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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Pleasant Bunz, downtown

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Pleasant Bunz is a downtown spot serving breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday. Although it's mostly a sandwich/burger kind of place, they do serve pizza slices at lunchtime, so I gave it a try.
My pepperoni slice was very soft, with a floppy crust that was a little oily underneath. It had that pancake-like appearance of dough that's been cooked on an oily surface. The edge was slightly crunchy, with a fried kind of texture and mouthfeel.
The cheese was melted and very stringy. It seemed to be all mozzarella. The tomato component was closer to chunks of canned tomato than to a traditional pizza sauce. The various components were in reasonably good balance, though. The pepperoni was of the wide and thin variety, and applied rather generously.
Pleasant Bunz's breakfast menu, which is available from 7 to 11 a.m., covers the usual bases, with pancakes, eggs, and some breakfast sandwiches. The lunch menu is considerably wider and includes wraps, sandwiches, burritos, salads and subs. Besides regular pizza slices, they offer French bread pizza too. Pleasant Bunz also has an order-to-to service - handy for downtown workers - and catering. There's some seating, but it's mostly a takeout operation.
Pleasant Bunz seems like a fine place to grab a quick breakfast or lunch, and I don't want to discourage anyone from going there and checking it out. But personally, I wouldn't go for the pizza. Mine had a crust that was way too soft, and it was rather bland all around, with its stringy mozzarella and chunky tomato "sauce." I applaud any desire to offer pizza, but pizza is not something you can put together quickly like an omelet or a sub sandwich and make it well. I just wonder if some eatery owners don't think that it's a simple matter to add pizza to a menu, without thinking through what's involved in making really good pizza. If your limitations of time, space or other resources prevent you from serving excellent pizza, it might be better to stick to the other stuff.
But that's me. For all I know, there's a whole army of downtown office workers who go to Pleasant Bunz specifically for their daily pizza fix. If so, far be it from me to say they're wrong. But this wasn't my idea of good pizza, and I'll give it a C-.
Pleasant Bunz Restaurant and Cafe, 87 N. Clinton Ave. 232-1370
Mon. - Thu. 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Fri. 7:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

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