DiGiorno Pizzeria! Frozen Pizza: Worth the Exclamation Point?

Somehow, it's become a tradition for Rich and I to get together and eat frozen pizzas on Monday night while watching Monday Night RAW. We get to start the week out by eating what most people save for weekends, save money by getting frozen pizzas, and have quality time watching (while wondering weekly why we keep watching (say that 5 times fast)) grown men pretend to beat each other up while acting through odd story lines that somehow have anything to do with wrestling. 

I've grown to look forward to this tradition. We have our standards- he gets a weird pineapple ham pizza and puts extra sauces on it, and I get my old stand-by, a $3.69 Tombstone pepperoni pizza. And then cover it in half a bag of cheese.

On my weekly oh-crap-I-need-a-pizza-for-tonight trip to Walmart, I suddenly saw something in the frozen pizza isle that caught my eye:

created with care!

I'm not a fan of the high end of frozen pizza- they always make the crust waaaay too big and I feel that the pizza suffers from trying to be something it isn't. A Tombstone, to me, is not something that's trying to fool its eater- it knows it's a frozen pizza, so it just tried to make a solid tasting crust while saving you money and not having some gimmicky rising crust that's never as good as you hope it'll be. This thing looked to have a pretty thin crust for a new fancy pizza, especially one from Digiorno, a company known for having 4 inch crusts. 

It looked like a pretty standard frozen pizza, just covered in spices:

and fatguyfoodblog logos?

I added my standard 9 pounds of cheese on top (I prefer the cheddar and monterey jack mix), and actually cooked it a bit long. But it came out looking great and smelling fantastic. 

I actually eat my FPs with a knife and fork- I feel like without the continuous oven affect of a pizza box, these get cold quickly. I have absolutely nothing to back this theory up, but I feel like cutting out piece by piece keeps the remaining pacman shape hotter for longer. It also forces me to eat a 12 inch pizza much slower than I normally eat pizza, therefore ensuring the pizza lasts me longer than the first 20 minutes of a 3 hour show.

It looked good.

And it was good. VERY good. 

I've been a dedicated fan of Tombstone for several years. Since moving in with these guys and starting the RAW tradition, I've eaten a Tombstone pizza on Monday nights probably 45 weeks out of the year. 

The week after I had this was the first time I got something other than Tombstone for 2 weeks in a row. I don't think I've ever done that. I'm sorry, Tombstone. I'm sure I'll revisit you from time to time when I miss your classic flavor. But for now, that pretty girl I've always had my eyes on who does things you don't and doesn't yell at me is suddenly showing interest in me, and we may just have to take a break. 

What makes this frozen pizza so good is threefold: 

1. The sauce is awesome. It's got a very tangy, sweet flavor that's sweet enough to work perfectly with the other flavors while being acidic and sharp-tangy enough to have a bit of a spice bite to it. 

2. The seasoning they sprinkled so liberally all over the top (which I'm guessing is primarily oregano) actually does add to the flavor- it gives it a bit of bite while making it seem like more of a fancy, real pizza rather than a frozen meal that came in a cardboard box. The pepperoni was great too, and I will definitely be trying their other flavors.

3. Most importantly- the crust is phenomenal. 

I'd describe it as being very similar to that of a Tombstone, but with just the right amount of risen crust and softness. It's perfectly crisp on the outside while also being almost buttery (you can see it in the picture above) and very soft inside. And it has that corny, pleasantly sweet taste that more pizza should aspire to have. Digiorno advertises it as being a preservative-free crust drizzled with olive oil. Sounds good to me!

currently modeling for Dirty Fingernails Illustrated

The short version: This is pretty much a perfect middle ground between a cheaper style, flat crust pizza like Tombstone or Red Baron and a real pizza, partially on the fancy side. For a frozen pizza that costs around $6 and not only is the best frozen pizza I've had (yep, I just said that), but also has a unique enough flavor that I'll specifically want it instead of real pizza every now and then? Put me down. 

A+

This unique spin on a classic was just the stunner the frozen pizza world needed, and my Monday night tradition just kicked it up a notch. 

WHAT?!

oh, also- if you try it and don't like it, Digiorno is offering a money back guarantee. How can you lose?

-review by Mike