First we brought you some tasty-ass sandwiches. Then we brought you one tasty-ass drink (via WSJ.com). But sometimes you just want to eat pizza. Pizza serves as a flexible blueprint for greatness – like a good sandwich, by altering the basic idea, you can take it in nearly any direction. And you can pick it up by one end and eat it. So three cheers for the ‘zza and IvyGate’s latest (potentially) eight-part series. If you have any suggestions for your favorite local spot and might even want to write a post about it, send us an email at tips@ivygateblog.com.

At Harvard, the usual student haunt for pizza is Pinocchio’s (‘Noch’s), which I find mediocre. I like my food a little more radical. And I dislike their crust. Which is why I drag all my friends to try one of great, nontraditional pies of Harvard Square: the pizzas baked up at Veggie Planet on Palmer St, across the street from Border Cafe and Starbucks.

Drool over more picks with fewer vegetables, practical info, and scant mention of the just-for-crunchies Club Passim within Veggie Planet after the jump.

The first stumbling block is the name. I have to immediately follow its introduction by, “Yes, it’s vegetarian, but not THAT kind of vegetarian.” The classic here is a Lunch/Dinner for Henry, a flatbread pizza topped with slices of butternut squash, uber-creamy goat cheese, and caramelized onions. The crust is masterfully charred and chewy; the toppings crowned by that outrageous, palpitation-inducing touch of goat cheese. You can also get the toppings on rice, but I really come here in part for their amazing crust. (It’s also eco-friendly and supports charity and all that, but I’m just focusing on the food here.)

Also really good: the Caesar salad pizza, which uses fried tofu chunks as croutons. The crust has cheese baked onto it. I’m salivating just thinking about it. The Vegan Peanut Curry, with its spicy kick and coconut rice, ain’t half-bad either. I’m on a mission to get more Harvard students to discover this place, despite shitty seating (come for lunch, not dinner, when you can seat in Club Passim before it opens) and a distinctly folksy shabby-chic ambiance. Oh, it’s cash only. Boo.

Veggie Planet
47 Palmer St
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 661-1513
www.veggieplanet.net
www.clubpassim.org

Editor’s Note: By the way, Veggie Planet really is vegetarian no matter how Lingbo wants to define it. No meat. For some creative takes on protein, just head around the corner and to the right of the Starbucks in the picture above to Cambridge 1, a recognizably more date-friendly spot. That is, there’s a huge window overlooking a graveyard in the back. The pizza here smacks of fancy with creative toppings atop grilled flatbread. The beer list also features the elusively intoxicating Dogfish Head IPA from New Hampshire Delaware by the pitcher. Affordable stand-bys like the italian sausage, ricotta, tomato, fontina pizza pictured can help soften the blow of the brew. (But who’d want to?) The more local-sounding Maine lobster, corn, scallion, parmigiano, lemon butter pizza is less student-friendly, but it tastes like dreams. The dream where Sebastian from The Little Mermaid singing “Under the Sea” while you eat his friends. Or maybe it’s just me.

- Adam Clark Estes, Future President, Lobster Appreciation Society

Cambridge 1
27 Church St
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 576-1111
www.cambridge1.us