In a way that surprises me. I got some late last summer from the restaurant in Chicago on Lincoln Ave. (not the one in Lincolnwood). But what surprised me afterwards was that they had the same expiration date as the ones I purchased a year earlier! I heard that they had some old inventory and were having a lot of complaints about selling products on the verge of being expired.
I still have a few cans and do consider them the best as they replicate the exact sauce flavor from a pizza pie that you get in their restaurants. But the Muir Glen w. basil and a number of other crushed tomato brands are excellent, too.
I would call them and try to talk them into sending you some unexpired cans. Can't hurt to try. Also try to buy some of their pizza dough. I'm not sure if they are still selling it, but all businesses are trying to get new avenues of sales and I would think this one would be a winner for them to sell products to parts of the country that they normally don't do business in. If push comes to shove, insist on talking to Marc Malnati and he'll help you out (generally at the Lincolnwood restaurant . . . or on the beach in Florida).
--BTB
