California Pizza Kitchen: Margherita Pizza
The pizza Ian and I tried this weekend was the California Pizza Kitchen's Margherita Pizza. I think this is going to be my first unfavorable pizza blog, but I'll get to that.
This pizza, the Margherita pizza, is a "Crispy thin crust pizza topped with olive oil, tomatoes, mozzarella cheeses, parmesan, asiago and romano cheeses, and basil." Now, all of these ingredients sound awesome, they just don't all hold up to freezing.
This is the back of the box. See how the creators have signed it. Also, see how good the pizza looks cooked in the pizza.
This pizza is wrapped in a pull apart plastic wrapping. One would think this would help the toppings stay on top of the pizza, but when I opened it, toppings went every where.
You can see in this picture how the toppings don't even go to the edge of the crust. I tried to rearrange the toppings a little, but they just kept tumbling off.
The edges of the pizza don't really have cheese or toppings on them, so, they quickly became over-cooked. This made the crust taste like cardboard, and way too crunchy! The seasoning was ok, but less than I was expecting. The tomatoes had a bit of a bland flavor. The "sauce" for this pizza is the olive oil. Well, it could have used a tad more. The cheese could have been a bit cheesier for my taste. The flavor as a whole wasn't completely awful, it just wasn't great. The weirdest thing about this pizza is, it was watery! I don't know if it was the cooking of the frozen tomatoes, or the olive oil (I don't know how olive oil would get watery!), but the water was dripping down my fingers as I at the pizza! This pizza is barely on my scale. I give the California Pizza Kitchen's Magherita pizza a 1/4 of a pizza pie out of four rating! This frozen pizza needs a pizza overhaul in my opinion!
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Hi, Heather!
ReplyDeleteSoon, I'll send you a photo of a real Margherita pizza. Here is a link to a bit of the history of the pizza. It's a fun story!
http://www.tasteandshare.com/video/history-of-pizza
You should take a pizza trip up to Chicago to check out the Italian neighborhoods! That would be totally awesome to see on this blog. :)
Hi, Rachel!
ReplyDeleteI am planning a trip to Chicago in December! I might just have to plan on finding some Italian neighborhoods!!! Giordano's is definitely on my list though.
I guess I should start planning my pizza stops now!
I have never had a good pizza from them. Even in their actual restaurants (which are in nearly every major airport you go to these days) their pizza is no good. It is over priced, and has little to no flavor.
ReplyDeleteNow, before I go on, can I make a suggestion to you and the way you prepare your pizza? They all look over cooked. Not burnt, not quite, but overdone. I like my pizza to be nearly chilled in the center as the pizza will actually cook itself a little bit while it sits on the plate. Also having a pizza that is closer to undercooked than it is to over cooked will add a ton more flavor to your pizza.
Now, doing that would not have helped your cause. This brand is just not favorable in my opinion. But I am glad that we agree on that. If you ever get the chance to have their pizza in person, at one of their many locations, please do. Ignore what I said. I want to see if you agree with my statements of their restaurants.