California Pizza Kitchen

American chain specialising in fancy pizzas at the Dubai Mall Discuss this article

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A colleague who recently dined at California Pizza Kitchen confided in me that she found it to be ‘the best pizza in Dubai’. As evidence she submitted the fact that her boyfriend (who claims Italian roots, albeit second generation) thought it was ‘the most authentic pizza outside of Italy’. I was doubtful (it is called California Pizza Kitchen, after all). Furthermore, CPK is an American chain that launched in 1985 on the heels of a California pizza revolution forged by the likes of American celebrity chefs Alice Waters and then Wolfgang Puck.

Basically, California-style pizza is unique, just as New York and Sicilian pizza are. It’s thin, it’s usually single portion and it’s known for its unusual toppings. In other words, California pizzas really are nothing like Italian pizzas. Still, after gentle urging from a few different and self-proclaimed pizza aficionados, I decided that I’d give the place a lunchtime visit.

Like many restaurants in The Dubai Mall, there was something sterile about the decor. Practically every venue in The Dubai Mall feels like it is part of some extended food court, even when it is tucked in some back alley of the shopping centre, as CPK was. Partly, this is because so many of these restaurants are not enclosed (a main door and some frosted windows would do wonders for the aesthetic of the mall’s many eating establishments).

There was also something a little odd about the service. The waitress took part of our food order, walked away (I think to give the kitchen a heads up), then returned to finish taking the order. As a result the delivery of the food was completely disjointed: my Singapore shrimp wrap starter arrived, but my date’s soup never emerged. My wrap, mainly loose, messy summer rolls, were also so massive that finishing the subsequent pizza was more challenging than it should have been.

In spite of the bizarre start-and-stop serving method demonstrated by our waitress at the onset, once the order was put in, the food came out quickly. In a matter of minutes, my date and I were presented with our steaming pizzas. My companion had the signature pizza, topped with barbecue chicken.

I don’t care what my co-worker said, this concoction could only have come from the American west coast. It wasn’t bad. My companion had opted for the thinner ‘Neapolitan’ crust, which was flaky and crisp. Sliced red onions and some deliciously hammy flavoured gouda combined nicely (the result was a bite that tasted like canned smoke), but the syrupy barbecue sauce made for one saccharin savoury.

My date, meanwhile, balked at my shrimp scampi pizza. In her mind, seafood and pizza don’t mix. It worked, though. The doughy crust was richly adorned with meaty chunks of roasted garlic, which nestled next to little pink fingers of prawn.

There was, however, something a bit disconcerting about how these pizzas mimicked the flavours of other types of dishes (not dissimilar to how jelly beans can bare an eerie resemblance to chocolate pudding or buttered popcorn). Also, the food here seemed very calculated. I could picture a lab full of mad food scientists playing a giddy game of one-upmanship when creating the menu.

The result was, yes, very nice pizzas, but not in the simple, rustic way you picture in Italy, where the only toppings you need are some excellent mozzarella and a ripe tomato. Still, for an American pizza chain in the basement of The Dubai Mall, it hit the spot.

The bill (for two)
1x Large Aquafina water Dhs8
1x Singapore shrimp rolls Dhs30
1x Scampi pizza Dhs39
1x BBQ chicken pizza Dhs39
Service Dhs11.6
Total Dhs127.6

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