California Vegetarian

George and I have enjoyed California Pizza Kitchen (a California-based and originated, now national pizza chain) since before we stopped eating meat a decade ago. We continue to enjoy it now, just with far fewer options from the menu.

Honestly, a look at the menu is a bit deceiving. CPK has what appear to be a lot of vegetarian options, but many of the ‘meatless’ menu items contain animal stock in the sauce preparation.

Pizzas in general are safe here as long as a meat item is not listed among the toppings; however, several of the pasta options appear to be meat-free, but contain meat stock in their sauce. We were disappointed to learn this on a recent visit. I guess it just never come up since we normally eat at CPK for the pizza, but on this particular occasion decided that we wanted pasta.

Be sure to check out the “vegetarian info” page on their online menu for more information.

We ended up getting two vegetarian pasta dishes on our most recent visit. George chose their asparagus and spinach pasta ($10.99).

I had their tomato and basil pasta with goat cheese ($12.29). Both were very good. In fact, I would order either one of them again. However, I have to admit that I prefer the pizzas at  CPK to their pastas. This is understandable, however, given that pizza is really their emphasis.

Their dessert menu has no vegan options, but has a lot of options for the lacto-ovo vegetarian.  Their chocolate banana cake ($6.29) is very tasty,

as is their caramel pecan cheesecake ($6.29).

Again, be sure to review the ‘vegetarian info’ pdf available from the menu website. They have kindly listed everything that is clean for every possible level of vegan to vegetarian. If you enjoy hummus, you really must order their hummus appetizer. It is excellent!

We will go back to CPK. In fact, I can see us making a special trip out to CPK, but I’m sure it will be for pizza, probably not pasta.