Introduction
I tried Pizza Lucé for the first time in Duluth, Minnesota, on a family mini vacation. Even though there were eleven of us on the trip, my uncle and I were the only ones brave enough to try this place, even though it had a great variety of foods for anyone, regardless of their eating habits.
Here’s what I think of Pizza Lucé and my rating on how vegan-friendly it is.
What is Pizza Lucé?
Pizza Lucé is a small pizza chain based in Minnesota. It has several locations in the Twin Cities (aka Minneapolis and St. Paul) and Duluth.
Environment: Bar
The go-to pizzeria in my life is Pizza Ranch, mainly because that’s one of my family’s favorite places to eat. It’s a ranch-style buffet filled with pizza, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, a whole assortment of sides, and a salad bar. That’s my vision of a pizza restaurant because that’s what I’ve grown up with for most of my life.
Pizza Lucé has a very different vibe than I’m used to seeing. Instead of an all-you-can-eat buffet, Pizza Lucé is a sit-down restaurant with a bar vibe, especially with the dim lights. I had to use my phone’s flashlight to read the menu. Even though I saw a few kids at the restaurant, it’s more of an adult pizzeria with extensive alcoholic beverage options and late hours.
Menu: Kind of Italian
This wasn’t your typical pizza place. In addition to pizza, Pizza Lucé Duluth had Parmigiana, deli hoagies, pasta, salads, desserts, appetizers, and many alcoholic beverages. The prices were higher for the pizzas than usual. The hoagies and Parmigiana were less expensive and came with kettle potato chips and a dill pickle.
Vegan Options (9/10)
I tend not to rate anything higher than an 8/10 unless it truly deserves it. Pizza Lucé Duluth had super impressive vegan options. Their vegan options were generally super extensive, let alone for a small chain. Here are some ways you can order vegan options at Pizza Lucé Duluth.
However, one downfall I had with Pizza Lucé Duluth was how scattered all the vegan and vegan-friendly dishes were on the print menu. Yes, there were a lot of vegan options, but sometimes, it was hard to find them with all the meaty dishes. Plus, some of the regular dishes were Vegan Upon Request, so it would have been easier to see everything if all of the vegan and vegan-friendly dishes were grouped on a page on the back of the menu or an exclusively vegan menu.
Look for the vegan label on the menu.
The most common way to find vegan meals at an average vegan-friendly restaurant is to choose between everything with a vegan label on the menu. I am glad they did not include a vegetarian label on there because that’s super confusing when vegan and vegetarian are labeled on the same thing. The vegan label was V.
There’s a second vegan label (Vegan Upon Request)?!?
Instead of separate vegan and vegetarian labels, you can find two vegan labels: 1) Vegan (V) and 2) Vegan Upon Request (VR). Even though the dish may seem not vegan-friendly, it explains how to make it vegan at the bottom of the description, like by swapping the Parmesan for vegan cheese or using the Impossible burger over the Italian sausage.
Check out what’s labeled vegan on their online menu.
Pizza Lucé has an online menu similar to &pizza where you click on the dietary need/preference (only vegan and gluten-free in this case), showing you those options. I wish the online menu was more explicit on how some of these regular dishes are vegan upon request because things like a turkey hoagie aren’t obvious vegan-friendly choices on a menu.
Food (8/10)
I was very pleased with my food choices at Pizza Lucé Duluth. My main complaint was I wasn’t that full by the time I finished my meal, but that was partially my fault for excluding the sides from my order.
On the other hand, my uncle found the food a bit spicy. Granted, my dad and uncle were raised without many flavor enhancers besides ketchup and cheese. Even a little pepper was too much for them.
Mock Chicken Parmigiana (Vegan Upon Request)
My main course was the mock chicken Parmigiana, and I made a few alternations with my order. The original order has a vegan chicken patty, red sauce, onions, tomato, and melted cheeses (mozzarella, Parmesan, and provolone). To make it vegan, you have to swap the cheese blend with one of the two vegan cheese options: 1) vegan mozzarella (probably from Follow Your Heart) or 2) vegan RiNOTa (vegan cheese made out of cashews and tofu).
I had the mock chicken Parmigiana made vegan upon request with their regular vegan cheese option and requested no onions. Then, I asked not to have no pickles or potato chips. I’m not too fond of pickles, and I wasn’t sure what potato chips they were serving (kettle potato chips similar to the ones at Jimmy John’s).
The taste was slightly spicy but still very delicious. It was a perfect sandwich size for a regular lunch, instead of a large meal like what many restaurants serve. The cheese melted somewhat okay in some parts of the sandwich and not at all in other parts of the Parmigiana. The mock chicken patty was definitely a frozen chicken patty made elsewhere.
Molly Bar (Vegan)
Since I saved money and an appetite due to having a Parmigiana over a small pizza, I decided to have Pizza Lucé Duluth’s main vegan option for dessert called a Molly Bar. It’s a dairy-free and gluten-free brownie that’s also vegan. I was disappointed that it didn’t have the powdered sugar on top like what the menu picture showed.
I expected a dark chocolate brownie that would have been too bitter to eat. Instead, this brought back good memories of the homemade fudge brownie bars that my grandpa used to make. They were super sweet and creamy. After a while, I started tasting the richness and needed a little water to eat the rest in one sitting.
Overall (8.5/10)
Long story short, Pizza Lucé Duluth was fantastic. There were so many vegan options to choose from that I had a hard time deciding what to order, which required me to decide what I should order for once over just ordering the only vegan option available at the restaurant.
If you’re visiting or living in the Twin Cities or Duluth, give this place a try, whether you’re vegan or not. If you found this pizzeria review up your alley, check out my vegan pizza guide and these vegan pizza recipes.