Rexfeng

A storm that meteorologists said could be the largest of the winter — at least in terms of geographical size if not precipitation or temperature — headed from the South to the North.

From Chicago

[Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger]

Let's cut the crap. I'm not here to provoke an argument or debate the merits of whether deep dish even deserves to be categorized as pizza. I'm just trying to deal with a Chicago winter that has brought two polar vortexes and over five feet of snow. And you know the worst part? IT'S ONLY THE MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY. And thanks to that furry rascal in Punxsutawney, we can safely expect the misery to continue for the time being.

I'm coping in the only way Chicagoans know how: with deep dish pizza. Seriously, what better way to survive the cold than to coat your insides with a big gooey blanket of cheese?

But while there is no shortage of delivery options available to me, I decided to focus on the options I could find in the freezer section of my local grocery store. Plus, I had a crazy thought: whether or not deep dish is your ultimate style of pizza (hint: it's not mine), shouldn't the sturdy and hearty pie withstand the freezing process better than a thin-crusted pie? In other words, shouldn't there be less of a difference between a fresh and a frozen deep dish than with almost any other kind of pizza?

The Contenders

This was hard. While I was able to pick up a number of options at Target and my local grocery store, Strack and Van Til, half of these were surprisingly difficult to track down. I had to swing by both Uno's and Lou Malnati's for frozen versions of their pizza. And while you can order most of these online, only a handful are available on Amazon.

• DiGiorno Deep Dish Four Cheese Pizza
• Gino's East Multi Serve Authentic Deep Dish Pizza Cheese
• Gino's East Single Serve Authentic Deep Dish Pizza
• Lou Malnati's Cheese Deep Dish Pizza
• Red Baron Deep Dish Single Cheese Pizza
• Reggio's Authentic Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza
• Pizzeria Uno's Deep Dish Cheese Pizza

You'll notice Home Run Inn is not included. Though I could find evidence that the company used to sell frozen deep dish pizza, I confirmed with the corporate office that Home Run Inn no longer does.

One last thing. As I mentioned above, I picked up a frozen deep dish from the original Pizzeria Uno in River North. Later I realized that Uno Chicago Grill—the corporation that owns that restaurant, Pizzeria Due, and all of the franchise locations—also sells a branded line of frozen deep dish pizzas. Though it also goes by the name Uno, I could tell from some online photos that it was its own thing, mostly because the cheese is placed on top of the sauce, but I couldn't figure out how to get my hands on one. You can order freshly made pizza on the company's website, but not frozen ones. I found this collection of retail products, but no list of where to buy them. Target apparently used to carry the product, but not any more. There is randomly one box of pepperoni available for on Amazon, but the price is wildly inflated. Perhaps you have to stop by one of the franchise locations, but there aren't any of those in the city of Chicago. I even called the corporate office three times to help clear this up, but could never get through. Oh well.

The Stuffed Pizza Conundrum

At first I decided to include a couple of stuffed pizzas in the roundup, but quickly realized that this deep dish variant is too different. Though it looks almost identical to deep dish, stuffed pizza has a thin layer of dough above the cheese and below the sauce, and the crust is both taller and flakier. The real kicker, however, is that frozen stuffed pizza is much fussier to prepare. While the frozen deep dish boxes had simple instructions like, "Cook in a 400F° oven for 25 minutes," both stuffed pizzas I tried had seven or eight different steps. Anyway, that explains why Giordano's is not included.

The Criteria

Gino's East

As I would for any pizza, I broke the scoring down to three important criteria: crust, cheese, and sauce. I realize that toppings are very important, but to keep the judging process as straightforward as possible, I went with the plain cheese option for each.

Crust: Each bite should be flavorful and crisp, not greasy and soggy. Plus, the base needs to remain structurally sound to deal with all the other toppings. No weaklings!
Sauce: The tomato should be fresh and vibrant, with a nice balance of sweetness and acidity. Chunks of tomatoes are appreciated. Some dried herbs are okay, but too many get in the way. Likewise, tomato paste can add body, but too much makes the sauce overly sweet.
Cheese: Cheese should melt evenly and be gooey, with a nice sour tang. Subpar cheese was chalky and crumbly, tasting mostly of salt.

The Results

The pizzas were judged solely by me over a three day period for my safety and sanity. Plus, each one called for a different oven temperature, making cooking them all at once impossible. But I also saved some leftovers from each pie, and when necessary, I was able to compare two different pies at room temperature. Fortunately, the results were pretty clear from the start. In general, name recognition matters. The offerings from well known deep dish pizzerias in Chicago outperformed the others in every category, though the difference was most noticeable in the cheese.

My Favorite: Pizzeria Uno's Deep Dish Cheese Pizza

Crust: To my surprise, one of the thicker crusts was also the best. Each bite was crumbly, relatively light, and flavorful. More importantly, it wasn't greasy or gummy.
Sauce: The only slightly weak link. The sauce tasted too much like tomato paste, coming off as overly sweet. It was also thin, with not enough hunks of tomato.
Cheese: Gooey, melty, and just slightly tangy. Excellent stuff.
Overall: This is the one frozen deep dish pizza I'd want to have in my freezer to satisfying a craving.

You can pick up a frozen pizza at Pizzeria Uno and Pizzeria Due.

Lou Malnati's Cheese Deep Dish Pizza

Crust: The crust is surprisingly not that thick, but it is very dense. It almost shatters when you bite through. Fortunately, it's not greasy, but it's not particularly flavorful, either.
Sauce: The best sauce by far. Nice hunks of tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes. There's a pleasing acidity and tartness that had me going back for more. Really impressive.
Cheese: This is genuinely flavorful and tangy cheese. But there is way too much it. I know that's kind of the point of deep dish, but this crossed some threshold I didn't know existed, covering up even the great flavor of the sauce. Tone this sucker down and you have a winner.
Overall: This one was very close, and I genuinely loved the sauce. Perhaps it just needs some toppings to help deal with the incredible amount of cheese.

Gino's East Multi Serve Authentic Deep Dish Pizza Cheese

Crust: It's sturdy, that's for sure. But it's also dry around the edges and doughy elsewhere. Fortunately, it's not too heavy.
Sauce: Sort of chunky, and not too sweet. But it's also kind of watery, and there is a strong dried herb profile, which I didn't care for.
Cheese: The sheet of cheese melts admirably, though I wish it had a bit more personality. Know that it does not hold up well; once cool, it becomes chalky. Eat quickly!
Overall: Solid option. I was worried it was going to be a greasy mess, which it is not. This option also seems to be more readily available than Lou Malnati's or Uno's.

This product was purchased at Strack and Van Til. It is available at a number of other local grocery stores. Click here to find the closest store to you.

Gino's East Single Serve Deep Dish Pizza

Crust: Cracker-like and crumbly. In some respects, it's better than the larger Gino's. But the proportion is off. There's seems to be way more of the crust here, which ultimately is a negative.
Sauce: Once again, the chunks of tomato were appreciated, but it was overall a bit watery.
Cheese: Decent enough. Like its big brother, it lacks integrity, turning into a congealed, rubbery mass once cool.
Total Score: Almost as good as the full Gino's, but just a bit too bready.

This product was purchased at Strack and Van Til. It is available at a number of other local grocery stores. Click here to find the closest store to you.

DiGiorno's

Crust: Not offensive, but very bland.
Sauce: So, so sweet. Loads of dried herbs, too.
Cheese: Tastes like frozen pizza cheese, so at least you know what to expect. It's certainly flavorful, if a bit salty.
Overall: This tastes like the pizza you'd get at a sporting event. It's missing many of the key details of deep dish, but I can see how this would be satisfying in a pinch.

Use this product locator to find the closest store to you carrying this product.

The best-known hybrid vehicle in the world, the Toyota Prius, is being recalled globally by its maker due to a software issue with its engine control unit (ECU). The current ECU settings in the third-generation Prius have been reported to cause some transistors to overheat, which in turn sends the car into a failsafe mode and, under certain circumstances, could cause the hybrid system to shut down while driving. You'll still be able to bring the vehicle to a stop and Toyota states that no accidents have resulted from this problem, but obviously it's an issue that needs resolving.

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Google is now officially the owner of Nest Labs. After the deal received early FTC approval last week, Google closed the acquisition on Friday and revealed the finalized purchase in a filing today with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Google announced its deal to purchase Nest for $3.2 billion almost exactly one month ago. At the time, it said the deal would likely close in the next few months, but the FTC cleared the way for it to close sooner than expected by waiving a regular waiting period.

Under Google, Nest will continue to operate with a degree of independence, though it won't be kept completely separate like Motorola was. Both companies maintain that the deal will help Nest scale its business of making smart home...

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Mozilla is working on its own OS and hardware abroad, but it's also trying to make its existing software more relevant for users... and a little more profitable. Today, the organization announced a change that will turn vacant screen real estate into suggestions for new users. When a user first installs Firefox, opening a new tab will bring up a mostly blank page, with only Firefox's own welcome message as a frequently or recently visited site. As they break in the browser, the tiles will fill up, but now Mozilla plans to kickstart the process with something it calls Directory Tiles.

Directory Tiles are described as a set of pre-packaged selections with a limited level of personalization. Mozilla says it will add a mix of sites from its...

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Star Wars: Episode VII will begin shooting in mid-May, according to HitFix, with filming expected to wrap by September. Director J.J. Abrams has already confirmed that work on the script is complete, and also hinted at a May start, but now we know the full shooting schedule. The director still hasn't revealed who will star in Episode VII — aside from R2-D2, anyway. Abrams did confirm that he's held discussions with Jesse Plemons of Breaking Bad about a potential role, and Michael B. Jordan, Gary Oldman, Zac Efron, and Saoirse Ronan have each admitted they've been in talks. Ronan later clarified that she missed out on a role. Original stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford are also rumored to be taking part.

Star Wars:...

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Update: EA has issued a press release dating the Titanfall beta for February 14. The beta will include three game modes: Attrition, Hardpoint Domination and Last Titan Standing. Attrition is Titanfall's spin on the classic Team Deathmatch mode,...

The second-largest fast food chicken chain in the United States is moving towards eliminating antibiotics in its poultry. Chick-fil-A has committed to serving only antibiotic-free chicken in all of its locations by 2019. The company doesn't provide statistics for how much chicken it uses per year, but in 2010 it sold over 282 million chicken sandwiches. It has nearly 1,800 locations around the US.

To make the changeover, the company says it will be working with its suppliers — which include Tyson, Perdue, and Pilgrim's Pride — and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make sure that no antibiotics are used anywhere in the process, from the hatchery to the processing plant. The new chicken will be rolled in starting...

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A group of senators have issued an open letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to quickly reinstate net neutrality rules. The FCC's protections on net neutrality were struck down by a federal court last month due to what was effectively an issue with their wording — not their intentions — allowing internet providers to begin discriminating between different content sent over their networks. The senators don't suggest how the FCC go about implementing new rules, but in a rebuke of its major folly, they write that the new rules "must stand on strong legal footing to withstand judicial scrutiny."

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Rent at the 163-story Burj Khalifa doesn't come cheap. While a one-bedroom "only" costs $55,000 a year, it's the $25,000 service fee that really gets you. Now, a fight over these fees may force tenants to make the climb home on foot.

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A coaster is only effective if your dinner guests are willing to use them. Once you've left the room to check on dinner, it's all but guaranteed there will be glasses, cans, and bottles placed directly onto every piece of furniture you own. Unless, of course, those coasters were stuck to the bottom of every drink.

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For those craving more moving pictures for Evolve after watching our video preview of the game, Turtle Rock Studios issued a new "Happy Hunting" cinematic trailer today. Unlike our preview, it doesn't offer anything truly informative about the...

Dollar Slice alley loses one of its members. Joey Pepperoni on 14th Street and Second Avenue has unceremoniously shuttered. Competition is apparently tough at the bottom of the pizza barrel as Krust, 2 Bros, another outpost of Joey Pepperoni and Vinny Vincenz (sadly dragged in to the dollar slice wars) all operate within a few blocks away. Or perhaps the opening of Joe's Pizza last year marks an elevation in the sensibilities of the areas pizza eating denizens. [EaterWire]

Watch Ferrari's F1 pit crew do a pit stop in a bit over two seconds:

I wish this were in slow motion because I've watched this three times now and I still cannot understand how it's done. My favorite part is how calm they all are about it. Here's a longer video that shows the process over and over from several points of view, including from a GoPro mounted on the chest of the wheelgun man:

Watch for the guy on the front jack pirouetting out of the way. I would love to read a long piece on how F1 pit crews train and practice. There are tantalizing bits in shorter articles, like this one from Autosport.com:

With three people per wheel, two jack operators, and a handful of mechanics fulfilling other functions, each pit crew comprises nearly 20 people.

Each is trained for a specific role and teams take their preparation as seriously as drivers', managing crewmen's fitness and diet.

They are drilled incessantly at both the factory and during race weekends, with hundreds of pitstop practices until the process is instinctive.

Although problems such as faulty guns are rehearsed, everyone focuses on their own job -- in a two-second pitstop, there is no time to see what everyone else is doing. By the time an error has been alerted, the car has often already pulled away, as was the case at the Nurburgring.

And this one from the AP:

Teams now spend huge sums to design their own equipment and improve the fitness of their teams who also work as mechanics. McLaren is working with the English Institute of Sport to hone their 24-member team's technique while Williams has partnered with Olympic champion Michael Johnson's Performance Center to work on everything from diet to eye-hand coordination to core strength.

Training has also been ramped up. Most teams have rigs to practice on in the factory and pit stops are practiced as many as 70 times over a typical race weekend. Each stop is timed and videotaped for later review.

"When you had to go from 3.5 seconds down to a lower number, then you really need to be very specific and accurate on how you train because everything needs to be very synchronized to achieve that level of fast time and consistency," said Williams' chief race engineer Xevi Pujolar, whose team had its fastest pit stop this season in Spain after making changes to its crew but still is almost a second behind the top teams.

"There still a lot of room for improvement and we are working hard to catch up to these guys that do close to two seconds," Pujolar said. "If you look at video of pit crew and how they move during pit stop, everything is so well coordinated. To achieve this level of coordination on every pits stop requires a lot of training."

As well as this series about pit stops by Williams on YouTube. (via digg)

Tags: cars   Formula One   racing   sports   video

New York State is poised to be the first in the country to ban microbeads, those tiny plastic pebbles found in facial scrubs, balms, and gels, that contaminate our water supply and end up in the Great Lakes. [ more › ]

Apparently with the right electronics you can submerge a record player and still get nearly perfect audio, as demonstrated in this Submerged Turntable installation by artist Evan Holm. To see how it all comes together, here’s a short documentary showing how he brought a set of submerged turntables to SFMOMA. (via Dennis Hlynsky)

In 2048, a very important international event will occur: The Antarctic Treaty, which stops countries from mining the continent's abundant resources, will come up for review. China—along with the US, the UK, and other countries—intends to be ready.

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Sony's W Series Walkman is a barebones MP3 player with one key selling point: it's waterproof. But that can be a difficult thing to highlight on store shelves — at least when you're limited to traditional retail packaging. For its customers in New Zealand, Sony decided to try something different. With the help of ad firm DraftFCB, the company came up with a brilliant plan to help set its product apart from alternatives like Apple's iPod shuffle. The earbud/MP3 player combo comes packaged inside a full bottle of water, a clever marketing tactic that immediately highlights its waterproof construction.

From there, Sony concentrated on product placement for this "bottled Walkman," selling it in vending machines at gyms and indoor pool...

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Jon Bell of UX Launchpad, on his time at Real Networks a decade ago:

One day my manager showed me a horrible graph. It was pretty simple: the graph was steady, then it dropped straight down, then after a short period, the line shot straight back up and stayed level again.

“That’s what happens when we do the right thing”, he said while pointing at the drop, “and that’s how much money we lose. We tried it just to see how bad it was for our bottom line. And this is what the data tells us.”

“Wow,” I said, taken aback. My employer clearly had two options: “do the right thing” or “be profitable”. That was the position they had maneuvered themselves into through a series of bad management decisions.

Once you’re backed into a corner like this, where your users’ happiness and satisfaction are no longer aligned with your revenue, you’ve already lost. It’s like the dark side of the Force — you should never even start down that path, or you’ll be corrupted.

It tastes "like nacho cheese Doritos dipped in queso."

Most fast-food roll-outs are shrouded in secrecy, limited to test-marketing sites in far flung cities like Dubuque and Radium Town, Oklahoma. But Frito-Lay chose a handful of Beltway-area 7-Eleven shops, apparently, to test its new and possibly transgressive "Doritos Loaded" option. From the look of it, the next frontier in the United States of Doritofication seems to be equal parts tortilla-chip and proprietary spice dust, a rougish dash of taquito DNA, and three parts neon mozzarella.

The Doritos Loaded things are the same size and shape as paper footballs, but apparently more edible. Intrepid taste-taster Kevin Cobb, who happens to be a committed consumer of Doritos, tells Yahoo Food that he would order the cheese-stuffed chips again, adding that he'd hoped they be crispier. The puck-like snacks taste "like nacho cheese Doritos dipped in queso," he says.

A spokesperson for 7-Eleven tells Grub Street that the limited Doritos Loaded launch in Washington, D.C. is "just a test," adding that the chain is not yet ready to "talk publicly about the product." In the meantime, convenience-store patrons are advised to be on the lookout for Cool Ranch Doritos Loaded snacks stuffed with Mountain Dew Cheese, if not just for the fact that their existence is entirely within the realm of possibility.

"Doritos Loaded " Spotted at 7-Eleven [Yahoo]
Related: The Doritofied Future of Chain Restaurants Begins Now

Read more posts by Hugh Merwin

Filed Under: doritofied, 7-eleven, doritos loaded, doritos locos

The discussions were not expected to produce major breakthroughs, but they had important symbolic significance.

Virgin Atlantic has begun a six-week test aimed at giving its employees more information about some passengers as they enter the London Heathrow airport. The program, which is currently designed only to aid customer service staff attending to upper class passengers, uses Google Glass and Sony's SmartWatch 2 to serve up information about passengers and their destinations:

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Simply scathing:

This is not open to debate, is not part of some cute imaginary world where everyone’s opinion is equally valid or whatever. Windows 8 is a disaster. Period.

While some Windows backers took a wait-and-see approach and openly criticized me for being honest about this, I had found out from internal sources immediately that the product was doomed from the get-go, feared and ignored by customers, partners and other groups in Microsoft alike. Windows 8 was such a disaster that Steven Sinofsky was ejected from the company and his team of lieutenants was removed from Windows in a cyclone of change that triggered a reorganization of the entire company. Even Sinofsky’s benefactor, Microsoft’s then-CEO Steve Ballmer, was removed from office. Why did all this happen? Because together, these people set the company and Windows back by years and have perhaps destroyed what was once the most successful software franchise of all time.

Sven Grundberg and Shira Ovide, reporting for the WSJ:

Nokia Corp. plans to release this month a smartphone that runs a version of Google Inc.’s Android mobile software, according to people familiar with the matter, as it concludes the sale of its handset business to Microsoft Corp.

Nokia engineers had been developing the Android phone when Microsoft was conducting due diligence on its €5.4 billion ($7.4 billion) deal to buy the Nokia handset business and license the company’s patents. The Android phone was aimed at emerging market customers, and has been tailored in a way that won’t promote some of the key Google-developed features that a more traditional Android-powered phone might, these people said.

Interesting to see what this turns out to be.

[Burger photo]

This fall, Danny Meyer and Co. will open a new location of their wildly popular burger stand Shake Shack at 600 Third Avenue near 40th Street. Steve Cuozzo reports that Union Square Hospitality Group signed a 15-year lease on the space, which formerly housed a location of Qdoba. This is obviously a huge win for Midtown East, Danny Meyer, and hamburger enthusiasts everywhere.
· Shake Shack to Open East Midtown Location This Fall [NYP]
· All Coverage of Shake Shack [~ENY~]

On Eater today Robert Sietsema weighs in on Untamed Sandwiches, the braised meats sandwich place we told you about a few weeks ago on 39th btw. 5+6th.  But even more interesting than his opinions was the comment the post generated from somebody at Untamed.  Apparently over the weekend they increased the size of their sandwiches [...]

Activist investor Carl Icahn is dropping his campaign to have Apple buy back $50 billion of its stock from shareholders. His forfeit comes after the prominent proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) — an influential adviser to investors — recommended that shareholders vote against his proposal. In an open letter to Apple's investors, Icahn cites both ISS' opposition and some of ISS' arguments against his plan as reasons for ending his aggressive buyback campaign. Apple was also opposed to the proposal.

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As Barnes & Noble continues to shuffle its ranks internally, the future of its Nook e-reader division seems all the more uncertain. Business Insider now reports that the company has laid off much, if not all, of its Nook engineering staff.

In a statement sent to BI, a B&N spokesperson confirmed that layoffs were taking place, but would not comment specifically on the number of employees leaving the company:

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