Posts Tagged ‘Pizza review’
Luigis Pizza Review
Continuing to cut a swath through small Midwestern frozen pizza manufacturers, I happened upon Luigi’s brand, manufactured in the small town of Belgium, WI. I’m not able to find much information about it online, nor do they have a website. I’m going to make a giant assumption here and opine this is yet another manufacturer that started out as a supplier to bars and restaurants and made the leap to retail. Stop the presses! Upon further investigation, with a ‘similar logo’ and geographical proximity, it may be these pies originally came from the loins of a nearby restaurant, Luigi’s of Sheboygan. Maybe.
It’s also one of those times when I reached for one product and ended up bringing home another; usually I go for “all meat”, but ended up grabbing a supreme, which is topped with sausage, pepperoni, onion, green and red peppers. The sausage bits are small and pre-cooked. The quantity of toppings is adequate; the pie falls into what I would determine to be a medium price range at about $7 per pie, which ways in at about 25 ounces, or 28 cents per ounce, or 87 cents for each of the eight slices (recommended servings). Further, each slice contains 20 % of your daily sodium content. Whoops!
Instructions call for 15 – 18 minutes at 400; they further state that since ‘oven temperatures may vary’, one should rely on appearance, rather than timing, and bake until the cheese bubbles and the crust is brown.
After 15 minutes, the cheese was not ‘bubbling’, so I went the distance with another 3 minutes. And then another two and a half minutes, I must need my oven temp calibrated!
The result is pictured below. It’s a thin and crispy ‘Upper Midwest style’ crust, but it broke in a couple of places coming out of the oven. No big deal.
Coming out of the oven, the aroma was similar to a pizzeria, which is a plus with me, but also noticeable was the scent of the green peppers, which I believe in the “a little goes a long way” with that topping. Not my favorite. Cheese and sauce were good, the cheese had a nice “pull” to it. Cracker crust lived up to its billing.
Sausage? Not so much. There are very few frozen pizzas that have raw sausage, I get that, but the pre-cooked crumbles, especially this small, have a taste that just doesn’t sit well with me. This sausage isn’t very seasoned, either, tasting more like pure ground pork. That’s ok, just not at the top of my list. Pepperoni did not char or cup, indicating a better quality pepp than many suppliers.
Would I buy it again? Sure. While it’s not at the top of my list for frozen pizzas, it is soooooooooooo much better than so many brands. I recommend you try it, though I suspect it might be a bit difficult to find outside of the Wisconsin and Northern Illinois areas.
Out of the package, prior to baking
Baked, 400, 20 minutes
Luigis Pizza Review
Little Caesars Deep Dish Review
Friday evenings were “movie night” at the BurgerDogBoy household in Iowa, back in the day. Me, Burgerdogdaughter, and her mother would congregate in the basement of our house, in front of my silly extravagance of a 72″ Sony, pop in a rented VHS, welcome our friends Barry, Maureen, and baby boy, who was the same age as our daughter, watch a flick and have some pizza.
Generally, the pizza was from Little Caesars, which, at the time, was in serious growth mode and promoting their “Pizza! Pizza” concept, of two pizzas for the price of the competitor’s single, and packaged in an extra long box that accommodated both pies.
Burgerdogdaughter is now creeping up on 30, and it’s been almost that long since I imbibed in a Little Caesar’s pizza. The chain has had their ups and downs, since being started in 1959 Detroit by husband and wife team Mike and Marian Ilitch. Fortunes have mostly been on the upside, as the parent company Ilitch Enterprises, owns, in addition to the pizza company, the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers, a casino and a host of other businesses.
The pizza outfit has kept evolving, and based on a special limited time offer five years ago, of having a single topping pizza “hot and ready” all the time, for five bucks, has made that the cornerstone of their business these days. Any hour of the day, you can walk in and get a large pepperoni for a fin, on the spot. At some locations, they offer other choices, as well, and at some locations, they have a relatively new offering, the one I tried, a two-fer double deep dish pepperoni for $8.
The pies are square, and cut in such a manner that every piece is an edge. Apparently people like that in pizzas as well as brownies.
How’s the pie? It’s ok, and a good value at $8. Better tasting, to my palate, that similarly priced products from national chains. It’s a lot of bread, this crust, which usually I don’t care for, but this was passable for me. The “all edge” concept produces some crispy crusts, which is graced with a buttery flavor. The sauce is slightly sweet, cheese is adequate, pepperoni is flavorful.
Would I buy it again? It’s a good ‘road-trip’ or picnic pizza, comforting to know you can grab something like this to go. Of course you can still order a custom-built pie at Little Caesar’s by calling in (no online ordering). These also offer oven baked wings with a variety of dipping sauces, and cheese bread. Pepsi products are on hand.
A locator is on their website.
Little Caesars Deep Dish Review
Home Cookin’ – 7-Eleven Frozen Pizza, Test 3
7-Eleven Frozen Pizza, Unbaked
Is the third time a charm? Perhaps. After 2 uneven results, I decided to make a third attempt at making 7-Eleven’s frozen Self-Rising Crust Pizza at home.
At $5.99 for 29 ounces, this is a solid value proposition, compared with other frozen pies. The Supreme comes topped with Italian sausage, pepperoni, peppers, onion, black olives, a cheese blend, garlic and oregano.
7-Eleven’s pies are made by Chicago’s “Great Kitchens, Inc.,” the largest manufacturer of take and bake pizzas in the country. In addition to 7-Eleven, they supply Wal-Mart, Costco, Trader Joe’s and others, according to various press releases found online today.
Out of the box, the pie resembles most any frozen offerings at similar price points. A nominal quantity of toppings is included. Following the instructions, I preheated at 425, and baked the pie directly on the center rack for 20 minutes.
The result is seen below. The instructions advise letting it sit for a moment or two before slicing, and that I did, and it worked out better, one supposes, than cutting it right out of the oven.
The pie has a little more ‘kick’ to it than the pepperoni and cheese ones I have sampled in the past. This is probably due to a slight variation in the sauce recipe, or residual effect from the peppers and onions, though it did not seem that localized to me.
Would I buy it again? Sure. It’s convenient, for me, as 7-Eleven is a short walk, and although both they, and a competing mart across the street carry “name brand” pies, at $5.99 7-Eleven’s is a full two bucks cheaper.
And that’s a good deal.
7-Eleven Frozen Supreme Pizza
