Punch Pizza celebrates grand opening on East Hennepin
A mosaic of Mt. Vesuvius in the new Punch storefront on E. Hennepin Avenue got finishing touches before the restaurant’s opening.
On Saturday night, a lot of people along E. Hennepin Avenue were checking out the new neighbors.
It’s hard not to when the new neighbors are Punch Pizza, who issued a come one, come all grand opening invitation for free pizza, soda, wine and beer from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Free-will donations were collected, which were matched by Punch and given to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Second Precinct to support the neighborhood substation. There was a steady, though not discouragingly long, line of people waiting for pizza over the course of the evening, and they were rewarded for their patience by getting to order the pizza of their choice. We’re not talking free slices here; you could order right off the menu and get soda, wine or beer—with free refills!
Can’t ask for more than that from a new neighbor, can you? Except that Punch has also done a beautiful job rehabbing the two storefronts they took over on E. Hennepin Avenue, across from Kramarczuk’s in what used to be called the Marquette Block. The spaces, which previously housed the Starlight Lounge and the Elbow Room, were stripped down to the baseboards, and are now filled with sturdy wood booths, colorful artwork, and bright tilework mosaics, which cover the huge, wood-burning oven. And the patio’s a pretty terrific place to enjoy your pizza, too.
And then there’s the pizza. Anyone who’s been to Punch’s original restaurant in Highland Park knows that it’s fantastic, with chewy crusts, the freshest toppings, and the most lovely combinations of ingredients. The problem gets to be when you try to compare it to other pizzas, because then you get into the underlying, uncomfortable, unpleasant issue we’d all rather ignore . . . the pizza wars.
But are we really talking war here? On the face of it, it seems definitely provocative for Punch, a Neapolitan-style pizza restaurant, to open up one block down from Pizza Nea, another Neapolitan-style pizza restaurant. Inevitably comparisons will be made: Which pizza tastes better? Which restaurant has the better vibe? Which has the better salads, or service, or style?
Surely we all benefit when there’s more good food to go around, right? Think about Mexican restaurants, for example. There are Pepitos’ loyalists and there are La Cucaracha die-hards, but they’re both great restaurants, and one’s quality doesn’t take away from the other, does it? And what about ice cream? There’s Izzy’s, there’s Sebastian Joe’s, there’s Grand Old Creamery and others. They all make great ice cream, and there’s room in the market for all of them.
But in the case of the possible Neapolitan pizza wars, we do have to concede that choosing a location one block away from Pizza Nea seems pretty nervy of Punch, and there are neighbors who already feel they need to assert their loyalty to Nea, since it took a chance on our little neighborhood before it became crowned with the Lund’s Seal of Approval. But frankly, I welcome Punch because, besides loving their pizza, I think they’re a great addition to the area and they’ve done a beautiful job with their building, creating a space that is more open to the neighborhood and has vastly improved aesthetics.
Also significant is that though the two restaurants have a similar product, they definitely have different styles. Pizza Nea is casual but stylish, with table service by friendly, helpful wait staff. It’s where I’d want to go for a relaxed evening with a friend or sweetheart. Punch, on the other hand, offers not table service, but what they call “express service,” where you go through a line, order your food and wine or beer, and then have it delivered to you at your table. A soda station is set up so you can serve yourself. It’s where I’d want to go for a delicious quick bite with the family before a movie or a tasty weekday dinner.
And either way, you can’t go wrong. Both pizzerias regularly show up at or near the top of the Twin Cities’ “Best Pizza” rankings, and Pizza Nea just put up a large lit sign advertising their Number 1 ranking in the 2006 City Pages pizza rankings. Guess who won the same award last year? Punch.
So I guess the best solution for avoiding the pizza wars is to just eat our way out of the dilemma. When my husband, Tom, knew I wanted our family to go to the Punch party Saturday night, he made a deliberate choice to order a Pizza Nea pizza for himself Friday night, when I was at my book club. I always knew I had married a principled, peace-loving (and pizza-loving) man.
last revised: August 15, 2006