Vcb,
Have u ever tried San marzanos or real good plum tomatoes in your deep dishes? Since malnatis stopped selling theirs I've really been struggling to find a good replacement.
I don't know many brands that have "random-cut" tomatoes, so I'm not sure you'll be able to find a perfect match.
I didn't hate the Lou's tomatoes, but wasn't overly impressed with them either
(you can read my review in the post link below - on page 2).
Malnati's tomatoes now available at their stores (
no longer available; just another deep dish tomato thread)
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,10837.0.htmlAs I've said before,
I'm pretty happy with Muir Glen "Crushed with Basil" style in the 28 oz can. They work perfectly for me. Not everyone in this forum likes them, but I've had no complaints from the people eating my deep dish.
If you want more random size chunks in your tomatoes than crushed tomatoes provide,
you can always add some diced or hand-crush some whole tomatoes.
Another brand I like is
Dei Fratelli, but their crushed tomatoes are almost too sweet for deep dish,
so I usually go 50/50 with their diced.
I've tried a few brands from San Marzano, Italy, and wasn't overly impressed with the flavor of them.
I thought they were lacking the sweetness and bright acidity that I look for in deep dish tomatoes.
Your tastebuds may think differently.I'm also concerned with the fact that imported tomatoes, even canned ones, might not have a consistently reliable quality.
Maybe Italian tomatoes don't always travel well.
I do like the San Marzano style of tomatoes that are grown in the USA, mainly in California.
Speaking of California tomatoes, there is a brand of tomatoes called "San Marzano", which I've mentioned before, that are grown in California, and have been a reliable brand for me. I used to buy them all the time from Treasure Island grocery stores. This was my "go-to" brand for a while until I started using the Glen Muir (maybe they should hire me to promote them :-) ).
USING FRESH TOMATOES:I've only tried using fresh tomatoes for a deep dish pizza once, and it wasn't great.
It's very possible that I did not have access to the best tomatoes.
I prefer to stick to the canned tomatoes because I have more control over the consistency of my pizzas.
Also, it's a lot of work to use fresh tomatoes.
If you're fortunate enough to find enough super-sweet fresh plum tomatoes
and are willing to blanch, peel, crush, and drain them all, go for it.
I'd prefer to pick up a can of my favorite crushed tomatoes for about $3 a can and cover 1 or 2 pizzas with it.
If you have the time and the $$$, pick up several different brands of crushed tomatoes that you haven't tried before,
open them up, and
taste them right out of the can.
This is the most important thing you can do. YOU HAVE TO TASTE YOUR TOMATOES. If they taste good to you, then you're all set. If they're not sweet enough, add a bit of sugar to them and cross that brand off your preferred list until you find a brand that tastes good to you.
If you're still having trouble finding a good brand... Grab your camera phone and take a pic of your local grocery store canned tomato aisle.
Then post it here (or link to the photo on a photo sharing site; posting pics on here can sometimes be tricky) ,
or
make a list of the brands you are interested in and post them here in this thread,
and maybe the people in this forum can recommend a brand from what is locally available to you.
I hope this info has been helpful.
--
Others will disagree with me, and they are welcome to post their deep dish tomato experiences here.
That's why I created this thread. 
