Explore Beyond the Crust – California Pizza Kitchen

I’m mixing things up a bit today and want to share with a tasting from our recent visit to California Pizza Kitchen located at the corner of Nees & Blackstone here in Fresno. Explore Beyond the Crust is the name of their promotion for the new menu and explore beyond is just what they’ve done! With new menu items like Fire Grilled Ribeye, Hearth Roasted Halibut and Garlic Grilled Chicken they’ve accomplished that and then some.

We had an outstanding meal! We started off with tasting their flatbreads – we tried two different selections – Shaved Mushrooms & Spinach – fabulous! And Bianco flatbread which is topped with truffle cream, Gorgonzola, Mozzarella and fresh sage – savory and salty – so yummy (and my personal favorite!)!

Next up was a light and summery Strawberry Watermelon Feta Salad – I especially enjoyed this salad. The strawberries were so sweet, feta added a salty bite and it was sprinkled with crunchy pistachios – a bright delicious salad!

Then came the entrees – we enjoyed Fish Tacos, Fire-Grilled Ribeye (about a 1 inch thick, generously cut ribeye steak, topped with a Gorgonzola compound butter. The steak was tender, juicy and flavorful!) Next up was Hearth Roasted Halibut (perfectly cooked, the meat was flaky and served on top of a farro butternut squash cream sauce – delicious and beautifully presented) and Roasted Garlic Chicken. When you visit (and I hope you visit soon!) enjoy one of these entrees because they were just outstanding!

Of course because we were at California Pizza Kitchen we had to try their pizza! Did you know CPK’s number one Pizza Tosser in the company works right here in Fresno? He travels thru-out the world (yes the world!) teaching others how to make the best pizza!!! We sampled their signature pizza – The Original BBQ’d Chicken Pizza and also tried the Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage Pizza – outstanding! For dessert we finished with a yummy Strawberry Shortcake and Butter Cake topped with Häagen-Dazs® Ice Cream – served hot (and pictured on the right above) it was truly the best dessert I believe I’ve ever had – you definitely need to try this! My mouth is watering as I write this just thinking about that yummy meal!

My folks were in town and attending the tasting with us. Because of this we were able to try everything at once – that was a big treat. We all had a bit of this and a bit of that and when each entree was served we ate “family style” – it’s a great way to sample and try several things! A delightful lunch and truly amazing meal. From the moment we walked in the door we were greeted with a friendly smile, ushered to our table quickly. bread was offered immediately and the feast started. Our meal was absolutely delightful and when you go, I suspect you’d feel just the same! It’s time to Explore Beyond the Crust. I hope you stop by California Pizza Kitchen soon for an amazing meal!
p.s. CPK also offers a GREAT birthday party for kids, for more information check out this write up by FresYes Author Natali Carrera – hey….my birthday is this week! I wonder if they’d allow big kids bday parties? 😀
Our meal was complimentary, however these opinions are 100% my own.
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