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My passion for healthy eating began long before I started cooking and writing about food. In fact, even as a teenager, I recognized my distaste for meat and heavily processed foods, and thus began my journey towards a healthy, vegetarian lifestyle. Over the years, I’ve come to enjoy everything from kale and quinoa to cashew milk and rooibos tea, but most days my diet consists of lots of whole grains, sustainable fish, and veggies.
For years I frequented California Pizza Kitchen at the Beverly Center on my lunch breaks when I worked at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. What I loved about the popular restaurant was its signature hand-tossed, hearth-baked, artisan pizzas with and an overall menu that featured imaginative combinations of gourmet flavors that fused to create unique, often-upscale dishes. My favorite salad was their Waldorf Chicken salad (which is currently still on the menu), a dish I selected nearly every time I frequented the establishment during my pre-vegetarian years. I still really love the flavors and dimensions of this salad, but it’s been replaced with a new favorite…The California Fields Salad (with grilled shrimp!).
This salad, along with several new eclectic dishes, is just part of California Pizza Kitchen’s “Next Chapter.” CPK is also innovating the look of their restaurants, redesigning them with oak floors, tabletops made from reclaimed wood, natural stone countertops, vibrant, and locally-inspired artwork. No two “Next Chapter” restaurants look alike and the overall look and feel is one of rustic warmth mixed with the casual ambiance they’re known for.
I recently had an opportunity to visit their Fashion Island location where my daughter and I sampled a handful of CPK’s new menu items. We started with their Maine Lobster Flatbread, which features Maine lobster, mayonnaise, fresh herbs, arugula, and shaved red onions on a Parmesan flatbread. I was pleasantly surprised to see all of the seafood additions to CPK’s new menu and this flatbread did not disappoint. The fusion of flavors did not overwhelm the Lobster which can be the case with seafood dishes. While light enough as an appetizer, I would recommend sharing it so that you can enjoy CPK’s other gourmet dishes.
The next dish changed my whole concept of salad as I know it. CPK’s California Fields Salad is absolutely divine, incorporating my favorite fruits and flavors of summer with field greens and complemented by a Champagne vinaigrette. In place of more traditional nuts like pecans or walnuts, CPK opted for pistachios which adds a nice flavor dimension to to overall salad. While I enjoyed an appetizer portion during my meal, I’ve since gone back and made this a meal by topping the salad with grilled shrimp.
After the above two dishes, I would have been content. However, the best was still to come with CPK’s Hearth-Roasted Halibut. Wild caught form the North Pacific, this halibut is a pleasantly unexpected menu item, particularly from a venue who’s menu was originally designed around artisan pizzas. Admittedly, this was a dish I would have ordered for dinner simply because of its size, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The halibut is roasted on a cedar plank which preserves the natural flavors of the fish and paired with grilled asparagus, butternut squash farro and baby kale. This is CPK’s best main entree on the entire menu.
As much as I love dessert (particularly chocolate), the Summer season has curtailed my sweet indulgences in favor of my waistline. However, I absolutely could not resist splitting CPK’s new S’mores in a Jar. This dessert makes even my own pale in comparison, featuring Kettle-cooked Belgian chocolate pudding and dark chocolate chunks under a double graham cracker layer and topped with toasted marshmallows. While small enough to enjoy alone, I recommend sharing this dessert since it is incredibly rich and decadent.
CPK has long been recognized for offering hand-shaken cocktails and their new menu offers refreshing, summer-inspired varieties with and without alcohol. My daughter and I tried their new Fresh Strawberry Mango Cooler which features fresh strawberries hand-shaken with Fresca and Monin South Seas mango, guava and ginger. This is a light, refreshing drink perfect for cooling off from the warm California sun.
While CPK maintains its recognition for artisan pizza, families can frequent their local Next Chapter restaurant and select from a more diverse selection of menu items. If you visit during lunchtime, you might try their Lunch Duos, which offers guests the option of selection 2 different menu items including 7-inch pizzas, salads, half sandwiches and soups.
Dining with kids? One lesser-known fact about CPK is that kids can actually learn and practice tossing pizza dough from one of the chefs. Inquire at your local restaurant.
To view all of CPK’s new menu items, visit CPK.com.
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