A new vegan pizza 'riot' in Old City

How often do you see this - a Philly tribute to the Russian activist band Pussy Riot in the form of wacky vegan pizzas and crazy cocktails? Hasn't happened before and it might not happen again, but it's happening TONIGHT at Capofitto Pizza + Gelato at 233 Chestnut St. (215-897-9999) from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Yes, Pizza Riot will feature all of the above along with Pussy Riot tunes spinning all night, and fittingly it's a collaboration among three strong women: Capofitto's Stephanie Reitano, Rachel Klein of Miss Rachel's Pantry, and Kristin Lubsen of SipNGlo. Reitano is in charge of the pizza base, Klein the toppings, Lubsen the cocktails.

"We're excited to have bad-ass ladies come together" to promote vegan food, said Klein.

In all likelihood, Pussy Riot themselves will not show up. It's not clear if they even know of the event, or of their trademark ski-mask pic photoshopped to promote it. On the other hand, Maria Alyokhina is a vegan, so you just never know!

The anarchy-lite theme is not meant as appropriation, said Reitano: "Pussy Riot is a serious political group. We don't want to denigrate their work. We're just hoping to borrow a little bit of their bad-assery to make a little poke pushing back at meat culture."

To that end, amended titles of songs by Pussy Riot and others are applied to some of the pretty interesting pizzas involved. Here's the lineup:

·  WHITE RIOT - Potato Knish -  whipped potatoes, caramelized onions, finished with horseradish mustard "cream," baby dill - $16
·  KASHA LIGHTS UP THE FIRES - Mushroom Barley - roasted mushrooms (with garlic & rosemary), kasha, bowties, caramelized onion, vegan cheese, vegan sour cream - $17
·  WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN - seitan sausage, roasted baby fennel, vegan cheese - $18
·  KILL THE SEXIST - fake pepperoni - $17
·  DEATH OF JAIL, FREEDOM OF PIZZA - Roasted eggplant, tomato, caper and vegan ricotta. - $18

The press materials further note "appetizers such as Matzoh Ball Arancini - $9, Whipped Vegan Ricotta with Pizza Bread - $10, and a Vegan Minestrone - $9."

This is a one-time pop-up event, but might more come of it? Stephanie Reitano was already thinking along those lines.

"Rachel is welcome in my kitchen anytime," she said, adding that "we have vegan options already" at Capofitto, but they're not in the same creative league as the Pizza Riot offerings. That could change, though: "As we've been testing recipes," she said, "we've been [talking about] adding some of these things to the menu. We're all very excited about it."