Los Angeles-based vegan restaurant Crossroads Kitchen recently launched a plant-based pizza pop-up concept. The Crossroads Pizza pop-up offers a menu that includes appetizers such as stuffed zucchini blossoms and kale Caesar salad; Neapolitan-style pizzas such as Spicy Meatball (tomato sauce, housemade meatballs, calabrese peppers, vegan ricotta and parmesan, and basil) and Squash (butternut squash puree, caramelized onions, vegan ricotta, mustard greens, pumpkin seeds, and crispy Brussels sprouts); and Sicilian-style pizzas such as the Supreme (tomato sauce, vegan mozzarella, housemade spicy Italian sausage, peppers, onions, vegan parmesan, and fresh oregano); plus tiramisu and cannolis for dessert. 

Pandemic pivot
Founder Tal Ronnen said that, like many other restaurants, Crossroads has had to pivot its business model as the COVID-19 lockdowns continue. “The pop-up was inspired by us trying to keep more employees with us—it’s been heartbreaking to do another round of layoffs when our dining was shut down last week, so we quickly put this together,” Ronnen told VegNews. “We’ve always had a very strong pizza program so it was easy to create a menu and execute it.” On its first night of service, Ronnen said that demand was so high that “the pizza oven can barely keep up.”

Crossroads Pizza is available exclusively through delivery app Postmates or by calling the restaurant directly.

Photo Credit: Jakob Layman