This blogger is on his hols at the moment so this week’s 5pm Dining blogs have all been written in advance.
As such, a number of them have involved a certain amount of staring into the office crystal ball and trying to figure what might open and what might not.
Fingers crossed but one thing we are confident about is that Pizza Punks opened on Glasgow’s St Vincent Street at the weekend.
Brought to the pizza-loving people of Glasgow by the team behind the Bar Soba outlets, Pizza Punks promises pizza cooked in wood-fired, custom-made ovens.
The ovens are going to see a lot of action as, apparently, the chefs also use them to cook roasts, breads, meats and even breakfasts.
Now, it has been a while since this blogger woke up and discovered that, miraculously, there was still some pizza left over from the night before.
Breakfast pizza
At Pizza Punks, there will always be pizza in the morning as their menu includes a selection of breakfast pizza as well as artisan pastries and fresh focaccia with eggs.
The chefs make most things in-house from scratch including the dough base for the pizza. I’ve never watched Great British Bake Off and therefore no zip about dough.
However, the dough at Pizza Punks is allowed to slow proof for 24 hours which, we are told, makes it very light without sacrificing any flavour.
One advantage of doing as much as possible in-house is that the chefs are perfectly happy to knock up gluten-free pizza.
They also serve gluten-free beer and stock The Lawless Village IPA, a GF American-style IPA with a forward, citrusy finish.
Wines on tap, cocktails, premium gins and craft beer from breweries such as Magic Rock Brewing, Drygate and Beavertown all help make up the drinks offer.
Pizza the action
The Pizza Punks join old hands such as SoHo On Miller Street and more recent arrivals like Paesano Pizza and Baffo in Glasgow and Tutto Matto in Edinburgh.
Much like the burger boom which started a few years ago, it seems that pizzas are now having their day in the sun.