Wolfgang Puck had once tasted a pizza topped with ricotta cheese, red peppers, pate and mustard, and immediately hired its creator, Ed LaDou, as a pizza chef for his first restaurant, Spago, when it opened in 1982. In 1985 LaDou teamed up with the men behind CPK to help them develop the Beverly Hills menu. He is credited with the creation of CPK's BBQ Chicken pizza.
CPK
Nutrition Info
- With Purchase of Dine in Entree
- Monday - Friday
- 3 - 5PM
Our Korean take on our BBQ pizza. Charred steak, Korean BBQ sauce, Mozzarella cheese, scallions, shaved Napa cabbage, red onion, toasted sesame seeds, and a sriracha-lime hot sauce.
The best crispy, hand-breaded chicken sandwich you've ever had (according to us). Served on a toasted brioche bun with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and mayo. Served with side of crispy smashed potatoes.
- Strawberry Shortcake
- California Fields Salad
- Sparkling Watermelon Cooler
- Summer Fruit Sangria
- Fresh Baked Sourdough
- Olive Oil and Herbs
- Rustic and Spicy Pepperoni with Fresh Mozzarella and Wild Greek Oregano
- Zero Flop
- Nice Undercarriage
- Roasted Turkey Breast
- Garbanzo Beans
- Julienned Salami
- Tomatoes
- Mozzarella
- Fresh Basil
- Housemade Mustard Herb Vinaigrette
Created by CPK in 1985
- BBQ Chicken
- Fresh Cilantro
- Red Onions
- Smoked Gouda
- Barley
- Carrots
- Onions
- Savory Herbs
- Scallions
California Pizza KitchenCPKFrom a legendary Pizza to a global brand
Born in Beverly Hills in 1985, former federal prosecutors Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax combined their passion for food with fresh high-quality ingredients to create California Pizza Kitchen (CPK). Introducing diners to innovative California-style pizza with the invention of The Original BBQ Chicken Pizza.Today, CPK continues to reimagine California creativity, pushing culinary boundaries with a long list of industry-firsts including gluten-free crust, cauliflower crust, and healthful Power Bowls. Handcrafted with fresh, seasonally inspired ingredients, each dish and cocktail served at CPK is uniquely built on innovation.
- Pizza
- Salads
- Pastas
- Starters
- Desserts
- Take and Bake
CPKCPK is a global brand serving creative California cuisine in nearly 200 restaurants worldwide, 12 international cities, and 11 countries and U.S. territories. From signature, hand-tossed pizzas and high-quality main plates to inventive better-for-you options, and handcrafted beverages, let's cheers to a delicious adventure for your tastebuds!
- In December 2022, Jeff Warne was named Chief Executive Officer.
- During the first quarter of 2023 in collaboration with Litehouse, California Pizza Kitchen launched CPK dressings to grocery store shelves across the country.
When CPK opened its doors in 1985, it launched a leap forward in the food space, democratizing upscale pizza as a platform where fresh and creative flavors collide, served in a modern, stylish atmosphere where everyone feels welcome. Today, the idea of moving food and people forward is part of the fabric of who we are as a brand. CPK is committed to evolving in perpetuity by growing our footprint and sharing our distinctly California way of life with more people every day.
The California Pizza Authority
When the first BBQ Chicken Pizza was created in our kitchen in 1985, it immediately burned down the barrier between upscale cuisine and comfort food and fired the imagination of every guest who tried it.More Than Pizza
Did you know more than 60% of our menu is not pizza? We apply the same California-inspired imagination and creativity to categories such as Salads, Pastas, Main Plates, Soups, Desserts, and many others.Commitment to Cali Fresh
There's an expectation that things are healthier in California. Whether it's conscious sourcing, fresh ingredients made from scratch, or better‑for‑you innovation. California sets the bar. CPK delivers on this every day.Our CPK Family
We believe in putting people first and providing an environment that encourages our team members to be unique, to pursue their passions, and enables them to make a difference in the success of our business.CPK Culture
We are led by our core values of R.O.C.K.S. and practice these principles without exception as part of the CPK experience.
- Respect
- Opportunity
- Communication
- Kindness
- Service
- $25
- Two $50 Gift Cards for $79.99
- Instant Rebate -10.00
7 Facts About California Pizza Kitchen
Mental FlossCalifornia Pizza Kitchen
Credited with introducing the rest of the country to pizzas topped with things other than sausage, cheese and pepperoni, but it started as an idea between two friends who were looking for a new career path. Thirty years later, that idea has grown into more than 250 restaurants across the U.S. and Asia.
- The chain was started by two lawyers who were looking to leave law.
Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield had been business partners prior to launching California Pizza Kitchen-the criminal defense lawyers had opened their own law practice, Flax & Rosenfield, together in 1973. But after years of stressful trials, the pair ditched their day jobs for another stressful profession-the restaurant business. They pooled their resources (which included $200,000 in loans and an extra $350,000 borrowed from friends) to open the first CPK in 1985 in Beverly Hills, California. "Everybody was saying, 'Two lawyers going into the pizza business? That's crazy,'" Rosenfield told The Wall Street Journal in 2009. "The bankers were mortified."- The menu was developed by a chef who worked at Wolfgang Puck's first restaurant.
Flax and Rosenfield knew they wanted their restaurant to be part of the wave of gourmet “California” pizza that had been pioneered by Wolfgang Puck just a couple of years earlier, so when they were developing their menu, they went straight to the source. Puck had once tasted a pizza topped with ricotta cheese, red peppers, pate and mustard, and immediately hired its creator, Ed LaDou, as a pizza chef for his first restaurant, Spago, when it opened in 1982. LaDou later teamed up with the men behind CPK to help them develop the menu for the restaurant and is credited with the creation of the chain's BBQ Chicken pizza. Not a bad legacy.- The non-traditional toppings are king at CPK.
Of course you can always just get a plain pepperoni slice, but the restaurant's signature BBQ Chicken pizza-crust topped with barbecue sauce, smoked Gouda, red onions and cilantro-is what put California Pizza Kitchen on the culinary map. Today, diners can order pizzas in off-the-beaten path varieties such as Thai Chicken, Wild Mushroom and California Club-which comes topped with avocado, arugula, basil, and romaine that has been tossed in a lemon-pepper salad dressing.- The brand underwent a major renovation in 2015 for its 30th anniversary.
- Pepsico used to own a majority stake in the company - but all that money nearly doomed the chain.
In 1992, the soft drink giant paid nearly $100 million for a 67 percent stake of California Pizza Kitchen and launched the company into an era of unbridled growth that almost killed the chain. Locations opened quickly in cities that weren't familiar with the restaurant, with diners who weren't willing to pay a few extra bucks for a pizza. “We made the classic mistakes,” Rosenfield told Los Angeles Magazine. He called it their “Field of Dreams period-build it and they will come. Except that they didn't.” A private equity firm bought out Pepsi's two-thirds stake five years later and installed a new CEO.- CPK was once traded on the stock market.
During the post-Pepsi period of CPK, the company made its debut as a publicly traded business, and after a short period of promising numbers, the numbers sank and the reins of the company were handed back to Flax and Rosenfield in 2003. "Larry and I were pretty insecure," Rosenfield said about their position at the time, after years of being told they were best at PR and weren't up for running the business side. The company was eventually bought by firm Golden Gate Capital and pulled from the public market.- Diners can round their bill to help children.
CPK partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation last year, allowing patrons to round their bill up to the nearest dollar and donate the change.
A Brief History of California PizzaThe SauceCalifornia isn't Chicago or New York!
California Pizza Kitchen is the most famous in a long line of innovative restaurants that changed the way Americans viewed pizza and its toppings. To unpack all of this history, we have to go back to its beginnings, with Spago and Chez Panisse.Chez Panisse:
Alice Waters is an undisputed California culinary icon. Her restaurant, Chez Panisse, has been at the forefront of California cuisine since it opened in Berkeley in 1971. So when she began making wood-fired pizzas with unusual toppings, people took notice. Pizzas topped with locally sourced ingredients like leeks and duck confit started to be served at the restaurant in 1980. Chez Panisse is recognized as one of the creators of California-style pizza, along with Ed LaDou. Which leads us to...Spago:
Wolfgang Puck's legendary restaurant hired Ed LaDou to run its pizza program when it opened in 1982 after Puck tasted one of LaDou's culinary creations. It was a pizza topped with ricotta cheese, red peppers, pate, and mustard, and it cemented LaDou's place in pizza history. At Spago, LaDou developed a pizza menu that included smoked salmon pizza served with a side of caviar and pizza with smoked lamb, eggplant, roasted peppers, and cilantro. None of these pizzas sound revolutionary today, but at the time, pizza was for pepperoni and sausage only. Spago became an icon of celebrity dining and elevated the humble pizza.California Pizza Kitchen:
California Pizza Kitchen was founded by two lawyers in Beverly Hills, proving that you, too, can follow your dreams and leave a stressful career behind to enter the glorious world of pizza. The savvy founders hired, you guessed it, Ed LaDou, to develop the restaurant menu. It all makes sense now. Now, it's a corporate behemoth owned by PepsiCo, but it did originally start as an exciting new restaurant.California Pizza Today:
These days, California is dotted with innovative pizza restaurants following in the footsteps of giants. California-style pizza continues to be focused on innovative toppings, and most California-style pizza uses a traditional Neapolitan crust.
California Pizza Kitchen
The Origin of California Pizza
- robert On Viceland's LA episode of The Pizza Show, I was pleased to see the founders of California Pizza Kitchen, Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax, give credit to Alice Waters for inventing California-style pizza (i.e., individual-sized with non-traditional toppings) at Chez Panisse Cafe in 1980 and to Ed LaDou for bringing it to wider attention at Spago before Rosenfeld and Flax hired him away, making it clear that Wolfgang Puck's contributions were to knock off Waters's business model and hire Ladou. The relevant bit is around 9'30":
[https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/pizza-show-los-angeles/59775b6157756d683f103e5e]
But apparently LaDou was making pizzas like that perhaps as far back as 1975:
[https://www.pizzamarketplace.com/news/whos-who-ed-ladou/]
- Bookwich Alice Waters may have introduced the concept of individual size pizza to California, but it's nothing that wasn't available in Italy. Though individual pizzas may have been groundbreaking here at the time, that does not qualify it as a “California pizza”. Wolfgang Puck is the one that redefined pizza in California and then the rest of the world, especially with his smoked salmon pizza.
That is what California-style pizza means to me, a step away from traditional Italian or Italian-American pizza: playfulness and inventiveness. And I think California Pizza Kitchen, with its brilliant bbq chicken pizza, helped spread the concept across America by making it affordable.- robert Chez Panisse Cafe made duck confit pizza in 1980. LaDou made duck sausage and smoked salmon pizzas at Prego in 1981. I think he came up with the BBQ chicken pizza while at Spago.
- Birthday Parties
California Pizza Kitchen Logo:
The CPK logo historyFabrik BrandsCPK LogoThe core elements of the California Pizza Kitchen logo have remained relatively consistent over the years. Although the emblem has grown simpler and more modernized over the years, it has always featured the name of the company, as well as an iconic palm tree symbol.
While it might not be as well-known as some of the famous pizza emblems today, the California Pizza Kitchen logo (or the CPK logo) is still among the most memorable in the landscape.The palm tree aims to highlight the origins of the company in California.
1985
The CPK logo, first introduced by the brand in 1985, was a far more detailed version of the emblem we know today. The design featured a white diamond, with a yellow, grid-style diamond placed in the center.In the middle of the design was the iconic palm tree, with the name “California Pizza Kitchen” positioned around it. The letters CPK are also at the bottom of the emblem.
This version of the CPK logo is almost three-dimensional in its design, with a black shadow around the bottom of the piece to make it appear as though it's moving out from the page.
2005
California Pizza Kitchen introduced a new variation of its logo. This option was a little brighter and more refined. The yellow checked element in the design expanded to cover more of the background behind the palm tree. The tree itself was also somewhat simplified.The wordmark for the company was refined, too, with a new typography featuring sans-serif, wide letters. The word “California” appeared in lowercase black font on a yellow banner. Underneath, "Pizza Kitchen" was presented in all uppercase, in white font on a black background.
CPK still appears at the bottom of the diamond in a much smaller font.
2012
The California Pizza Kitchen logo introduced in 2012 is the most recent version we have to date. This design removed a lot of the decoration from the previous logo, focusing simply on the black palm tree outline in a bright yellow diamond.The typography choice for the wordmark was very similar to the previous design. However, the letters in “California” appear a bit bolder. The overall wordmark is also positioned differently, appearing below the diamond rather than over the top of it.
Fonts and colors
The yellow diamond is a core part of the design. While yellow symbolizes the warmth and joy of California, the diamond stands for excellence and expertise. The palm tree component, which is depicted as a black silhouette, also aims to remind people of the origins of the company in Beverly Hills.Yellow is a color typically associated with sunlight and warmth. It's also a shade sometimes used in the food industry to stimulate appetite and engage customers. The core California Pizza Kitchen logo color is bright yellow, but the black components are important too. They symbolize strength, stability, and confidence.
Over the years, the company has refined its typography to make it more modern and legible. The California Pizza Kitchen logo font is a simple, legible, sans-serif typography. It's intended to appear modern and straightforward, similar to the company itself. The current font chosen for the latest CPK logo is Eurostyle Extended number 2. This is a square-style sans-serif font created by Aldo Novarese.
California Pizza Kitchen
WIKIPEDIACPK
American casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza. The restaurant was started in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly Hills, California, United States. California Pizza Kitchen introduced and popularized BBQ Chicken Pizza.In 1985, Flax and Rosenfield pooled $200,000 in bank loans and savings along with $350,000 invested from friends to lease space on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, California. The first menu, including the famous BBQ Chicken Pizza, was developed by Ed LaDou, then the pizza chef at Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant. CPK became an immediate success, and the company expanded throughout Southern California.
California Pizza Kitchen is widely known for its innovative and nontraditional pizzas, such as the "Original BBQ Chicken Pizza", Thai Chicken, and Jamaican Jerk Chicken pizzas. They also serve various kinds of pasta, salads, soups, sandwiches, and desserts. They have an extensive children's menu for children ages 10 and under which includes a variety of different pizzas, pastas, salad, and chicken.
They has over 250 locations in 32 U.S. states and 10 other countries, including 15 California Pizza Kitchen nontraditional, franchise concepts designed for airports, universities, and stadiums.
CPK's brand is licensed to a line of hand-tossed style, crispy thin crust, gluten-free crust, and small frozen pizzas for sale in supermarkets. The brand was originally licensed to Kraft in 1999. The license was assigned to Nestle after it purchased Kraft's pizza lines in 2010.
The Untold Truth of California Pizza Kitchen
MashedCalifornia Pizza Kitchen
Belive it or not, we've got two lawyers to thank for the existence of California Pizza Kitchen. In 1985, Los Angeles residents Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax were burned out with practicing law and eager to finally make a career shift based around their mutual love for cooking. The concept of California-style pizza was taking off thanks to the LA hot spot Spago (by Wolfgang Puck), which was doling out gourmet pizzas (among other things) to the rich and famous. Flax and Rosenfield decided they wanted to curate a similar offering for everyday folk, hence the conception of California Pizza Kitchen, which started in a space in Beverly Hills, California.The restaurant grew quickly to operate over 250 locations, across 30 states and 11 countries. The California-inspired pizza joint has certainly cemented its status in chain restaurant history but has had a pretty interesting journey since its initial opening. This is the untold truth of California Pizza Kitchen and its legendary pizzas.
Pasta was the original idea for the California Pizza Kitchen's signature dish
Founders Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield told The Wall Street Journal in 2009 that they'd initially wanted to recreate a pasta concept they'd discovered at a restaurant in Chicago. "We checked out a similar restaurant in Glendale, California, and saw not-particularly-good pizza going around. But half the people were having a slice. Literally, that day, we said: 'Let's scrap the pasta and make it pizza,'" said Rosenfield.California Pizza Kitchen became pizza-centric both in its menu and its physical space. Rather than cooking the pies in electric deck ovens, they decided to have an old school open-hearth oven in the middle of the restaurant.
California Pizza Kitchen invented the barbeque chicken pizza
Not only did California Pizza Kitchen invent the barbecue chicken pizza, but it also happens to be the menu item that saved them. When they first opened, the founders had tapped Spago pizza chef Ed LaDou to curate their menu. LaDou was viewed as a real pizza renegade in the 1970s and 1980s. His decision to veer away from traditional toppings like pepperoni, peppers, and mushrooms, and experiment with seafood and duck sausage pizza toppings blew people's minds back then. And while he offered fanciful items like rabbit sausage and grape-leaf pizza on the original CPK menu, the only dish that people actually ate was the good ole' BBQ chicken pizza. It ended up being a total game changer for the restaurant, and the pizza world at large.It was clear that LaDou, who sadly passed away from cancer in 2007, knew he was on the brink of something special by helping to create the pizzas like the barbecue chicken one at California Pizza Kitchen. In 1985, he told the Los Angeles Times, "We are at the threshold of a new epoch in pizza dining, an epoch that will transform convention into invention and open up an infinite spectrum of pizza possibilities." Barbecue chicken pizza was part of that new epoch, but now feels like a staple in pizza cuisine. We have LaDou and California Pizza Kitchen to thank for that.
California Pizza Kitchen was a gluten-free pioneer
California Pizza Kitchen was the first national restaurant chain to ban smoking sections
California Pizza Kitchen got a makeover in 2015
In the fall of 2015, California Pizza Kitchen got a serious facelift. Referring to it as its "Next Chapter," the chain decided to really shake things up a bit with new decor, all new table and seating options, and a revamped menu (with all of the signature menu items still intact, of course). The pizza haven also leveled up in the mixology department, coming up with a whole new line of signature cocktails, and an even happier happy hour, plus a bonus happy hour of sorts with lowered prices on certain beverages and meals from 8:30 p.m. to closing time.California Pizza Kitchen holds an annual Best Pizza Chef competition for its employees
Every year California Pizza Kitchen gives employees who've been through its pizza certification program a chance to compete in an Iron Chef-style contest. The intention is two-fold - it's a chance for some of its most talented chefs to put an extra $25K in their pocket, and a morale booster. It drives the pizza chefs to want to succeed, and therefore there's a lot of skill honing happening in California Pizza Kitchen restaurants across the country leading up to the competition rounds (it starts regional, then the finals are in Las Vegas). The pizza certification program keeps a lot of employees wanting to work for California Pizza Kitchen, resulting in a higher worker retention rate and continued success for the restaurant.California Pizza Kitchen is now offering a take and bake option
Customers can now come and grab one of California Pizza Kitchen's crafted California pizza creations at the restaurant, then take it home to bake it in their own oven. Customers can choose between any of the 20 pizzas available on California Pizza Kitchen's menu.
I tried every single pizza from California Pizza Kitchen and this was the best
DelishCalifornia Pizza Kitchen
Hate to break it to you, but not all pizzas are created equal. I would know: I tried every single pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. That's right, 20 different pies. I also did you the good service of ranking said pizzas - and you might not agree with my No. 1 pick. Slide into my DMs and we can battle it out.
- California Veggie Pizza
- Jamaican Jerk Pizza
- Cheese Pizza
- Pepperoni Pizza
- The Works Pizza
- Shrimp Scampi Pizza
- Thai Chicken Pizza
- Margherita Pizza
- Wild Mushroom Pizza
- Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage
- Roasted Artichoke + Spinach
- Hawaiian Pizza
- Spicy Chipotle Chicken
- Roasted Garlic Chicken
- Tostada Pizza
- Sicilian Pizza
- Five Cheese + Fresh Tomato Pizza
- The Original BBQ Chicken Pizza
- California Club Pizza
- Carne Asada Pizza
Taking the No. 1 spot, rather unexpectedly, is the Carne Asada Pizza. I couldn't have predicted that this would be the pizza I would dream about for six nights in a row, but it was. The marinated steak is so tender, the cilantro pesto and fire-roasted poblanos are fresher than anything you've put in your face hole, and the mozzarella and Monterey jack are *chef's kiss* perfection. The flavor combo is so perfect and unique, you'll want to order it every time.
All 17 (!!) Pizzas On California Pizza Kitchen's Menu, Re-Tasted & Ranked
UproxxPizza from California?
Recently, I had the chance to try all 17 pizzas on CPK's menu (there are actually 18 but we didn't review plain cheese) and I don't know if I agree with that original assessment anymore. Over the years, the chain has made a lot of changes to the core recipe... for the better. Now, if you asked me whether I rather have Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Round Table, or Little Caesars, I'm going to bring up CPK because they are hands down making better pizzas than any of the other national chains.But which CPK pizza is best? We're here to answer that question by reviewing and ranking all 18 pizzas on the menu, from the least essential to the most delicious. Let's dive in!
- Tostada Pizza
- California Club
- Plant-Based BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Wild Mushroom
- California Veggie
- Hawaiian
- Margherita
- Sicilian
- Five Cheese and Fresh Tomato
- Roasted Garlic Chicken (On Cauliflower Crust)
- Spicy Chipotle Chicken
- Pepperoni
- The Works
- Carne Asada
- Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage
- Thai Chicken
- Original BBQ Chicken Pizza
It might be a little basic to put the Original BBQ chicken pizza at the number one spot because this build is the very reason CPK is even a thing. It's the brand's flagship pizza, first created in 1985, and so important to the brand that they put “Original” right in the name, implying that before they did, BBQ pizza wasn't even a thing. We're not here to debate that but you know what? Credit where credit is due, this pizza is perfect.
The BBQ sauce isn't quite as smokey as you'd expect, instead, it has an addictive molasses sweetness to it that has a complex depth of flavor that never tastes boring. With a combination of barbecued chicken, smoked gouda, and red onions, each bite of this pizza bathes the palate in sweet and smokey sensations that taste so good that no CPK order is complete without ordering this pie.
Seriously, the next time you're at CPK order any pizza that appeals most to you, and then also add the BBQ Chicken Pizza to your order as well because no meal is complete without it.
The Bottom Line: The most essential pizza on CPK's entire menu. Don't visit CPK without ordering this pizza, even if you think you don't like BBQ sauce, order this - it'll change your mind.
- Ranch
- BBQ Ranch
- Sriracha Ranch
- Caesar
- Thai
- Citrus Poppyseed
[https://www.eatlife.net/dodger-stadium/cpk.php]
- Behind the Left Field Pavilion
- Field Level Section 48
- Loge Level Section 132
- Reserve Level Section 3
- Grab and Go Concession Stand in Center Field Plaza
