Taking a cue from the popular “throwback” trend on social media, CPK Philippines recently unveiled five pizza flavors, four of which were served in the country when it opened here 16 years ago.
Called “vintage” pizzas, the items were created with the same ingredients and CPK’s original “hand-stretched” crust, which the restaurant chain scrapped several years back as part of its global expansion.
Of course, some twists were added. The vegetarian choice in the set, Goat Cheese Pizza, for instance, now has grilled eggplant on top of the other ingredients Рmozzarella, saut̩ed onion, red and yellow peppers, tomato sauce and parsley.
The Peking Duck Pizza, on the other hand, offers Chinese flavors with roasted duck, shiitake mushrooms, fried wontons, scallions and a hoisin ginger sauce.
Southwestern influences are very much present in the Tostada Chicken Pizza, which has black beans, Monterey Jack cheese, grilled chicken breast and tortilla strips topped with tomato salsa and ranch dressing.
There is also the Santa Fe Chicken Pizza, a Tex-Mex-inspired creation which has caramelized onions as base instead of tomato sauce. It uses grilled chicken breast just like the Tostada Chicken Pizza, but it is topped not only with salsa, but also with cilantro, sour cream and guacamole.
Only the Teriyaki Chicken Pizza was not launched in CPK Philippines 16 years ago. The pizza, as the name suggests, includes teriyaki chicken strips and a teriyaki-ginger sauce.
Luisa del Rosario Lomotan, senior operations director of CPK in the country, said the vintage pizzas will be available in its nine stores in the Philippines starting July 1.
“We had focus group testing and we also asked CPK International and asked if our choice of vintage pizzas were appropriate. Because they don’t do that, we’re the only ones doing this. It’s only here in the Philippines,” Lomotan told ABS-CBNnews.com. “And we felt that these are the right pizzas to bring back.”
Return to roots
CPK was initially known for breaking out of the mold by offering pizzas in different flavors, the most popular being Barbecue Chicken. Its menu changes every so often, luring customers who are always on the lookout for something new.
This time, however, the company would rather “return to its roots.”
“Why not [bring them back]?” Lomotan said when asked why they decided to introduce the vintage pizzas. “There’s nothing like bringing back our treasured loved ones. Why not bring back some of the pizzas we started with? We want to go back to our roots.”
“When we started CPK many years ago, our dough was hand-stretched. And then we moved from that and started pressing with the machines. And now, we feel like going back to our roots. Let’s bring back what we became famous for,” she added.
'The California pizza'
Although the flavors continue to change – whether by introducing new toppings or bringing back old ones – the small size of CPK’s pizzas will never change, stressed Lomotan, saying that this is one of the defining characteristics of the California pizza.
“There’s the New York style with the thick crust and the huge size. The Chicago pizza is a deep dish pizza. The California pizza, meanwhile, is supposed to be a single-serve pizza. It’s smaller because it’s meant to be eaten by one person,” she said. "But because here in the Philippines, we don’t eat that much compared to the Americans, it’s for sharing.”
Following the launch of their vintage pizzas, Lomotan said they are planning to bring back more items from CPK’s earlier menus to let customers in the Philippines know more about how the restaurant chain started.
“We always want to have something new to share. We want to keep it interesting, so why not time-travel? Because that’s what California is all about – being adventurous, ever-changing and innovative. The experience will always be special,” she said.
California Pizza Kitchen has branches at Greenbelt 5, Power Plant Mall, Alabang Town Center, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, TriNoma, Promenade Mall, Lucky Chinatown, W Global Center and Harbor Point in Subic.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
