VeganMoFo: Ciao, That's Amore!

Sad news rocked the Los Angeles and Orange County vegan world when Quarrygirl.com reported earlier in the week that That's Amore, the Italian vegetarian restaurant in Cerritos, would be permanently closing its doors as of close of business today. While I ate there way back in May, I hadn't yet gotten around to blogging about it, so today's is a farewell post.

One of the most endearing That's Amore traits was the care they took in avoiding cross-contamination between the vegan and vegetarian dishes. You'll see in the photo above that the word VEGAN is etched in the pizza pan to avoid the pan coming into contact with dairy cheese. There was even a moment when our very conscientious and dedicated server held up bringing our pizza to the table because she was looking for the vegan pizza spatula that was clearly marked with a "V."



My fabulous vegetarian friend and I chose to share our meal that evening, starting with the Minestrone. While it wasn't the best bowl of soup I've ever eaten, it was hearty and warming; the perfect start to our meal that cold night.



Having a tendency to be traditionalists with our pizza toppings, we ordered the Margarita (from the menu: Traditional pizza sauce, fresh tomato, and fresh basil.). We were a little disappointed that the kitchen was out of fresh basil that night (they substituted dried basil), but That's Amore truly made up for it by managing to perfectly melt the Follow Your Heart cheese. This was such a delicious pizza and I'm so disappointed I won't be able to have another.



Finally, we couldn't resist rounding out the meal by sharing a Cannoli. I'm pretty certain I'd never tried a non-vegan variation of this dessert and enjoyed trying something new. The filling was tofu-based and the powdered sugar flew with each bite.

Thank you for the memories, That's Amore! I wish you didn't have to go.