Why Blaze? I miss pizza. I'm trying very hard to eat as close to a dairy-free diet as possible. I Googled vegan pizza and Blaze and WB appeared to be my options in Indy. WB was about 30 minutes away. Blaze was a walk, bike ride, or quick car trip away.
We arrived at Blaze at around noon on Saturday and the place was packed. The wait was short though to move down the line. They're very efficient. The first choice is a standard or gluten-free pizza crust. Next, a choice of pizza sauces--standard red, spicy, or white. Then the cheese--a variety of really nice options ranging including mozzarella, goat cheese, and vegan cheese (for an upcharge). I'd love to have gone for the goat cheese. But I selected the vegan cheese. I noticed that they've thought this through--as a person who worked at Domino's in high school, I know that the toppings and cheese get mixed in the little wells during a busy shift. Little bits of cheese are in the pepperoni. Little bits of green pepper get in the onions. The vegan cheese was neatly covered with a lid, protected from its animal-ingredient neighbors. It was a nice touch. Well done.
After selecting a cheese, the staff either prepares your pie by some of their suggested combinations, such as "Art Lover" with artichokes, ricotta, garlic, and mozzarella cheese or "Simple Pie" (it's just cheeses). Prices vary based on whether you want a Simple Pie ($5.00), one topping ($5.95), house menu pie ($7.25), or to build your own ($7.25 plus any upcharges). The upcharges I noticed were gluten-free crust (+$2.00) and vegan cheese (+$1.00). When they say build your own, they mean it. There are seven cheese options, six meats, and eighteen veggies (technically seventeen since one is pineapple). Papa John's gets weird when you start adding seven or more toppings. They talk you out of it since they say the pizza will be soggy. No one at Blaze tries to talk you out of indulging. I was particularly happy when no one batted an eye when I ordered a vegan cheese pizza then promptly added bacon and pepperoni. Props. I then added green peppers, green olives, black olives, and mushrooms.
After you select your veggies, they ask if you'd like oregano or sea salt. I opted for oregano. If you get the vegan cheese, get salt. Or both. The vegan cheese left me wanting just a pinch.
Next up, they pop it in an oven with a big fire inside and shuffle it around. My husband was a little jealous--my pizza had more charred edges than his pepperoni pizza. After 180 seconds in the oven, they take it out, chop it into six slices, and top it with arugula, olive oil, BBQ sauce, or pesto if you ask.
Our pizzas in this oven baking for just three minutes.
We sat at a hi-top table with metal stools. The pizza wasn't bad. A little thin and greasy for my taste, but I was so happy to have pizza that I was pleased. My husband's pepperoni needed some blotting with napkins. After this, and meals in the last year at Pizzology and Napolese, I've decided that I'm over the thin artisan style pizzas. I want some doughy crust to sink my teeth into at this point instead of all these thin, trendy pizzas with charred edges.
My vegan cheese pizza. All the toppings were tasty. The vegan cheese needed a little salt.
Bottom line: great options. You can get all the pricey stuff--goat cheese, pesto, bacon, arugula--for the low price of $7.25. You can't leave McDonalds for that price anymore or have something nearly as fresh or with as many fantastic options. But if you want some crust to hold up all those ingredients, this isn't it. This is like a Neapolitan style crust, but less puffy. You can't fold it or hold it with one hand because it's too floppy.
If they had a thicker crust option, I'd be here every day. Until then, I'll probably be back when I'm too lazy to drive up to WB to try their pizza with vegan cheese.
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