Uno's Frozen Deep Dish Pizza

[RSMBob]

Frozen pizza is what it is...a convenience, but here in SoCal, good pizza places are few and far between and a good frozen pizza beats a lot of the local places sad to say. That being said, Albertson's (parent of Jewel) is now carrying and promoting Uno's (as in the Chicago Uno's) brand. 23-26 oz pizzas for $5.99 regular price ($3.99 on sale). BOught a couple of them (cheese was all they had), baked as directed, additing a little bit of cooked italian sausage half way through. I was moderately impressed...nice flaky crust with a slight butter flavor, very fresh tasting sauce, slightly chunky, and the cheese melted nicely, something that doesn't always happen with frozen pizza.

At $3.99 it was a great value and matches some of the quality of some of the frozen stuff you can get shipped at about 20% of the price. Looking forward to trying the sausage version. Say what you want about the franchised Uno's restaurants and how the pizza doesn't compare to the original and Due in Chicago, but I think this frozen (or refrigerated) pizza is a winner!

[IlliniPizza]

I've been to SoCal.   The weather is nicer then Chicago's 9 months out of the year.  But the pizza left a lot to be desired.  A little too Gourmet, darn pizza kitchens.

I hope I don't alarm any purists, but their are some good frozen pizzas out there.  They won't compare to a real authentic, piping out, right out of the oven Chicago Deep Dish, but their much better then most name brand frozen pizzas.

Locally my grocery store sells every Chicago frozen variety under the sun.  Uno's, Connies, Home Run Inn, etc...  I am not sure what is carried in your neck of the woods. 

Stand by for heresy.  I am not a big fan of Uno's Pizza,  I know they are the Chicago Original, the one that started it all.  But every time I go to Uno or Due,  I get a grease dripping, 4 hr. room temp. yeasty, bready crust.  For me Lou Malnati's is essential deep dish, followed my Gino's and Connies.  Giordiano's has a completely different texture, and I usually don't categorize them with Uno's or Malnati's.

I know alot of people will tell you to spend $40.00 and get a fedex pizza from Malnati's, but who can afford to spend that much on a veggie pizza.  They won't ship meat toppings.  If you don't get authentic Chicago Sausage whats the point?

I know Home Run Inn pizzas are everywhere thanks to marketing, and Walmart.  Home Run Inn markets a deep dish pizza called Perrino's Deep Dish.  It is the closest I have ever seen to an authentic chicago deep dish.  They use real chicago style sausage, and whole tomato's tore into chunks.  The crust is your average baking powder variety, but the pizza is very good.  I keep a few in the freezer.  If you have access try them.

[buzz]

I just tried an Uno's frozen pizza, and it was -well--average, at best. Edible, but that's about it. It's better than the grease bomb you get at Malnati's, but then that's not saying very much.

I'll stick with Giordano's--it still blows away every other deep dish joint in town!

[RSMBob]

buzz,
Well, seems you drifted your thoughts to the non-frozen variety...at least that's what I get by your post. Here in SoCal, and I've been here 20 years now, I know of only 2 places to get a good deep dish/stuffed crust pizza. THerefore, a lot of times it's make your own or find the best frozen one available, and the choices among frozen brands for deep dish is highly limited.

IP,
You are right...a lot of advantages to SoCal but pizza isn't one of them. Unfortunately, even with Wally World and such, Perrino's/HRI is NOT distributed nationwide. We do get Reggio's thing crust and that has a similarity to HRI. I had Perrino's last time I was in IL and thought it was pretty good. And I didn't know that Lou's doesn't ship meat topping pizzas...I've ordered GIno's East in the past and they do ship sausage.

[buzz]

I replied to the frozen Uno's--as I said, average at best. A deep dish pie you make on your own (for less money) is far, far better!