True Food now offers GF pizza

True Food's version of GF pizza

A dear friend took me to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in town, True Food. I've written a review of the restaurant before and you can read it here. But this time, I was surprised to see gluten-free pizza on the menu. The server said it was new and of course, you know I couldn't refuse. We ordered one pizza with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes to split as an appetizer.

Since my daughter was with us, I knew we'd have the input of two GF eaters and one non-GF eater (my friend). The results? Lackluster on my part, so-so on my friend's and pretty good on daughter's side. Here's the rundown...

The pizza is made in-house by the chefs. The crust came out much too overcooked on the edges for my liking but the server said they all come out like that since they are still working on perfecting it. It tasted burned on the edges and I wasn't too impressed, but the inside and underside were not burned, so we passed on the offer of another.

The taste was bland and although the texture was crispy, I found it a bit dry. A perfect vehicle for spicy toppings, or strong flavors like pesto, as my friend pointed out. I still found it to be a little too bland, but my daughter said she found it to be quite good and ate most of it. The pesto was wonderful with a little bite of spice to it and the sun-dried tomatoes were just right. Sometimes they are too chewy on a pizza, but these were lovely. I love that it is a place you can trust will understand the needs of GF customers and I felt safe eating there.

True Food's Spaghetti Squash Casserole

My daughter and I split our favorite Spaghetti Squash Casserole, which I highly recommend if you visit the restaurant. (See my previous review linked above.) The spicy tomato sauce and cheese create a wonderful little casserole and the squash is still al dente, just the way it should be. We ordered one for us to share and the kitchen made two little casseroles, how cute. For dessert, the always-wonderful GF chocolate cake and a citrus sorbet that was divine, tart, sweet and addictive.

My final call...I rate my four top GF pizzas in the Phoenix area as 1. Picazzo's- lovely texture, best flavor, expensive. 2. California Pizza Kitchen- tasty crust, light and crispy, medium price. 3. PieZano's- GF Creations crust, made to order, great toppings, much too far away, (I've never been to the Glendale store, only the Phoenix one that closed), medium price. 4. True Food- least amount of flavor in crust, overcooked edges, good toppings, medium price.

What's your favorite Phoenix-area pizza? I have yet to try Naked Pizza, but I have tried Spinato's and was disappointed by the canned mushrooms - I just couldn't get past those rubbery, chewy bits of yuck. The server said even she hated them but the kitchen insisted on using them. Since they use GF Creations crusts too, it's not worth it just for that.

Side note: If you're in Tucson, I recommend Renee's Organic Oven.