Review: Motor City Pizza Co. - Detroit Deep Dish

Even the snobbiest pizza epicures will eat frozen pizza on occasion; there's generally an emergency pizza in my freezer. Some are good - for instance, Trader Giotto (from Trader Joe) and the German imports at ALDI are worth the calories. While none are great, some are even one level better, such as the decent facsimile of a Roberta's Neapolitan pizza that you can get at Whole Foods.

While I've never been to Detroit, I've developed a fondness for Detroit style pizza, which is a thick crusted rectangular pie, baked in a deep pan, featuring an airy crust and cheese that is deliberately spread all the way to and over the edges in order to form a crispy caramelized border all the way around. Toppings like pepperoni are baked on the pizza (riding on top and/or under the cheese) but the sauce is ladled on top in racing stripes post-bake.

I am enthralled with the version of Detroit pizza made at Via 313 in Austin, but the best I've had is the only-on-Tuesday pie at Norma's Pizza in the Roots Farmers Market in Mannheim, PA. It's cool that Via 313 makes an excellent thin-crust bar pie in addition to the Detroit style, while Norma fashions both her Detroit pie and what she calls a "Boardwalk pizza" that is a bit of a New York - Trenton hybrid.

Pre-bake, out of the package

Here in Texas, we're blessed with H-E-B supermarkets, which I'd describe to east coasters as "Wegman's quality at Shop Rite prices." It was in the H-E-B freezer case that I spotted the Motor City Pizza Co. "Detroit Style Deep Dish" frozen pizza in three styles: Cheeseburger, Supreme, and Pepperoni. Each costs about $9, and I opted for the pepperoni pizza.

Fresh out of the oven

The pans used by Norma and the iconic Buddy's Pizza in Detroit are (according to legend) fashioned after automotive parts trays. This frozen pizza, about 9" by 9" square, did come with its own baking pan, albeit one made from cardboard that can withstand oven heat.  

I probably erred when I scooped up the cheese bits that had fallen off the pizza as I re-arranged the pepperoni slices that had jostled around during handling; there was essentially no cheese able to coat the edges of the crust.

I followed the baking instructions and the pie took on an appetizing color when finished. The crust had a good crunch to it, but it lacked the airy structure at top-line places like Norma's and Via 313. 

It was also not as thick, and was a little dry and unmistakably the crust of a frozen pizza. And, unlike any other Detroit pie I've had, the inner cuts were better than the edge cuts because they were less dry.

Underside of the crust

The sauce had a pronounced herbal note, but combined with the cheese added only a very mild amount of flavor; it lacked salt and umami in general. The balance was off, too, because the substantial and dry crust needed a bigger amount on top, especially the cheese.

The pepperoni was perhaps the best part here, and it improved the overall experience. This pizza was just slightly better than average frozen pizza, but probably not as good as my benchmark frozen pizza - DiGiorno's rising crust pizza. Not bad stuff, I certainly enjoyed it, but I'm gonna restock with Roberta's frozen pizza.