Lula's several hours later for a some cake batter ice cream! 

Seitan Cheese Burger

Now That's A Burger!

     There now, can we start to the plans for a ticker tape parade for Mr  Astafovic. I just need another excuse to come back to sample the rest of the menu! Whose with me? 

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Pizza and Beer!!!

Stuffed Pizza!

Stuffed With Banana Peppers, Mushrooms, Tomatoes And Vegan Meatballs

    Let's face it, I like pizza. No, I love it. I've written a guide to vegan pizza in Salt Lake and Sage's All-You-Can Eat Pizza Night. So in the spirit of redundancy I'll write about pizza again. This time, it's pizza AND beer. Oh, wait. I did that too. At least I live up to my name. This time, though, I'm writing about Este Pizzeria. Despite being in this city of salt for some time, I've never visited Este until now. It could be because of their refusal to supply pineapple and the east coast attitudes, but in reality it's proximity. Este's is cool because the menu, denotes which items are vegan or can be made vegan so no 20 questions or secret menus. They even make their own house made vegan meatballs. Okay, fine. You win. I'll admit it. I regret for not going sooner.

 Garlic Knots

Dough Balls Smothered In Garlic, Oregano And Olive Oil

     It's go big or go home, right? I decided if I was going to try something new, I should go all out. The decision was made: stuffed pizza! It was like a giant round stromboli. I couldn't be more impressed. The dough and crust were perfect New York thin crust style. Okay, well, I've never really had NY style pizza before, but it makes me sound official, right? The best part is that you can stuff it with as much as you want. I choose banana and green peppers, vegan meatballs, tomato slices and mushrooms. The banana peppers were a hit! The garlic knots (or zeppoles)  were an added bonus from ReDirect Guide's iSaveGreen coupons, which are free with a $15 purchase (here for coupon). Although, I think I'm going to try the zeppoles next time. I mean how can you go wrong with Italian Donuts! Pizza, Donuts AND Beer, I'm drooling just writing that. Now for the best part, you can eat there in the shop. Unlike other pizza places where it's take out only, it's full service with a decent beer list. Now on to the liquid bread aka beer because carbohydrates rule! Eat that Mr. Atkins!

Epic's Big Bad Baptist

Don't Judge My Beer Glass!

     Since opening  more than a year ago, Epic has been brewing up a storm. Get it? Okay, I'll apologize. Epic is the first Utah brewer since Prohibition to brew only full strength beer. None of that 4%  beer that everyone complains about. See, we have "real" bear so that should shattered the myth about Utah beer for all you who don't reside in the Bee(r) Hive state. Though you still should go to Colorado for ski trips and leave the slopes to me! Anyway, Epic doesn't mess around from award winning brews to experimental styles and to their latest creation, The Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout. And if you're one of the concerned imbibers, Epic doesn't use animal based fining. All but one of their beers, Jack Mormon Stout (contains milk), are vegan. The Big Bad Baptist is a reinterpretation of that beer, but without the dairy. Thank you, Epic! It's a stout brewed with cocoa nibs and coffee and then aged in whiskey barrels, but with a punch at 11.7%! This might be the most coffee forward beer that I've had. The cocoa and the whiskey were second string to the coffee, which stole the show. I've tasted every single beer they brewed and this was no exception to their success. I'm glad Epic joins the awesome craft brew city of Salt Lake. The good news is that you don't have to live here to get a taste, Epic has expanded its reach to bring its hops to the thirsty in DC, MN, ID, NJ, VA, OR, AZ and CO.  I can't wait to see what they brew up next! I'm crossing my fingers for a funk beer!

Stuffed Pizza Pie

The Only Thing That Would Make This Better Is Stuffed Crust!

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Sage's All-You-Can-Eat Pizza Night Paired With Red Rock's Paardebloom

Cheeseburger Pizza

 Since 2002, Sage's Cafe has won "Best Vegetarian" restaurant in City Weekly's Best Of Utah. That's nine years straight. Not much has changed on the menu since I moved here five years ago. The menu is fairly static, except for the lunch and dinner chef's special. However, Sage's shines on their Tuesday's All-You-Can-Eat pizza and salad night. Although they tend to use their own homemade nutritional yeast instead of the amazing Daiya, the pizzas they come up with are still awesome. This is demonstrated with the cheeseburger pizza pictured above. From Pad Thai to dessert pizzas, the pizzas are always inventive and unique. It's not something you would find in your local pizzeria.

 For $12.75, you get as much pizza and salad you can eat. Something I took literately on my last visit. I wrote down a list of the pizzas I ate, but I ended up losing the piece of paper so I'll try to do my best to recreate the names. Perhaps, it was the Paardebloem ( a collaboration beer between Red Rock and New Belgium) beer from Red Rock Brewery that I washed down the pizza with. Oh, and for more vegan pizza options check out my guide to vegan pizza in Salt Lake. One more secret that I'm willing to part with is try to get there around 5 p.m. when the pizzas start flying out of the oven. Not only will you most likely not have to wait, but the pizzas fly out of the oven faster than you can eat them. Just make sure you save room for the Tiramisu, one of the best deserts I've had from a restaurant.

UPDATE: ReDirect Guide's ISaveGreen is offering a coupon for a free dessert with the purchase of an entree. Get the coupon here.

Carrot Butter with Daikon and Spinach

     Carrot butter is one of the best appetizers that Sage's offers. The best is when they use it as a desert pizza since the carrot butter is fairly sweet. I've had a carrot butter pizza with strawberries that was awesome. I've also had a cinnamon roll pizza. One of these days, I'll get around to posting my carrot butter recipe.

Three Cheese Pizza

 

     I think this one had a nutritional yeast cheese, Daiya mozzarella and Parmesan.  This is one of the few times I've seen Sage's use Daiya. I hope this is a sign of things to come.

Pesto with Butternut Squash

Cheesesteak Pizza (left) and Portobello and Spinach Pizza

Taco Pizza

The I Can't Remember What It Was Pizza

Red Rock's Paardebloom Beer

     Red Rock might be one of the most under rated breweries in Utah. This beer showcases their talents. Instead of using hops, they use dandelions, which is what paardebloem means in Belgian. The result was a nice Belgian style ale with a peachy nose that packed a punch at 9.2% ABV. I'm pretty sure this is sold out, but Red Rock just released the Reve, which is a bottle-conditioned Belgian trippel aged one year on French Oak and inoculated with brettanomyces. Oh, and it packs a wallop at 10.3% ABV. My own complaint is that the brewery is lacking in vegan options so I can't eat there often AND sample their beers. The good thing is that Sage's recently changed their beer menu to feature locally brewed beers from Wasatch's finest from Epic, Squatters, Red Rock and Unita. As if you needed another reason to eat pizza and beer.

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Happy Vegan Pizza Day: A SLC Guide to Vegan Pizza

Cornmeal Crust Pizza with Crumbled Vegan Ground Sausage, Vegan Pepperoni Slices and Pineapple Chucks All Smothered in Mozzarella Teese

     Quarrygirl.com and Chicago based Teese teamed together to create the first annual vegan pizza day, which is today Saturday 1/29/2011. (It's also my brother Mike's birthday! Happy Birthday!)
     I'll be honest. I was never a big fan of vegan pizza. For years, I would order cheeseless pizza and just load up with toppings, but that was never really satisfying. Actually, I remember a time when a place missed up our order with pepperoni or parmesan cheese but gave it to us anyway. We ended up giving it to a homeless man, and his response was, "Where is the cheese?!". This from a man without a home. Needless to say vegan pizza has come a long way.

Enter The Daiya!

     Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet was the first decent vegan cheese but it didn't really melt. It was still better than a cheeseless pizza but I doubt it would fool any no vegans. Everything all changed when Daiya came along, a vegan cheese that melts AND stretches. Honestly, I never thought veganism would come that far. Several nonvegan friends have said it taste like the real thing. Cheese was the veganism's achilles heel, but not anymore!

A Salt Lake Guide to Vegan Friendly Pizzerias

     Living in Salt Lake, we have two places where you can get pizza with vegan cheese, The Pie's Delivery/Take Out Location and Este. Daiya said all Nick and Willy's location now have their cheese, but I haven't been to able to confirm. It's not like we're Philadelphia with an all-vegan pizzeria, Blackbird (Their Cubano and Philly cheesesteaks rock, too!),  but we're doing just fine. Because I live just a few blocks from The Pie, I've never been to Este. However, their menu clearly indicates what can be made Vegan with a "V" next to it. They even run ads in S.L.U.G. that say, "Eat vegan". I wasn't able to locate one, but check out an issue of S.L.U.G. and it might be there. The ads include coupons as well. UPDATE: ReDirect Guide's ISaveGreen is offering a coupon for free garlic knots or zeppoles, both are vegan or can be made vegan according to their menu, with a purchase of $15 or more. Get the coupon HERE.

The Pie is more of a secret. Their website doesn't mention their vegan menu., but last time I was in they had a copy on the order window. They have vegan specialty pizzas, such as Vegan Bar-B-Que 'Beef' Pie and Vegan Xtreme Veggie Pie as well as Zappis (like a calazone) and Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings. I'll try to take pictures of the vegan menu to post online. The sad part is that despite having five locations, vegan cheese is only available at the takeout/delivery location in Salt Lake.

Less secret is Sage's Cafe. Every Tuesday, they host all you can eat vegan pizza and salad night. They don't deal with Teese or Daiya but make their own nutritional cheese sauce, which is like going back in vegan time. However, they make up for it with innovative pizzas such as cheeseburger, breakfast, taco and even dessert pizzas. You never know what the chefs are going to cook up so the surprise is part of the experience. I plan on doing a complete post on their pizza night so keep checking back.  
 UPDATE: The review of their pizza night can be found HERE.

Cakewalk Baking Company not only makes delectable desserts, but occasionally they make pizza pockets and pizza rolls. The pizza pockets are way better than the rolls. Just saying. I'm pretty certain they use Teese. Follow them on facebook to find out what they have as well as events coming up.

I haven't been to the Pie Hole yet but based on the comments. I contacted them and here is their response. "We do Vegan pie by the slice on Sundays and Tuesdays. But any day we can make a whole vegan pie for you! Options for sauces are: Vegan red w/ nutritional yeast cheese, BBQ sauce, Thai Peanut Sauce, Hummus, olive oil. And top that with your choice of veggies!" Follow them on facebook for the daily slice updates.   

Tofurky Makes A Pizza: A Guide to Frozen Vegan Pizza

  

      When I heard Tofuky made a vegan pizza I was stoked. Everything they make is delicious, they are one company who understands that the needs of vegans don't have always have to be fat free. Their breakfast links and sausages are simply delicious. But the dropped the ball on the vegan pizza. First off, the crust is whole wheat, which is forgivable. Not to mention that pictures don't lie, the picture on the box shows a cheese lined pizza loaded with vegan pepperoni. Inside the box is a different story, the pizza is loaded with pepperoni but is lacking in Daiya cheese. Just look at how much red (sauce) is in the picture. I'm not sure if it's a cost saving measure or what, but they need to increase the amount of cheese on their pizzas. Just a note that this wasn't a fluke but similiar results happened with other pizzas and their italian sausage one. In my opinion, the reigning champ of frozen vegan pizza is Tofutti. It reminds me of Ellio's pizza that I had as a kid. Unfortunately, it's hard to find in stores. Veganessentials.com does sell it though. In fairness, Amy's does make a few vegan pizzas that are pretty decent. I recommend the Rice Crust Spinach Pizza.

Homemade Pizza DIY Style:

     As you can see, I wasn't up for the frozen pizza and I just had pizza from the Pie last weekend so I was looking to switch it up a bit. I started with a frozen organic corn meal crust from Vicolo's. It's loaded with almost as much fat as you should eat in a day so just try not to eat the whole thing. Then I layered an organic pizza sauce from Eden foods. Then, I shredded almost half a tube of Teese on top. I'll admit that I'm a Daiya addicted but I heard Teese reformulated their cheese so I gave it a whirl. I was impressed! It melted and stretched just like Daiya. As a bonus, Teese uses organic soybeans unlike the conventional Diaya. For Salt Lake readers, the only local source of Teese is Cakewalk. (They also carry a bunch of other brands such as Daiya and Cheezly.) Then, I pan fried some Gimme Lean Sausage (mixed with some rice and crushed fennel seeds) and Lightlife's Vegan Pepperoni slices. For the final touch, I added canned organic pineapple. Happy Vegan Pizza Day. Any Leftovers?

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