Saturday, August 15, 2009

Roasted Vegetable Pizza & BBQ Chicken Pizza [Double Feature]



I felt lazy on my dinner night this week, so I picked up two frozen pizzas from TJs, made a big spinach salad at home, and managed to feed four people without much work. I think TJs has put out several new varieties of frozen pizzas recently, lots to try.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza
Rating:
Price: $4.99
Features: Thick-buttery-doughy crust, interesting caramelized onion sauce, vegetarian.
Found in: The deep freeze

I liked this pizza a lot. The crust was hearty and satisfying, but somehow light at the same time. Instead of tomato sauce, this veggie pizza has a slightly sweet sauce made from caramelized onion, which makes for a pleasing and unique flavor. My only criticism is that there were not many roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts topping the pizza. No cheese either, but I didn't notice that until I finished eating, so it wasn't something I missed! I checked to see if this is vegan, but it's just vegetarian. Maybe there really is butter in the crust?

BBQ Chicken Pizza
Rating:
Price: $4.99
Features: Blah...
Found in: The deep freeze

I was not impressed by this pizza. To me, a BBQ Chicken Pizza should scream big bold flavors: smokey-spicy BBQ sauce, red onions, seasoned chicken, bubbly melted cheese. TJs version has all those ingredients, but none of the flavors come through and pop. This is unfortunate because it leaves the pizza amazingly bland. Not enough toppings on this one either, and the crust was thinner, maybe a little crispier, but far less flavorful than the veggie pizza.

I should mention that I bought a bottle of Trader Joe's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, as recommended on Trader Joe's Wine Compendium, to drink with this dinner. I think it worked well with the pizza. As my friend noticed, you get a lot more bold ripe fruit flavors from this wine if you take really small sips. Quite enjoyable!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think that this pizza is so delicious , I love the organic food and the pizza is one of my favorite fast food in the world,so I think that it is wonderful.

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JB said...

I'd have to disagree on the BBQ Chicken Pizza. I think its pretty good for a frozen pizza. Compared to other frozen BBQ pizzas I've had, this one is the best. Granted, I do agree with the fact that it doesn't have enough BBQ kick. But its easier to squeeze some of your own on top to give it the flavor you want, then to have it too hot and people with more timid palates not buy it. So from the marketing side of taste, I think TJs does it it right.