Just Lauren

Everyone likes pizza.

I used to hear that phrase and feel annoyed because I didn’t really like pizza. I generally don’t like tomatoes or tomato based foods and many pizzas I encountered had too much tomato sauce for my liking. But then, a while back, my ex and I did a pizza day where we wandered around downtown Denver for like 6 or 7 hours and tried a bunch of different pizza slices. It not only made me like Denver even more (there are so many local pizza joints around here and downtown and the surrounding area is pretty dang walkable), but it helped me learn what I liked in regard to pizza. We made a whole spreadsheet about it, of which I still have, so I can refer back to it anytime I want to get pizza. Sadly, vegan pizza is a little harder to find, and my all time favorite pizza is definitely not vegan, but pizza still deserves a post on here:

Pizzeria Colore: This place has my all time favorite pizza – the white pizza – “a subtle blend of ricotta, parmigiana & mozzarella cheese sprinkled with a deliciously distinct garlic flavor”. It appears that they’ve moved locations and updated their menu a bit but looks like you can still get this basic pizza if you ask for it. Doesn’t need anything on it in my opinion. It’s this subtle, beautiful, unique flavor that I haven’t found anywhere else. This is the pizza I think of every time I make my own pizza at home. I have yet to make a vegan replication but perhaps one day! Or better yet, perhaps this place will make it themselves. They are open daily from 8am to 10pm which is a change from when I went (they were only open on the weekday from 10 to 3). So I say go, if you’re in the Denver area, go try it out and let me know if it’s still as fantastic as I remember.

Pie Hole: Another really great pizza place, and not just because sometimes they name their pizzas after superheroes (there’s currently a Gandalf the White pizza). I was a fan of their pepperoni pizza back in my meat eating days. I am happy to report that they have a handful of vegan options, although I have yet to try any of them (better add this to my to do list!). It would really be awesome if Pie Hole could open up a second location closer to me, say, the Tech Center? I’d go there all the time. They have a great atmosphere that instantly makes me feel both cool and relaxed. One day I’ll eat in there again.

Special mention – City O’ City: City O’ City has a decent vegan pizza, sausage and pepper is my favorite. Shout out to their cashew ricotta, it’s delicious and is what makes the dish, really. So it’s not your classic pizza, but it’s still tasty. I’m not sure “classic pizza” and “vegan” can actually go together in a sentence anyway. City O’ City has multiple options for vegan pizza which is also wonderful. Plus, you get 25% off if you order a pizza on Wednesday. Hasn’t happened to me yet but one day, one day it will! These pizzas reheat pretty nicely too.

Special mention – Deep Dish: There are a handful of deep dish pizza places around here and I think they warrant a paragraph. I’m definitely no expert (eating one deep dish pizza in Chicago years ago doesn’t make me an expert? What?) so take these opinions with a grain of salt. I liked Blue Pan’s pizza and now that I look at their website I see they’re Detroit style pizza. I didn’t know Detroit had a pizza style….Anyway, the sauce was sweet, the cheese was thick, almost too thick, and they had a parmesan shaker that I was in love with. Sadly, doesn’t look like they have any 100% vegan pizzas but for those non-vegan eaters out there, give it a try. There’s also Giordano’s, which is not a local restaurant but was still good when I went. Also looks like they don’t have vegan pizza but their spaghetti is vegan so that’s something. With deep dish, if you order when you get there, be prepared for a 40 plus minute wait as they create your masterpiece.

---

Check out all the things I like about Colorado here!