Review: Midtown Pizza (by H-E-B)

H-E-B, a chain of 350 supermarkets in Texas and Mexico, ranks 12th among the largest American private companies. I describe it in east coast terms as "Wegmans quality at ShopRite prices." It has quickly become one of my favorite things about Texas, and so I had some confidence in buying an H-E-B branded frozen pizza.

While the low end of frozen pizza isn't much better than it was 30 years ago, today there are some still-cheap versions that are worth the calories. Some of the best ones are replicas of the pizzas sold at iconic pizzerias like Roberta's (Brooklyn) or Gino's East (Chicago). The other reliable path to a decent frozen pizza is to seek out those that are imported, like the Italian varieties at Trader Joe's or the surprising German imports at ALDI.

Midtown Pizza at H-E-B boasts that the stone-baked crust is imported from Italy, which makes for an interesting hybrid when the toppings are sourced and added in Texas. This particular pie is topped with spicy Italian sausage, red peppers, caramelized onion, tomatoes, provolone, and mozzarella. H-E-B carries several varieties of Midtown Pizza; they clock in at 14-16 ounces and are priced from $5 to $6 (more for pies with meat). 

Frozen pizza, before baking at home

It looked promising even before I baked it, but I did need to redistribute the sausage and the red peppers, which had clustered on one side of the pizza surface. It had spent a few months in my freezer and some of the toppings may have come loose on the trip home from the store. 

Remarkable texture

The entire pie clocks in at 880 calories, which is pretty modest by frozen pizza standards. Like a typical Neapolitan, this pie was personal-size, but big enough to share for two.

Visually, the crust had the look of a genuine Neapolitan pizza, with a puffy leopard-spotted cornicione. I baked it at 425 degrees for 12 minutes, directly on an oven rack, and sliced it into 8 small pieces.

The flavors of this pizza were spot-on. The mozzarella had a creamy element and the provolone added some nice sharp notes. The sausage was both plentiful and tasty; the tomato sauce was a role player to bring it all together.

The crust itself had an excellent flavor; in fact at some H-E-B stores you can buy a two-pack of these crusts to concoct your own custom pizza. Mine was a little moist in the center and dry at the edges, but I suspect that the imperfect moisture distribution was due to the fact that it had been in my freezer too long.

Authentic Neapolitan style crust

There was remarkable flavor, texture, and balance for a frozen pizza. Imagine you froze leftover slices from a legitimate Neapolitan pizza in your neighborhood; this pizza tastes like that reheated leftover Neapolitan might. Not as good as oven-fresh, but better than the stuff from the big chains.

It's hard to beat a legitimate $6 Neapolitan pizza in your freezer; H-E-B has a winner with Midtown Pizza.