California Pizza Kitchen
25365 Cedar Rd.
Lyndhurst, Ohio 44124
216-382-4907

I’ll admit it. I was a skeptical bastard. I did not think that I would like the California Pizza Kitchen. First off, its in Legacy Village which as you may know is the center of the universe for the yuppie elite of Southern Cuyahoga County. Definitely not someplace I enjoy visiting. Add that on to the fact that the California Pizza Kitchen or CPK as they are commonly referred to, is a national gourmet pizza chain restaurant. Let me repeat: National Gourmet Pizza Chain. That’s got yummy written all over it. Expensive and crappy pizza. Grab me a napkin so I can wipe up this drool.

All that being said, after you get past the glitz of 247 identical Range Rovers in the parking lot, the California Pizza Kitchen serves some damn good pizza. I tried both a simple sausage and pepperoni pizza as well as a decadent Jamaican Jerk pizza, they were both unreal as far as pizza goes. The Jamaican Jerk pizza was covered with jerk chicken, sliced peppers, sauteed onions, apple-wood bacon and a spicy sauce that really gave a kick. It was unlike any pizza I have ever had so it is hard to compare, but all of the toppings were a perfect match for each other. It was just a very good pizza.

Even the sausage and pepperoni pizza was very good. Other than some really fresh ingredients, there wasn’t anything unique about this pizza, but it tasted so much better than any other sausage and pepperoni pizza I have had. You could tell that CPK does use quality ingredients in their pizzas which is completely different than all other chain pizza places. I don’t even want to start on that crappy sausage that the national chains use. The pizza at CPK had chunks of fresh sausage, you know, the way sausage is supposed to be.

Whether in English or Arabic, Pizza Hut serves some incredibly shitty pizza.

While I think that the pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen may have been a bit pricey at $10 – $13 a pie, I also think its worth the extra juice. The CPK kitchen is on a completely different level than the pizza you’ll find at any local pizzeria. The California Pizza Kitchen truly does serve gourmet pizza with some fresh and unique toppings you won’t find anywhere else. A visit to the CPK is worth a visit to the Yuppie nation, maybe not during the Holiday shopping season, but its still a few weeks off so go soon.