Frozen pizza chronicles: Tofurkey Italian Sausage and Fire-Roasted Veggie Pizza

As I was leaving Whole Foods last week, this caught my eye. The fact that it was on sale made me immediately decide to buy it. Non-dairy cheese that melts? Meatless and delicious? We'll see about that . . .


This pizza looks like it came out of a box, which it did. It is building on the brand loyalty of Tofurkey. You are supposed to trust it, but can you?



There is definitely a flavor of fakeness. There are a good amount of vegetables on it. They look like they were roasted, which they said they were, but they taste as if they were frozen, which again, they were. There is not a lot of cheese on it, even though it raves about its melting ability. There is no visible grease pooling on the surface, which could be the result of not that much cheese and non-meat sausage. Some of the toppings did fall off as I tried to lift the pizza from its place of cooking directly on the rack. The crust is really dense. Overall it tastes like a healthy frozen pizza: no cholesterol, low sodium, low fat, but with flavor!



They want us to join them in their goal of "No pizza eater left behind!" I'm not sure if I would again.

Egyptian Pizza of Belvedere Square

August 25, 2011

Baltimore Pizza Club realized we had been spending too much time in the South so we ventured to the Northern border of Baltimore City, to a foreign land called "Belvedere Square". As we entered the pizza restaurant we were yet again transported, this time to ancient Egypt. We had been tipped off that Egyptian Pizza had a falafel pizza; we needed to investigate.


We were seated in the ruins of a ancient temple where disgruntled high school students and the elderly mixed. The shadows of pyramids towered over us. We looked at . . . the menu and a whole new world opened up to us. Although we were there on pizza business, the menu had many middle eastern delights. The pizza list was also extensive, it was up to us to find the path to pizza enlightenment.


We decided to sample an array of pizza beyond just the falafel pizza. We ordered: New York, New York, Maser, Giza, and the Sunset Boulevard.


New York, New York - Leek with marinated potatoes, mozzarella, goat cheese, basil pesto, sun dried tomatoes, and red peppers.



The tomato sauce traditionally found on pizza was replaced by pesto. This is good. This was not the most flavorful veggie pie, but it was still very good. Uncommon toppings such as potatoes are always a treat. We also ordered a vegan version of this pie which was referred to as "very solid.

Maser - Italian tomatoes, mozzarella, feta, falafel with tahini and salsa on the side.


We we all very excited about falafel pizza. We all had different visions of what this food collision would look like. When it came out of the oven, we felt a little let down. It wasn't that exciting, it was just cheese pizza with sliced falafel on top. They seemed like an afterthought. We were hoping for embedded falafel, each bite recreating a falafel sandwich! but with cheese! General disappointment was expressed. After getting past our initial feelings, we decided we were getting a 2 for 1 deal. The tahini sauce was really delicious.

Giza - Mozzarella and feta cheese, marinated flank of lamb, fresh dill, cilantro and parsley, black olives, roasted red bell pepper, served with spicy cumin sauce on the side.


The sauce was really great as was the feta. After eating a slice of this, one pizza eater exclaimed "I'm so excited to be eating pizza right now!" The lamb was phenomenal and very flavorful. Our only qualm was that there should have been more meat and it could be spread out on the surface more. We also wished they had given us more sauce, though we could have easily asked, intent is important.

Sunset Boulevard - Curried lamb, mozzarella, wild mushrooms, topped with "golden flakes of puff pastries" with mango salsa on the side.



Again this had delicious lamb on it that was piled in the middle. There was an unexpected taste of cinnamon on this pizza. The sweet chutney was a fantastic addition to this sweet and savory pizza.


The crust overall was very good. It was doughy, yet crunchy at the same time. All the ingredients were fresh and Egyptian pizza deserves props for some innovative flavor combinations. That said, all they needed to do was push those a little bit further to fulfill their promises of exotic pizza delight. The fundamentals are solid, but the falafel pizza of our dreams remains just out of reach.


Ratings:
NY - 6/8
Maser - 3/8
Giza - 7/8
Sunset Boulavard - 6.5/8

The threat of a hurricane wasn't enough to keep us from pizza!

Chazz: A Bronx Original

Chazz: A Bronx Original
August 2, 2011

We were a little confused if they were still in their soft opening phase. It looked as if they were still figuring out their pizza menu; we even observed a taste testing. We decided to leave them to it and not ask too many questions. They gave us carafes of both sparkling and still water.


90s alt-rock was playing the entire time we were there. This seemed to be a strange choice considering they are going for a New-York City (Bronx?) theme. The entrance is decorated like a subway station with line numbers and lots of murals of trains and skyscrapers in monochrome. There were two men in chef jackets manning the pizza making station. You were able to sit at a counter and watch as they shoveled pizzas into the coal fired oven. Yes, this pizza is made in a coal fired oven, take note. The pizza makers toss dough in the air and are surrounded by the ingredients. The question is, is there a difference between New York and Bronx pizza?


We ordered three pizzas: the Funghi - wild mushrooms, smoked gouda, and garlic, the Margherita - tomato, mozzarella, and basil, and the Prosciutto - parmesan, prosciutto, mozzarella, fontina, garlic and arugula. The "h"s were intentional, perhaps Bronx style pizza means you add an "h" to the name.


The Fughi was found to be sweet, smokey, creamy, savory, and had fancy mushrooms. The crust was very good with an almost buttery, flakey quality. We decided that this mushroom pizza was even better than the beloved mushroom pie at Iggie's. It was perhaps a mistake to eat this one first as this pizza made the others seem inadequate. There was debate if we loved this one because it was fresh out of the oven or because it was the best.


The Margherita was very average. It was a little on the boring side. The sauce on this pizza was sugary. This one was a little harder to eat and was chewier. The crust was slightly thinner on this pie.


The Prosciutto was the saltiest of the three. Perhaps the arugula is supposed to counter it, but it wasn't that successful. If you are a big fan of prosciutto, you probably will like this pizza more than we did. The slices of meat were thin and each slice was covered with it.


It seems that they are still trying to figure out what they are doing, though the waitstaff was extremely nice. The atmosphere was a little weird. There were a couple of different themes going on: wine cellar, sidewalk bistro, standard dining area. There were different chairs in each section. We were in the sidewalk bistro area were there was a wrought iron fence, cafe chairs. and was up on a riser. There was also a distracting video display of New York landmarks playing on a loop. We initially thought that this was a second, outside of New York location, but the Baltimore Chazz in actually the flagship restaurant.


Wait, it's not over yet! Dessert pizza time! We had to order this in order to say we did thorough pizza research. The dessert pizza had nutella and powdered sugar on it. The crust was crunchier than the other pizzas we sampled, but thicker and chewier on the outside. The nutella was soft and creamy, but we felt that this pizza needed something else. We would suggest adding strawberries or even ricotta to this pizza.


Finally we just have to ask, WHERE WAS CHAZZ? We would have been more than happy to see Chazz Bono, but don't expect to see Chazz Palminteri. We didn't!

Funghi - 8/8
Parma Prosciutto - 4/8
Margharita - 4.5/8

Pizza Time with Danny McBride

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Frozen Pizza Chronicles: Pizza Bourekas

Seven Mile Market in Pikesville has a very extensive selection of frozen pizza products. One of these that we decided to investigate was Ta'amti's Pizza Bourekas. They are pizza filled puff pastries. Sounds like a great idea right? First off they were a little undercooked which was my fault. The instructions were a little misleading. They instructed me to sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the Bourekas before baking them. I could not find sesame seeds inside the box or even listed as an ingredient as th directions seems to be imply. I did not put any on and they were fine without the seeds.

before and after
We decided that they are quite large for hors d'oeuvres and were trying to figure out their place in the world. We then had a debate on if they qualified as pizza or just pizza themed.



They kind of tasted like pizza combos. The olives inside them were totally unexpected. Alicia felt they were similar to pizza bagels, but with philo dough. They are pretty dense and on the doughy side. Inside the puff, the sauce and fillings were not evenly distributed and there wasn't that much tomato sauce. Bonnie wondered if they were even close to pizza.

Overall we decided that these do qualify as pizza. Eating one is definitely different than eating a slice of pizza, but they were fun to eat. They would be a nice addition to a cocktail party.

New York Pizza App

So this isn't too helpful to us here in Baltimore, but to those in New York there is the Real Pizza of New York App. Use technology to find pizza

Greetings from Asbury Park NJ

On a short trip up to the beautiful and suntanned Jersey Shore this week, I had the drunken pleasure of visiting Johnny Mac House of Spirits (not haunted) of Asbury Park. They have this crazy deal: you buy any drink and get a free 12 inch pizza! And the pizza is actually good. You can get whatever you want on it, one of my companions ate a jalapeno, bacon and pineapple monstrosity. Next time you are in Asbury Park, check it out!

www.johnnymacbar.com

international

awwww

Bella Roma

Bella Roma
3600 Falls Road
Hampden
June 2 2011

Bella Roma is that inconspicuous pizza and sub place on the corner of 36th and Falls road. It is easy to ignore or write it off, but we received a tip about the exceptional quality of their Bella Roma Delight and felt it was our duty to follow this lead. We ordered two pizzas, one plain cheese and the other the Bella Roma Delight, which is chicken, spinach, tomato, onion, and ricotta cheese. We were instructed to ask for a "crispy" crust, by those in the know. We took our pizzas to nearby Roosevelt Park and ate al fresco.

The crust on the cheese pizza was thin, but still sturdy. The pizza was chewy and there was an expansive cheese covering, leaving a narrow band of crust. It was a bit on the greasy side and we noticed perforations on the underside, most likely to aid in the cooking process.




The Bella Roma Delight was pretty intense. The crust had a nicer texture than the basic cheese pizza. We also found it to be less greasy. The ricotta on the pizza really put it over the top. They put nice big dollops of it on the pizza. The Bella Roma Delight includes 4 food groups, so for the heath conscious, perhaps this is for you. The vegetables used were also definitely fresh and the toppings were plentiful.





The cheese pizza was kind of ordinary and I wouldn't go out of my way to get it from them, but the Bella Roma Delight is certainly something I would like to experience again and again.



Ratings:
Cheese - 5.5/8
Bella Roma Delight - 7/8

pizza meditations

A Haiku: On walking by Pizza Boli's in the rain

Rain, Pizza Boli's
steamy, damp pizza wafts softly
I am satisfied.

This haiku is dedicated to the memory of Eric Imhoff, who also wrote some haikus that were pretty ok.

Pizza Johns: try 2

We are going back to Pizza Johns for the first time on Tuesday, July 5. Pizza at 7pm pre-pizza thrifting leaving at 6.

Philly's Best Taj Mahal Pizza

Don't let the name fool you, Philly's Best is located on the Avenue in Hampden. Philly's Best offers the usual pizza and sandwich options of normal carry out pizza joints, with the twist that it also serves Indian take out. We went there with a very specific pizza goal in mind, we were there to eat the Taj Mahal. We had been hearing rumors about an Indian food pizza that was off menu, now it is out in the open for the world to try. We ordered this pizza knowing nothing about it, except that it was exotic and therefore fascinating. There was an air of mystery as we sat in the car wondering what was inside the pizza box. We assumed that this was a vegetarian friendly pizza, but there were no clues either way. As we were staring at the box, we speculated that it contained the exotic, spicy mysteries of the Orient.


The anxiety and expectation were building, would this be a pizza like none we had encountered before? As we lifted the lid we saw the familiar markers of what we recognize as pizza. There was sauce and cheese, but the difference was indeed mysterious. It was like Palak Paneer, yet different and on a pizza. The crust was decent and nicely supported the toppings. It was crunchy, but not overdone. It was spicy, but not overwhelming. The slices are large and sauce and cheese had even coverage. There was still tomato sauce as a base, but on top of that there was spinach and vegetables, which might have been onions and broccoli.




After the initial strangeness faded into warm familiarity, we then voyaged into a discussion about the Taj Mahal and the Flavors of India. Was this a melding of America and India or was one more prominent? We debated if the cheese on the pizza was paneer or mozzarella, with the dominant taste being the latter. We would have liked to have seen actual cubes of paneer on the pizza to give it a more distinct flavor. For example, our friend Matt who arrived late to the game, bit into a slice and asked if it was pesto. While Laura, with her more discerning palate called it as Indian. This demonstrated it was a subtle, as opposed to a more pronounced Indian flavor as the unaware could be taken by surprise.

Matt stated that "I gotta give it props because there were flavors that weren't the things I thought they would be".

Overall, we decided that it was pretty high grade takeout and a nice change in your takeout pizza routine, but we would have preferred more adventurousness on their part.

Rating:5.5/8


Philly's Best
1101 W. 36th St
Baltimore, MD 21211
(410) 243-1301