CPK Is Making a Secret Menu Item Official
The chain is introducing Mac ’N’ Cheese versions of its most popular pizzas to dine-in customers.
Ken Carlson/Photo courtesy of California Pizza Kitchen
California Pizza Kitchen (a.k.a. CPK) is best known for its pizzas, obviously. It’s right there in its name. But now, the chain is locking into noodles in a big way, launching nationwide a new Baked Mac ’N’ Cheese lineup. The dishes were inspired by its pizzas and quietly introduced earlier this year as a “secret menu” addition.
Originally obliquely revealed in a wry online campaign, the new menu featuring “noodle-ized” takes on CPK’s most popular pizzas caught attention on social media, prompting customers to ask for the dishes at restaurants. At the time, the pizza-inspired Mac ‘N’ Cheese semi-secret menu items were available only for takeout. Now, in this official iteration, they will be available exclusively for dine-in customers and only for a limited time.
The new Mac ’N’ Cheese lineup includes five menu items, each of which employ the pizza toppings from one of the chain’s best-selling pizzas and then swap in spiral Mac ’N’ Cheese for the crust. They’re then baked it in a hearth oven:
Ken Carlson/Photo courtesy of California Pizza Kitchen
BBQ Chicken Baked Mac ‘N’ Cheese features CPK’s BBQ sauce, grilled chicken, smoked Gouda and a “cilantro finish.” Burnt Ends BBQ Baked Mac ‘N’ Cheese includes smoked brisket burnt ends, melted cheese and pickled red onions for “the ultimate flavor bomb.” Carne Asada Baked Mac ‘N’ Cheese is made with charred marinated steak, cilantro pesto and roasted salsa verde. Five-Cheese Baked Mac ‘N’ Cheese offers a mix of mozzarella, Monterey Jack, smoked Gouda and Romano cheeses. And Wild Mushroom Baked Mac ‘N’ Cheese blends cremini mushrooms with three cheeses to create an “umami explosion.”
“Something magical happens when you take our most beloved pizzas and reimagine them through the lens of comfort food,” Paul Pszybylski, CPK’s vice president of culinary innovation, says in a press release. “With our new Baked Mac ‘N’ Cheese lineup, we’re not only expressing pizza flavors in a new way, we’re also glowing up our iconic Mac ‘N’ Cheese, which so many of our guests grew up eating.”
Ken Carlson/Photo courtesy of California Pizza Kitchen
Along with the new Baked Mac ‘N’ Cheese lineup, CPK will also reintroduce at participating locations nationwide a fan-favorite pizza it offered last year: Nashville-Style Hot Honey Pizza, which the brand describes as the “perfect mashup of hot honey pizza and Nashville hot chicken, featuring crispy hand-battered chicken with spicy cayenne seasoning, fresh Mozzarella, housemade ranchito sauce, dill pickle slices and a fiery drizzle of Mike’s Hot Honey – Extra Hot.”
To wash it all down, and also in response to fan demand, CPK is launching a new line of cocktails — basically spiked iterations of its popular mocktails. Both its Strawberry Mango Cooler (“fresh strawberries blended with Fresca and vibrant flavors of mango, guava and a splash of ginger”) and Cucumber Reviver (“freshly puréed pineapple and cucumber with torn mint and agave sour, topped with sparkling water” will now be available with a choice of Tito’s Vodka, Bacardi Rum or Bombay Sapphire Gin.
After-work drinks at CPK, anyone?
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