Lately, I been dining at California Pizza Kitchen after a decade long hiatus. I remember back then, I had to quiz the waitperson to figure out what was vegan on the menu. Nowadays, they have a whole section listing what’s vegan, what’s lacto vegetarian, and what’s lacto ovo vegetarian on their website. It’s very handy.
There’s two options for vegan pizza. I always get what’s pictured above – Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant – baby broccoli, grilled Japanese eggplant, roasted corn, sliced red onions, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and tomato sauce. Asked for no cheese and on the Neapolitan dough (thin-crust).
I love thin crust pizza. The thinner, the better as far as I’m concerned. CPK’s is so thin and crisp, there’s an actual crunch to certain parts. And I love the flavors of the toppings, they’re not your standard veggie pizza toppings.
The second vegan pizza option is the Tricoloré Salad Pizza – chilled arugula, baby red leaf lettuce, radicchio, diced tomatoes with homemade Dijon balsamic vinaigrette dressing and no cheese – which I have not tried. To me, it just sounds like salad on a pizza crust.
I’ve also tried the two vegan soups, the Asparagus Soup with no croutons and the Dakota Smashed Pea and Barley Soup, pictured above. They’re both alright, kinda on the salty side though.
I usually get the soup just to round out my meal but I might try a salad or an appetizer next time instead. I heard about their Menu Adventure Guarantee as I was leaving – try something new, if you’re not thrilled, they’ll replace it with one of your usual favorites. I might have to take them up on that.
