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Something new's cooking at CPK
| Wednesday, Mar 1 2006 9:50 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Mar 1 2006 9:54 PM
Contributing columnist
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California Pizza Kitchen seldom does a menu overhaul, preferring the subtle addition of a few items flagged with one of those red marks that says "new." I must confess that I do love it when restaurants highlight those items and whether I'm working or not my eyes will head right to those. And the new CPK menu has a few worth investigating. On recent visits, these are what we tried:
* Spaghetti carbonara ($11.49). My son was all over this as a big fan of both spaghetti and pancetta, the Italian dry-cured bacon. I was supporting him 100 percent as I love carbonara sauce, have tried it all over the country and have never pulled it off on my own in the kitchen. It's a Romano cheesy cream sauce here, and of course it has peas. I realize many kitchens make it with American bacon, but the version with Italian bacon is far superior (less greasy, similar smoky flavor) and it's a dish already laden with fat given the cheese and cream. The pasta from the CPK kitchen was al dente, not Olive Garden mushy, and the bowl was the perfect proportion. At this price, it was a fair value, and definitely something I would order again.
* Milan pizza ($11.99). This is my choice and it was a meatlover's dream, though my companion loved it, too. Two different types of Italian sausage (sweet and hot) prepared two different ways it seemed: thin sliced, and placed on the pizza in clumps. The supporting ingredients were just beautiful: caramelized onions, sauteed wild mushrooms, Parmesan, Fontina and mozzarella cheeses. It had the thin crust and was not exactly crisp on the bottom but with toppings like these, who cared?
* Chipotle chicken pizza ($10.99). Big difference of opinion on this one. My companion, who ordered it, just didn't care for it at all. I thought the absolute key to the somewhat spare pizza was the lime cream sauce drizzled over it, which not only added an appealing green color but worked so well with the spicy chicken bits. Her biggest issue was the large mound of roasted corn-tomato-onion-cilantro-black bean chunky salsa placed in the center, which seeped through and made that section of the pizza soggy. I know it looked good on presentation, but it didn't seem practical given the impact it had on the crust. One point we all agreed on is that there's a sweetness to the crust at CPK that just doesn't seem authentic, unless you're talking about the American tendency to add sugar to European foods to make it "accessible."
* Chocolate banana royale cake ($5.79). I doubt it's made on the premises, but this was so good, with a frosting made with bananas between the two layers and a nice fudgy exterior. Get it with the vanilla ice cream and the chocolate sauce and you'll find new reasons to appreciate dessert and still feel OK about skipping the other new dessert, the caramel fudge pecan cheesecake ($5.99).
We did not get a chance to sample many of the other new CPK items, such as the California shrimp cocktail, the avocado club egg rolls ($8.49), the Thai crunch salad ($11.49) or the Shanghai garlic noodles (ginger garlic sauce, onions, snow peas, shiitake mushrooms, red and yellow peppers). You can get a veggie version of those noodles or get them with chicken ($12.99), shrimp ($14.99) or chicken and shrimp ($16.99).
Lots of good possibilities for future visits there, though the CPK near the new park that we hope will open soon is still crowded even on off nights. A half-hour wait even early in the evening. I must say that the decor is a real retro nostalgia trip for those of us who remember what the living room looked like on the original "Brady Bunch" TV show. The back wall has this square stone mosaic that looks like something right out of the '60s TV show. I'm not sure if it just has been out for so long that it's in again, or the wall is something of a subconscious touchstone for those boomers who loved the show. Anyway, it adds to a very odd, decades-spanning atmosphere that is not at all Bakersfield 2006 to me, but then that could be my problem.
Service was great from a spiky-haired waiter whose only flaw was ignoring us way too long near the end when we wanted the bill. Oh that most bill collectors were so hesitant to demand payment.