The Grand Avenue area of St. Paul, Minnesota is populated with unique stores and quality restaurants so the city council takes their planning and zoning duties VERY seriously. First a little history -- late last year a planned "Noodles and Company" location on Grand Avenue was vetoed by the planning authorities because "fast food" isn't allowed on Grand Avenue.
Just last month a multi-location pizza restaurant -- Punch Neapolitan Pizza (www.punchpizza.com) -- announced plans to renovate a current building on Grand Avenue to create its sixth location in our Twin Cities. Originally Punch was going to demolish the building they purchased to build a new facility but that design plan was deemed to be a "fast food outlet" by the planning authorities so Punch opted for the renovation plan instead. Score a victory for the historic preservation crowd but also a victory for pizza lovers! Punch produces excellent wood fire grilled pizzas and since most customers have to wait nearly 45 minutes to an hour during the dinner hour their produce is CLEARLY not fast food in terms of both dining time required and quality of the food served.
Personally I am troubled that Punch has no immediate plans to build a location "South of the River" in our part of the Twin Cities since we clearly would benefit from an added restaurant choice of Punch's caliber.
Bon appetit,
Todd
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