Many years go when I was a student living in Boston I would go to California Pizza Kitchen on a semi-regular basis. Back in those days I was vegetarian so eating at CPK was super easy for me. Back in those days my go-to menu items were the Tuscan Hummus, Margherita Pizza and Chinese Chicken Salad (obviously hold the chicken).
Once I moved out of Boston I don’t think I visited a CPK again until this Fall when I was kindly invited to visit the Bridgeport Village CPK. One of the reasons that I never visited again was because my diet changed from vegetarian to plant-based and I had it in my head that there just weren’t enough options but I was oh so WRONG. The team at the Bridgeport CPK was super nice and they hooked us up with so many amazing plant-based options so let’s get started.
To start I went with a mojito mocktail however if I could have indulged in alcohol I would have gone for one of their many tasty sounding sangrias.
We started with the Tuscan Hummus which if you remember is one of my old go-to menu items and it’s seriously amazing. I would go to CPK just to get this and only this because it’s that good.
Next us is the White Corn Guacamole & Chips another really tasty starter. I loved the addition of jicama, white corn and black beans and both my littles gobbled up most of this guacamole and chips.
Next up another really delicious starter that could easily be an entree – the Lettuce Wraps done vegan. These were so delicious and was one of Neil’s favorite dishes we tried.
If that wasn’t enough food we also got two different salads – the Roasted Veggie and the Thai Crunch with Avocado (no chicken). I will put a disclaimer here that we eat honey and both of the dressings for these salads contain honey. If you do not partake in honey most of the salads can be made vegan by taking off the dairy and meat and they can do an oil and vinegar for salad dressing.
As for these salads I was really into the roasted veggie salad and Neil was all about the Thai crunch. The roasted veggies were just so delicious and exactly what I was in the mood for at the time. The Thai crunch had amazing flavor, a nice crunchy topping and the avocado was the perfect addition.
We were stuffed at this point but we powered through and tried a few bites of the Asparagus & Spinach pasta. Now this pasta was probably my least favorite dish because without the salty parm that normally would be on it it was lacking a bit of flavor. I would personally recommend asking for a few lemon wedges to squeeze over the pasta to brighten it up and give it just a bit more flavor and then it would be practically perfect.
We also tried a few bites of the California Veggie pizza (no cheese) before packing it up and finishing it off the next day at home. This pizza was really delicious. I loved the crust and the veggies were super fresh. A great option.
Before I wrap this up let’s not forget about the kids! At this point the kids were feeling pretty full as well but Edith was thrilled when her fusilli with tomato sauce came out and she ate about half of this huge portion. CPK can also do a simple fusilli with olive oil for kids as well if you little one isn’t into tomato sauce.
As for Alder he went with a super simple kids mushroom pizza (no cheese) and he thought it was pretty great. I love that there are some simple and tasty kids options available.
Overall we had a great dining experience, we really enjoyed the food and we will be back. Again we would like to thank the Bridgeport CPK for having us in and we are already making plans go come back for more of that Tuscan Hummus.
*Disclaimer: CPK invited us in to dine on them. As always all opinions are my own.