What It Is: A pizza topped with red onions, roasted tomatoes, grilled zucchini, Kalamata olives, feta, Parm, Greek oregano, EVOO and tzatzikiPrice: $19
It wouldn’t be CPK without a creative riff on pizza in the mix. Its latest addition features the chain’s classically chewy dough, topped with grilled zucchini, red onions, slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives, feta and Parm. The whole thing’s dusted with Greek oregano and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and housemade tzatziki, a salted yogurt and cucumber-based sauce.
Here, and in all three dishes, the slow-roasted tomatoes steal the show. They’re juicy, sweet and bursting with flavor—a sharp contrast to the typically bland tomatoes you get at most chains. I was immediately reminded of a tip I’d read in Ina Garten’s memoir, where she mentioned that conventional grocery store tomatoes are often so bland that:
“If you bite into a raw one blindfolded, I’m not even sure you could identify it as a tomato,” Garten writes. “But toss it in olive oil, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and slow-roast it to caramelize the sugars in the tomatoes, and they taste like the best summer tomatoes you’ve ever eaten.” Given that tomato season doesn’t start until May, this is a brilliant move on CPK’s part to ensure peak flavor—and consistent quality across its nearly 200 restaurants.
While I enjoyed the pillowy dough and mix of veggies on the pizza, I did find that the tzatziki all but disappeared into the pie and wasn’t particularly noticeable. Honestly, a balsamic drizzle would’ve really punched up the flavor, giving it a needed boost of acidity.