Pizzi & Dixie: Madrid’s Best Vegan Restaurant?

Sep 17

Written By Louise

Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with Pizzi & Dixie in any way; I just want to talk about a restaurant I like.

When my partner and I moved to Morocco in 2021, we were excited to be able to travel relatively cheaply to nearby European countries during our breaks from work. However, dreams of a European Christmas were dashed when Omicron hit and Morocco closed their borders. We still had a great time traveling around Morocco, but when the borders opened just in time for our February break, we were itching to go somewhere new.

We decided on Madrid, the capital of Spain, since it’s easy and cheap to fly there from Morocco. We were excited for the food and beverage scene–mainly tapas, not even going to try to lie–but I was also pleasantly surprised by how many vegan restaurants there are in the city. Madrid doesn’t exactly come to mind when you think “vegan-friendly cities”, but maybe it should!

As a vegetarian, I enjoy patronizing vegetarian and vegan restaurants when I travel, but sometimes they can be a little boring. Who decided that vegetarians love smoothies and toast and eat almost exclusively out of bowls? Vegetarians and vegans are normal people, and normal people want PIZZA.

What greets you when you walk into Pizzi & Dixie. Picture is from their website.

Luckily, the folks at Pizzi & Dixie, a vegan Italian restaurant, understand. Bafflingly described as a “healthy Italian restaurant” by Madrid’s official tourism website, Pizzi & Dixie supplies vegans with an assortment of glorious carbs (including a few gluten-free options), like risotto, pasta, and–of course–pizza.

The menu offers a range of both vegan-ized classics like lasagna, mushroom ravioli, and margherita pizza as well as unique creations like roasted vegetable ravioli with romesco sauce and the uber-Italian (vegan) mortadella and pistachio pesto pizza.

One of the seating areas’ vibes. Picture is from their website.

The restaurant itself is in the trendy Malasaña neighborhood to the north of the city center. The seating area feels modern and relaxed, which is maybe the only complaint I have about it: why must the vibe of every vegan restaurant be “airy cafe”? Why not old-school trattoria vibes? Oh well.

Happily, though, the restaurant’s huge selection of wines on display reminds you that you are indeed in an Italian joint. They also have a few varieties of craft beer for the pizza-and-beer crowd (what can I say, I’m American).

I did indeed order a beer with my pizza. It just seemed right, probably because of my selection: Pepperoni y Pipparas, or pepperoni and Spanish pippara peppers. If there were ever a pizza that deserves to be paired with a beer, it’s a spicy pepperoni pizza.

Even before I became a vegetarian, I despised pepperoni, and pork in general. I liked it when I was a little kid, but I can pinpoint the moment it became disgusting to me: I was 10 and smelled pepperoni pizza and it made me feel utterly nauseated. For some reason, though, I LOVE vegan pepperoni and will order it every time.

Pizzi & Dixie’s vegan pepperoni and peppers pizza certainly doesn’t disappoint. It’s probably the best vegan pizza I’ve ever had, and it was also good as a pizza without the “vegan” qualifier.

I think that’s why Pizzi & Dixie succeeds so well at what they do: it’s not good “vegan food”--it’s just good food.

Have you been to Pizzi & Dixie? What did you think?