Marlene K.
Yelp
Came here specifically to support businesses that were participating in the Knoxville Vegan Challenge https://veganchefchallenge.org/knoxville/ in March, 2023.
Us plant-based eaters have to stand behind places when they offer vegan items. We'd heard good things about A Dopo from a fellow gluten-free Yelper.
While they do not have gluten free pizza, the flour they use is directly from Italy, and many report not having issues with gluten in Europe. I could go on a whole dissertation about US food practices and glyphosate (Roundup) being used as an agent to dry wheat in the US while being against the law in Europe, but you can go down that rabbit hole yourself.
We decided to throw caution to the wind and try the vegan pizza (NOT gluten free) being offered. It is sourdough, which it has been argued that the sourdough fermentation process also helps reduce the gluten. But, I am not a doctor and I'm not your doctor. If gluten is an issue for you, don't rely on my review!
The pizza was a cashew base, house made "sausage" (vegan) with vegan Parmesan and pistachio pesto. It was amazing. Our server was truly excited when we said we came for the vegan challenge. We also asked about other vegan options and she said the Insalata salad was vegan as is.
The pizza was AMAZING. The crust is superb and was just as I remember non-gf pizza being. The salad was also good as a spring mix with sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans and pickled onions with a balsamic type dressing. The dressing seemed like it could be more balanced as it was a bit vinegary and sour, but that's just my tastes.
We sat at a community table in the back room, which was much more quiet than the front room. If we make reservations in the future we'll ask for the back room!
After eating, our server brought us a plate of Amarena cherries with shaved dark chocolate on top (which she informed was also vegan dark chocolate), apologizing that they were out of the sorbet they'd normally serve as a vegan dessert. Amarena cherries? I'm not mad and would prefer those over sorbet any day. They were creamy, deeply flavored and incredible.
We were told the vegan pizza can change every day of the challenge, so I guess we're going back again and again!
Thank you to Lindsay, the amazing Yelp Community Manager who personally alerted me about the Knoxville Vegan Challenge.
I now offer another Challenge to A Dopo: offer a gluten free option for pizza. While I know cross contamination can be an issue in gluten-filled restaurants, some of us are not that sensitive to cross contamination and there are means to mitigate the possibility, too. I have had equally as amazing gluten-free and vegan pizzas with an Italian rice flour based pizza blend. I'll be your consultant, gratis, lol.
(PS, no issues after eating the pizza, but we took some digestive enzymes, Gluten Ease supplement and other gut supporting supplements before going to bed "just in case"). ;)