California Pizza Kitchen’s (“CPK”) new “Next Chapter” menu has arrived at its Connecticut locations in Stamford Town Center and Foxwoods Casino. With a focus on high quality, fresh and seasonal ingredients, inventive main plates, hand-crafted cocktails and locally brewed beers alongside classic CPK favorites, the new and expanded menu is part of CPK’s transformational “Next Chapter” initiative, currently rolling out to CPK locations nationwide.
We were invited to sample the new menu at the CPK Stamford location. For all the years we’ve lived in Stamford, let alone CT, I’ve never dined there. Actually, this was my first time dining at a CPK and I was surprised to see that the chain was more than just pizza. It was a Sunday night, around 6pm, and the restaurant was packed with families, groups celebrating birthdays and couples enjoying dinner.
The Food
The ‘Next Chapter’ menu features a fire-grilled ribeye and wild-caught Alaskan halibut, hand-tossed pizzas, craft cocktails and more.
Dinner started with one of their seasonal offerings – the Brussels + Bacon Flatbread (shown above), with Nueske’s Applewood-smoked bacon, sweet caramelized onions and creamy goat cheese atop hand-stretched dough. If you see it, order it.
Hearth-Roasted Halibut
The Hearth-Roasted Halibut is a delicious dish to try when you’re feel like having a light dinner. The halibut is wild caught from Alaska and roasted on a cedar plank with butternut squash farro, grilled asparagus and baby kale. The portion is big, and is enough for 2 to share.
Fish Tacos
The Fish Tacos are also good. Wrapped in flour tortillas are Panko-crusted mahi mahi, shredded cabbage and housemade ranchito sauce, with chips on the side.
Key Lime Pie
For dessert, we sampled the sweet-and-tart Key Lime Pie (hold the whipped cream). They also have decadent chocolate desserts for those of you who crave something sweet.
Craft cocktails, premium wines and local brews
CPK’s new hand-crafted cocktails feature premium alcohols with fresh fruit purees and herbs, such as the California Roots, a refreshing drink made with avocado, shaken smooth with Svedka vodka, mint and lime, with a fennel salt rim. The thought of avocado in a cocktail may seem strange at first, but it’s actually delicious. I’ve had avocado cocktails elsewhere and I was impressed with CPK’s version.
California Roots cocktail
Their updated wine list includes California premium wines like Buena Vista, Mark West, Sonoma-Cutrer and CPK’s custom blend by KOZ. CPK also serves local beer from Half Full Brewery. If you’re undecided, you can ask your server to try a flight – of wine or Sangria. I tried their Sangria Flight – a trio of Blood Orange (white wine with orange puree), Caribbean Sunset (white wine, passion fruit rum, apple juice and mango puree), and Appleberry (red wine with cranberry, orange and raspberry puree). All were tasty, but Caribbean Sunset tasted the best of the three, though a tad bit too sweet for my liking.
Sangria Flight
Red Wine Flight
Overall, I thought the food at CPK was very good. I was surprised at the quality of the food. Before dining here, I only thought CPK was about pizza and didn’t have high expectations of the food, but I was impressed. The menu has more than just pizza, and features vegetarian and gluten-free items. My server encouraged me to sign up for CPK’s Pizza Dough® Rewards, which gets you a free small plate when you enroll and the ability to earn points each time you dine. Not a bad deal.
Have you visited CPK lately?
California Pizza Kitchen
230 Tresser Boulevard
Stamford, CT 06901
Tel: (203) 406-0530
Twitter: @calpizzakitchen (#NEWCPK)
Instagram: @californiapizzakitchen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/californiapizzakitchen
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11am – 10pm, Sunday 11am – 9pm
Disclosure: We were invited to sample California Pizza Kitchen’s menu. The opinions expressed are my own and I received no further compensation from CPK or their representatives. We left a cash tip.
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