BEST OVERALL
American Flatbread Cheese and Herb
George Schenk started making pizzas for friends in
his wood-fired stove 23 years ago, and we can see
why his pies caught on: Judges raved over the extracrisp
crust—each pizza is handmade and parbaked in a clay oven.
The resounding favorite: Cheese and Herb, topped with garlic oil,
salt, parsley, oregano, marjoram and three cheeses. "It's pizza in
its purest form," one taster said, "simple and earthy." ($11.40 for
14 ounces, americanflatbread.com for stores)
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BEST CHEESE
Wolfgang Puck
All-Natural Margherita
Spago's celeb chef elevated
pizza to gourmet status in
the 1980s with toppings like
salmon and duck—and he
swept our cheese competition
with this simple recipe
from the frozen pizza line:
mozzarella, tomatoes and
basil-garlic sauce on a honeyinfused
crust. Tasters raved
over the "big, pretty" tomato
slices and strong flavors of
olive oil and herbs: "It tastes
like fresh pesto." ($6 for
14.5 ounces, at grocery stores)
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BEST PEPPERONI
Tombstone Pepperoni
Tasters called it "one generously topped"
pie, and they were right: The company
recently increased its pepperoni by
50 percent, tossing additional meat into the slightly
sweet anise-and-oregano-spiced sauce. The supermarket
standby also scored big for its "thick and salty" slices:
Said one judge, "They don’t try to get away with skinny
pieces." ($5 for 21.6 ounces, at grocery stores)
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BEST VEGETABLE
DiGiorno Rising Crust
Spinach, Mushroom
& Garlic
These pies are frozen raw,
not prebaked, so they cook
completely in the home
oven—and judges loved the
resulting crust. "It's doughy
on the inside and crisp on the
outside," said one taster. And
unlike most sparsely topped
veggie pizzas, this welldecorated
pie is smothered
with "loads of spinach" and
"fresh-tasting mushrooms."
($6 for 30.3 ounces,
at grocery stores)
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BEST SAUSAGE
Home Run Inn
Deep Dish Sausage
Die-hard fans practically
demanded that this 60-year-old
Chicago pizza joint hawk
its pies online and in grocery
stores, and now the product
outsells big brands in the
Midwest. Tasters said the
inside-out deep-dish pie
is worth the fuss, praising
its "crunchy crust," "big
tomato chunks" and "juicy
sausage." ($7 for 25 ounces,
homeruninn.com for stores)
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BEST CRUST
Amy's Kitchen 3-Cheese Pizza
with Cornmeal Crust
Freezers aren't always kind to pizza crust—
many we tasted were too doughy, too dense
or too limp. But judges loved this unique recipe,
noting the "great cornmeal texture." Cheese lovers will like
this one, too—it's topped with mozzarella, parmesan and
goat cheese, plus chopped tomatoes. ($7.10 for 14.5 ounces,
at grocery stores)
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BEST ODDBALL
California Pizza Kitchen
BBQ Chicken
This pizza chain lays claim to
inventing barbecue chicken
pizza—and whether or not it
really did, the company has
mastered the recipe. The
frozen supermarket version of
its restaurant pie beat plenty
of wacky pizzas. Judges
loved the "tangy" sauce and
"mountain of toppings"—
chicken, red onion, cilantro,
mozzarella and gouda.
($5.70 for 13 ounces, at
grocery stores)
Prices and other details were accurate when we published this article in March 2008.
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