First look: Pizza Fusion
January 9th, 2009 by Cliff Bostock in Restaurants, grazing
LET THEM EAT PIE: The "Founder's Pizza" at Pizza Fusion
“Are you here for gluten-free pizza?” the young woman at the door of Pizza Fusion (2233 Peachtree Road, 404-351-9334) asked us.
“Of course,” I said. “Isn’t that the main selling point about this place?”
“Well,” she said, “I need to tell you that we have sold out of the gluten-free crust.”
Wayne and I looked at one another and gasped. The young woman tilted her head and cooed, “I’m so sorry.”
Actually, neither of us has celiac disease, the intestinal disorder for which a gluten-free diet is prescribed. It’s common. As many as one in every 133 Americans can’t digest gluten, a protein in wheat, barley and rye. Gluten also occurs frequently as a secondary ingredient in all sorts of products.
The increasing diagnosis of the disease has caused many restaurants to add gluten-free dishes to their menus or, like Shaun’s, to sponsor regular dinners for people with celiac disease.
But Pizza Fusion is, as far as I know, the only restaurant in town to offer gluten-free pizza, at least when they have it. Two days after our visit, the restaurant was still waiting for a shipment of the mysterious flour necessary to make the gluten-free crust.
But Pizza Fusion, a franchise out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also advertises itself as “green.” Vegetables are mainly organic. Meats and poultry are free of chemicals. The restaurant’s interior is built from recycled this and that. You can recycle your pizza boxes. The toilets are “low-flow.” Food is delivered in “hybrid, electric and fuel-efficient vehicles.” I could go on. In short, the restaurant calls itself “the greenest restaurant in America.”
We took a seat in front of the window before the open kitchen and our server reiterated the news about there being no gluten-free pizza crust available. She took our drink orders. Meanwhile, another server stopped by the table and announced that there was no gluten-free pizza available.
“Are you ready to order?” the initial server asked.
“Yes, I’d like the ‘Founder’s Pie’ and I want it made with the gluten-free crust,” I said.
I looked up at her and beheld a gaze that said, “You are the stupidest person alive” and “I am going to kill myself.” I laughed. I could hear her eyes rolling in her skull as she walked away.
The food here is pretty good. You won’t get to experience a great deal of variety if you dine with only one or two others. The pizzas are all built for one or more, except at lunchtime when three comparatively uninteresting “personal” pies are available. Ditto for any of the salads except one.
We started with a salad of pears, gorgonzola, walnuts, spinach and, mainly, mixed greens. We also ordered a mix of “multigrain and organic white” breadsticks with the usual side of marinara and an extra side of tapenade. The salad’s pear was unripe but it was otherwise fine. Tossing the salad with the balsamic vinaigrette served on the side was kind of messy since it nearly filled the plate on which it was served.
The bread sticks were the usual irresistibly chewy, empty calories. While the restaurant’s marinara would hold its own against most others in the city, we preferred the tapenade’s oily, salty, slightly garlicky taste.
You can build your own pizza here, but there are also 10 specialty pies. The Founder’s includes chicken, tomato sauce, gorgonzola, mozzarella, kalamata olives and red onions on a multigrain crust. It was oval-shaped, 18-inches-by-9-inches, served on a wooden plank. The pizza overall had good flavor but its cubed chicken was mealy and dry.
Dessert is vegan, gluten-free brownies, garnished with organic berries. We were way too full to even consider dessert, and we took a third of our pizza home.
Service at the two-month-old restaurant was attentive and just quirky enough to be entertaining. I look forward to returning when I can try a gluten-free pie. I’ll write an update for our blog, Omnivore Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Wayne and I continue to show up many Saturday nights at Dynamic Dish (427 Edgewood Ave., 404-688-4344) for its pizza night. Don’t even try to get a table without a reservation. Last Saturday, we could’nt get anything until 8:30 p.m.
What makes the pizza at this green café so popular? It’s the organic ingredients and novel combinations hatched in the brain of owner/chef David Sweeney. No, the pizza crust is not gluten-free, but all toppings are organic and usually local.
Our most recent visit turned up a pie with eggplant, kalamata olives and anchovies. We also ordered one with corn and feta cheese. The latter — a tingly contrast of sweetness and slight sourness — had a faint, earthy note that turned out to be cumin, probably the only spice I routinely dislike because it’s usually grossly overused. But it was subtle enough on the pizza not to turn me off.
The eggplant pizza, obviously Greek in its inspiration, had very few anchovies on it but a preponderance of salty flavor nonetheless.
Other favorites I’ve had here include one made with Blue Hubbard squash, hot peppers, nasturtium blossoms, mozzarella and tomato sauce. I’ve also had a Turkish pizza topped with chopped baby collards, mozzarella, feta and garlic. My favorite of all time was last summer’s pie topped with fresh, organic figs.
Speaking of collards, we ordered a bowl of the greens, picked the morning before in East Point, for our starter. I’ve seriously never tasted collards so delicious. Sweeney braised them until tender and tossed them with olive oil and umeboshi vinegar.
We’ve also been enjoying the pizza specials at the new Stella (563 Memorial Drive, 404-688-4238). My favorite of late has been a white one featuring caramelized pear slices with prosciutto and balsamic reduction.
(Photo by James Camp)
January 9th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Dynamic Dish named as 3rd best modern vegetarian restaurant in US by Bon Appetit.
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/02/modern_vegetarian
January 9th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Dear Cliff,
Thank you for the insightful review. We appreciate your interest in Pizza Fusion. My name is Eric Haley. I’m the Vice President of Communications at Pizza Fusion’s headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
I wanted to take a moment to touch base on your review and clarify a few things. You’d mentioned that our main selling point is our gluten-free pizza. While we’re very proud of our gluten-free offerings and are extremely loyal to the Celiac community, our primary source of business stems from our organic offerings.
We’ve gone to great lengths to source the highest quality organic ingredients for our more than 75% organic menu. When we’re unable to source an item organic, we purchase all-natural (free of any artificial additives) ingredients. Furthermore, to minimize our environmental impact, we source local ingredients whenever possible at all our locations. For Atlanta, we’re currently working with a number of organic farms in Georgia to source produce for that location. Serving the highest quality food that offers both delicious taste and healthful benefits is the primary focus of Pizza Fusion.
I do encourage you to stay tuned as we have a number of new menu additions we’ll be rolling out this year.
In regards to our environmental initiatives, we do proudly and sincerely tout ourselves as the greenest restaurant in America. To our knowledge, there isn’t any restaurant in the country upholding sustainability to the degree that we diligently pursue at our restaurants. Below, I’ve included a list of the many initiatives we uphold in all our restaurants. While not every one of these may be adopted at the Atlanta location, more than 90% these initiatives are consistent with our Buckhead establishment:
• Building all our restaurants according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards set forth by the United States Green Building Council (making us the first and only national restaurant chain to do so)
• Offsetting 100% of our power consumption in our restaurants with the purchase of Green-e certified renewable energy certificates
• Delivering our food in company owned hybrid vehicles
• Promoting sustainable agriculture by serving a more than 75% organic menu
• Mandate recycling in all our stores and giving customers discounts for bringing back their pizza boxes to recycle them
• Using only eco-friendly cleaners to sanitize all our stores
• Serving our food in to-go containers made 100% from corn starch and are designed to decompose in landfills in 60 days
• Using spudware utensils that are made 100% from potatoes that biodegrade in 60 days
• Recycling the heat from our ovens to heat the water in our stores
• Selling and providing our employees only with eco-apparel made from 100% organic cotton
• Using only Energy Star Certified appliances in our kitchen whenever possible
• Using 100% post consumer toilet paper and paper towels in all our bathrooms
• Printing our in-store graphics on a banner material made from 100% recycled soda bottles and printed using non-VOC inks
• Using Compact Fluorescent (CF) bulbs in our stores which saves on energy consumption
• Manufacturing bathrooms sinks made entirely from bamboo for our bathrooms
• Using furniture made from reclaimed wood sources
• Using reused construction elements and furniture, such as old church pews used for booth seating, furniture reclaimed from a closed bowling alley, wood flooring salvaged from an old high school gymnasium, discarded slate roof shingles reused as wall tiles, and more
• Install low-flow faucet aerators on our sinks that cut our water usage by as much as 40% from 4 gallons per minute to 2½ gallons per minute
• Using pizza peels, plateware and cutting boards made entirely from bamboo
• Utilizing a cradle-to-cradle approach by reusing glass bottles from our stores to manufacture countertops for our future locations
• Installing a smart lighting system in our bathrooms that automatically turns off when the bathroom is vacant
• Using FSC (Forest Stewardship Council – http://www.fsc.org/en/about) certified wood to build our cabinets and wood fixtures
• Using eco-friendly paints from Green Planet Paints
• Using seat cushions made from naturally biodegradable latex, instead of petroleum based foam
• Using drywall in our build-out that is 95% post-consumer content and locally manufactured
• Using insulation in our restaurants made from recycled blue jeans
• Using the most energy efficient HVAC unit on the market
• Using 30% recaptured industrial concrete
• Using ceiling grids made from 74% recycled aluminum cans and 24% post industrial metals
• Installing bamboo flooring and veneer, instead of wood
• Using ceiling baffles made from recycled composite board
• Prohibit smoking inside all our restaurants with designated smoking areas located at a minimum of 25 feet from our restaurants
• Select restaurant locations that maximize natural light inside our restaurants and are located within close proximity to public transportation, whenever possible
• Using soy based concrete sealer, containing no VOCs, for our floors
• Install floor tiles made of 75% post consumer materials
• Install dual flush, low flow toilets to reduce water waste
Thank you again for reviewing our Atlanta location. We appreciate your thoughts and look forward to your update on our gluten-free offerings. If I may ever be of assistance in the future, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Eric Haley
Vice President of Communications
Pizza Fusion
http://www.pizzafusion.com
January 9th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Wow…that is one long list of bullet points there, Eric.
January 9th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
We had Pizza Fusion for takeout at the end of December and I must say I thought it was really good. Don’t plan for delivery just yet – they seem to be a little disorganized. I definitely look forward to giving it another try.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:44 am
d.dish pizza is the best!!!
January 12th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Actually, Cliff, zpizza offers a gluten-free crust as well. It’s a bit different than the one PF offers, so it would be worth you checking it out. I think I like zpizza’s crust a bit better, but I like the service and setting at PF better. Anyways, just my two cents.