Punch Neapolitan Pizza - Eden Prairie

Rating:

It's hard to imagine two pizza companies with more radically different philosophies.

In one corner, Punch Neapolitan Pizza, proud defender of the ancient and honorable tradition of Neapolitan pizza.

And in the other corner, the nationwide California Pizza Kitchen chain, inventors of the barbecue chicken pizza.

Punch, which opened its first store in St. Paul's Highland Park in 1996, added its first suburban location this summer in Eden Prairie. More might be on the way; Caribou Coffee founder John Puckett has just become a partner, so don't be surprised if the company expands locally or even nationally.

California Pizza Kitchen, which has more than 140 locations nationwide, just opened its first full-scale Minnesota restaurant in Southdale in July. (A smaller California Pizza Kitchen ASAP has been operating at the airport for several years.)

CPK's variations on the pizza theme include Thai chicken with spicy peanut sauce, a Peking duck chicken with soy-glazed shiitake mushrooms and even an Indian tandoori chicken pizza topped with zucchini, squash, mozzarella and a tomato-yogurt curry. Its basic philosophy: Anything you can eat, you can put on top of a pizza.

Packing a Punch

You'll never see a barbecued chicken pizza at Punch, or even a bacon and pineapple Hawaiian pizza. The restaurant is a member of the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, which dictates strict standards for Neapolitan-style pies. Neapolitan pies basically are all variations on the theme of tomato, mozzarella, Parmesan and olive oil, with basil and oregano optional.

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