Punch Neapolitan Pizza - St Paul, MN

This is the pizza that I've been dying to try ever since I read about Punch's in a national magazine about 3 years ago, which stated Punch's serves one of the best pizzas in the nation.

The pizza, the Margherita ($5.95) is a simple pizza consisting of mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes, and basil. I believe the simple pizza is the acid test of how good a maker can make the pizza.

Surprisingly the pizza came less than mouth burning hot and with a crust that was soggy, especially in the center. I expected crispy slices able to ward off gravity and stay perpendicular to my mouth. Instead the pointed ends followed the path of gravity and the slices had to be folded to give it stiffness to facilitate shoving into the face. The crust was charred black in numerous spots on the bottom which further told me that the crust should have been firm and crispy. I want to believe the pie was crispy earlier but allowed to steam soft on the plates that were delivered late by the distracted waitress.

The pizza's flavor was much more subtle than I had expected. It was only with the second slice that I started to appreciate it. The San Marzano tomatoes added a wonderful mildly sweet taste. I believe this was the first pizza I've ever had that I could say that any sense of tartness was absent...and I love it that way.

The basil didn't add much flavor except when I bit directly through a leaf. The cheese was also subtle but worked in synergy to create a wonderfully blended pizza.

If you're looking for a Pizza Hut style pizza, it's not in the Margherita and I have to assume not in any of their other pizza offerings. The Margherita is a subtle pizza that makes your overpowered deluged by greasy, salty American food taste buds work to appreciate the flavors. And for that I truly appreciated this pizza.

Did the pizza live up to the hype of the magazine article? Was the pizza worth the three years of anticipation? Yes and no. No, because it didn't live up to the hype and it wasn't worth three years of anticipation. Yes, because it was still the best pizza I've had in the Twin Cities.

Punch Pizza
704 Cleveland Ave S
St Paul, MN