Kustom Pizza & Subs – a review

Kustom Pizza & Subs (KPS) is not your typical Food Court occupant.  The sign behind their counter proudly proclaims in big, bright blue letters:  “We are fully vegan and plant-based.”  I’ve been to a lot of Food Courts over the years, and I can’t remember even *one* Food Court restaurant that was fully vegetarian, much less vegan.  It’s a bold move for this restaurant — which previously offered some vegan items among its meat-based offerings — to switch to fully plant-based.  According to a KPS Instagram post in late April, one of the supervisors helped to convince the owners to convert the restaurant to plant-based.  This is just one more good indication that being vegan is becoming a “thing!”

On May 8, 2018, Kustom Pizza & Subs became fully vegan.  Having heard about this transition on social media, my husband and I made plans to hurry over a few days later and support them with our dollars.  We invited two other people to join us, and we arrived at about 7 pm on a Friday night.  The Food Court was packed with customers.  I was pleased to see that a steady stream of people were ordering food at KPS.  We perused the options, and our party of four ordered as assortment of items:  a vegan spinach and mushroom Stromboli, a vegan shrimp Alfredo sub, a Kustom pizza with broccoli, and a vegan roast beef melt sub.  (Oh, and we ordered one of the amazing vegan brownies, too  — raw, sprouted, organic, gluten-free).  All of the food was excellent.  My Stromboli was particularly good, packed with spinach, mushrooms, and melted vegan cheese.  The crust was satisfyingly crispy and speckled with sesame seeds.  And the marinara dipping sauce was the perfect complement.  My husband’s vegan shrimp Alfredo sub was convincingly shrimp-like in both taste and texture.  It didn’t take long for us to polish off the meal.

And They Use Quality Ingredients

Checking out the social media feed for Kustom Pizza & Subs, I was happy to discover that they are careful about the ingredients used to make their pizzas and subs.  They buy organic produce and Non-GMO, stoneground, unbleached, unbromated flours.  I have to confess that I had to conduct research concerning the advantages of unbleached and unbromated flours — and it turns out that they are allowed to age naturally (rather than being chemically treated) and do not use bromate (a known carcinogen) to improve the rise and elasticity of the dough.  Certainly sounds healthier to me!

One Suggestion for Kustom Pizza & Subs

KPS, I’m thinking that your Food Court location offers the perfect opportunity to help convince meat eaters to try a plant-based diet.  Perhaps the aromas coming from your oven will be enough to lure them over.  Of course, the words “vegan” and “plant-based” are sufficient to lure some of us (even from as far away as Virginia, in my case).  But there are other people who might be somewhat reluctant to give up their usual meat and dairy consumption.  I’m sure they’d be convinced after just one bite!  So I’m wondering if you could potentially increase the enticement by printing a double-sided menu — one side listing the items that you offer, and the other side listing several reasons under a bold heading:  Why You Should Eat at KPS!  The reasons might include:  1) Our food tastes great; 2) We use quality ingredients (and explain what they are); 3) Plant-based food is healthier for you, more sustainable for the planet, and kinder to animals.  (I’ll bet you could come up with some more good reasons!)

I am reminded of the colorful and informative handout we were given with our menu the first time we visited the True Food Kitchen in Fairfax, VA.  Featuring colorful graphics and convincing text, it described the benefits of the whole-foods, mainly plant-based diet recommended by the True Food Kitchen founder, Dr. Andrew Weil.  Upon seeing that brochure at True Food Kitchen, we were impressed by the restaurant’s commitment to education.  Perhaps something similar would work for you.

In the meantime, I hope that vegans and non-vegans alike will stop by and chow down at KPS — Monday through Saturday from 10:30 am to 9:30 pm, and Sundays from 11 am to 7 pm.  You will find them at 11160 Veirs Mill Road, Wheaton Mall Food Court, Silver Spring, MD 20902.  Or just relax at home and get their goodies from UberEats, Grubhub, or Bitesquad. You will be glad you did!