YEE: Elite Tasting at California Pizza Kitchen Alton Square

Brussels + Bacon Flatbread is made with roasted Brussels sprouts with sweet caramelized onions, Nueke’s applewood smoked bacon, creamy goat cheese, romano and cracked pepper. The Brussels sprouts were sweet from the roasting process as were the caramelized onions. The bacon added a smoky salted flavor and the goat cheese and romano added a creamy and luxurious sensation to the palate. Rating: 4.5÷5
Harvest Kale Salad is made with baby kale, toasted farro, roasted butternut squash, napa cabbage, shaved pear, marinated cranberries, spiced pecans, goat cheese, and tossed with housemade citrus vinaigrette. It was a well rounded salad with lots of tastes and textures from the crisp kale and napa cabbage, nutty faro, sweet butternut squash and cranberries, and creamy goat cheese. Rating: 4.5÷5
Wild Mushroom Pizza is made with shaved crimini, shiitake, Portobello, and white mushrooms with slivered scallions, cracked black pepper, romano, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses. It was also served with a truffle oil that gave it a very sensual aroma. The truffle flavor also brought all of the earthy, nutty, and woody flavors of the mushrooms to the forefront. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
Fire-​Grilled Ribeye is a 12 oz. USDA choice ribeye grilled with housemade pinot noir sea salt, topped with creamy bleu cheese butter, and served with roasted fingerling potatoes and lemon-​garlic arugula salad. This steakhouse quality ribeye is a fantastic addition the CPK menu. The pinot noir salt and bleu cheese butter bring the sweetness of the beef out with each bite. The roasted potatoes needed a little more salt, but loved the crispy texture on the cut side. Rating: 4.8÷5
Salted Caramel Pudding is rich caramel pudding topped with black cocoa cookie crumbs, housemade whipped cream, caramel sauce, and natural flaked sea salt. If you are a salted caramel fan, you need to order this dessert! It was velvety and luscious. You might want to order two because you won’t want to share it. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
Overall, it was a great tasting. The music was too loud for the folks on the patio making conversation difficult with fellow Unilocalers.

I haven’t been to many elite events, but this event was definitely one of the best I’ve been to.
Although I buy the California Pizza Kitchen’s frozen pizzas from the grocery store, I had never actually been to a location until now.
The tasting menu was fabulous. My favorite item was by far the ribeye steak with blue cheese butter. I have since gone back and gotten more of it.
The drinks were great.
It was nice of the CEO of the company to come down and meet us. I love the direction in which the company is going, and I would be a regular patron at other locations near me, if they implemented the same changes.

Concept: Take the «California» component of CPK and bring it more to life across their restaurants. They’re aiming to bring not only pizza more to life, but to take the ingredients and get only the best for their guests.
Before I talk about the food, let me just say that the service was phenomenal. Everyone was so great and helpful, and they really demonstrated team work by helping each other out while trying to cater to all of us Unilocalers! I loved that the CEO and CMO came and approached the tables multiple times to talk about their concept.
Hand crafted cocktails:
Blueberry ginger smash:
Definitely got a kick to it. Much more than the california roots. To be honest I don’t taste the ginger much, more just the whiskey, nectar and cranberry juice
California roots (saved ka vodka): interesting to say the least! Definitely tastes like liquid avocado… Which I can’t complain about because I do love avocado. The fennel salt rim gives it a nice kick, but the mint isn’t strong at all. It may be more for looks than taste?
Now onto the food…
Talk about a perfect flatbread! The Brussels and bacon flatbread was the first dish we sampled and it did not disappoint. INGREDIENTS! There is creamy goat cheese on it but it wasn’t overpowering at all, in fact it complemented all the flavors perfectly! There was a great ~crunch~ to the flatbread that didn’t make it too hard or too soft. A+
Harvest kale salad: not the best salad I’ve tried. Some of the ingredients were too large, and the dressing wasn’t bold enough. This dish has potential but needs to be worked on.
Wild mushroom pizza: one bite and I fell in love. The truffle oil that you can drizzle over is a MUST. I want to take that stuff home and use it on everything. If you are a mushroom fan you need to try this.
Mushroom pepperoni sausage: this was great too, as are all their pizzas. However it simply didn’t compete with the wild mushroom for me!
Fire-​grilled ribeye: Phenomenal. Simply amazing. My table and I were eyeing this dish the entire time. The ribeye did not disappoint! I could have done without he arugula salad and the potatoes but they were a nice touch. The ribeye had a creamy bleu cheese butter which I now want on all of my meat. #drooling
Salted caramel pudding: I normally don’t like salted caramel puddings because they are generally too strong, but this one was great! Not overwhelming in flavor at all. Eventually it got a little chewy with the cookie crumbs mixing with the caramel sauce.

What’s not to love about being Elite?
CPK has a new look and feel and we were invited out to check out the new location, try the new menu, and schmooze with the CEO.
The new CPK is very impressive. We grabbed a seat outdoors right near the music (which was loud at times but meh — lesson learned).
The sit down atmosphere was great. The servers brought us tray after tray of food, we snapped our photos and dug in. My personal favorites were the bacon flatbread and the wild mushroom pizza.
It was fun to catch up with Unilocalers old and new and try out something new. At the end of the day, we took home the new Unilocal charger and CPK rewarded us with some awesome swag — a giftcard, glasses, pinot noir salt, and a recipe book. Woohoo.

It’s definitely neat to be Elite :)
I love the sit-​down type of dinners as you get to taste a variety of different dishes while getting to know your fellow Unilocalers more. This was a fantastic event where the food kept coming and the cocktails were generous.
Personally, I haven’t stepped foot in a CPK in years and all I remembered was bright yellow walls, with booth seating, and individual sized pizzas particularly the BBQ Chicken one.
What a change this CPK had! The décor was warm and modern, with a more mature color palette but kept the yellow as its accent for pop.
I opted to sit outside where the lovely music was (although sometimes it was a bit loud).
We had:
–COCKTAILS–
— Blueberry Ginger Smash
— Blood Orange Sangria
— CA Roots
Blueberry Ginger Smash was my favorite, with Blood Orange as a 2^nd. Our table unfortunately didn’t get a chance to try the CA Roots because they ran out of ingredients. I believe they gave our round of drinks to our neighbor table instead, because they got 2 rounds. It was a bummer but things happen!
–FOOD–
— Brussel and Bacon flatbread
Yum! Crispy and generous pieces of bacon. Definitely a great appetizer.
— Harvest Kale Salad
This was a massive salad with pear shavings on top. My only issue was that the pear shavings were too thin to fork spear and it made it awkward to «scoop» up the pieces because they were large slices as well. However, the taste combination was great.
— Mushroom Pizza
I love mushroom so this was a hit with me. Even better was the truffle oil they gave so you can self drizzle as much as you wanted.
— Pepperoni and Mushroom Pizza
This was had more of the mushroom but came with meat. Very strong flavors. I even ate the crust, and I’m not a crust person.
— Fire Grilled Rib Eye
The star of the night. Beautiful presentation on a wood board. The pieces were thoughtfully cut up so all we had to do was fork them. The bitter arugula salad and the fingerling potatoes were also nice side accompaniments to keep your tastebuds from being «meated out.»
— Salted Caramel Pudding
I was hoping this would be similar to a certain restaurant’s budino but alas this was much too sweet for me. If you have a really sweet tooth, you’ll love this. For me, one bite was enough.
The CPK Swag that everyone got at the end was also very generous! We all got a (clean) pizza box of yellow CPK sunglasses, a packet of pinot noir salt and instructions on how to make our own, PR materials, and the best part, a $ 20 giftcard to come back and enjoy more of their new menu.
Overall, a FANTASTIC event led by our fearless leader, Ryan C and THANK YOU to CPK and Unilocal for having us! :)

I am a huge fan of CPK and was super excited when I heard about this event & their new menu updates! Just when I thought I couldn’t love CPK any more than I already did — their new recipes were a big success and I’m very much impressed again!
First of all, what a great & beautiful staff CPK! I am quite impressed at how great the staff and décor of the new restaurant was that I seriously felt like I was dining in a fine dining restaurant, good job. The customer service was also very outstanding! Overall, I’m very very impressed at the newly remodeled CPK!
Second of all, the new recipes! All I can say is WOW! Everything was outstanding and I can definitely see myself going to CPK ordering everything that we got a taste of. The staff kept asking us what our favorite was of the night but I couldn’t pick one! I really liked them all!
Last but not least is thank you for everybody who was involved in putting it together! This was definitely one of the most memorable event! What a great great event and thank you so much for the power charger Unilocal,the pizza box goodie box CPK and great crowd Unilocalers :)

Wow, what a night! This was my first Unilocal elite event, and I must say, the standard bar is now set very high. First, to set up the ambiance, there was live guitarists playing music the entire evening. The new menu items were a great twist to their dining experience, but what was cool about it was they really kept it, «California». Most of the ingredients can be found right here in California.
The evening dining experience began with «California Roots», an alcoholic beverage that combined avocado and mint flavoring, definitely refreshing. The avocado taste was present, but wasn’t overpowering. The Brussels and bacon flatbread came out first, it had come fresh out the oven and was delicious. Brussels sprouts aren’t usually my favorite, but combined with the bacon, caramelized onions, and goat cheese, it came together well.
2^nd round of drinks was the blueberry ginger smash. This drink was good, but was my least favorite. It had your typical sweet flavorings that you’d get in most fruity drinks, but the Jack Daniel’s whiskey was a little overpowering in my opinion, it really stuck out as I sipped on this drink. I guess I’m just used to having in with Coke, some may like, just not my cup of tea. The Harvest Kale Salad came out next, I really enjoyed this salad, and it just looks delicious, couldn’t wait to take my first bite! The pears, butternut squash, goat cheese, and cranberries really gave the salad not only some nice color, but some nice flavoring.
We were able to sample 2 pizzas, but the wild mushroom was definitely the hit of the night. The wild mushroom pizza was basically mushroom and cheese, and was accompanied by a delicious truffle oil. Keeping it simple! The other pizza was the mushroom pepperoni sausage pizza, also very yummy. You could definitely taste the tomato sauce in this one, and it came together well.
Final drink, which was everyone’s favorite at my table, was the blood orange sangria. I think the Bacardi limon gave it a nice flavoring, it was sweet and refreshing.
The surprise hit of the night was the fire grilled rib eye with blue cheese butter on top. I think this steak definitely surpassed everyone’s expectations. It was juicy, moist, flavorful, and cooked to medium rare perfection!
To finish off, a delicious salted caramel chocolate pudding!
Great job CPK, wonderful event and delicious twist on the new menu.

What a fabulous event!
After a long work day, I came with the intention to unwind and to learn about this new CPK location. We were given a Unilocal Elite only section. I ended up sitting with Billy and Andy. Once seated we were given food immediately. All items are off their new menu that changes seasonally. Here’s a list of what we had and its description:
Brussel & Bacon Flatbread– This was a wonderful starter for us. It had lots of bacon bits for those bacon lovers and yummy brussels which I love.
Harvest Kale Salad– I really enjoyed this salad. It contained all my favorite things, such as pear, swash, barely, cranberry and goat cheese. It was light but flavorful and delicious.
Fire Grill Ribeye– This was served with some arugula and pickles. It was served on a cutting board with a generous amount of meat. It was flavored and cooked perfectly. It was quite impressive.
Wild Mushroom Pizza– This was served with some olive oil on the side. I loved this pizza because of the truffle taste. Yum!!!
Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage Pizza– This also had mushrooms on it as well. It was very flavorful and a little spicy like I like it. I really enjoyed it.
Salted Caramel Pudding– This was the perfect ending to our meal. We were given individual cups filled with delicious salted caramel pudding topped with whip cream and caramel sauce that sat on top of a chocolate crumble. It was heavenly.
The drinks we had are the following:
Blueberry Ginger Smash– Man oh man was this drink strong. It had hints of berries and citrus.
California Roots– This was my favorite drink. It had a hint of avocado and some mint and was rimmed with salt. It was very freshening and had a light taste. It wasn’t overly sweet and was perfect.
Blood Orange Sangria– This was so good I had to order a regular size of it. I love the blood orange taste in it.

During our dinner, the CEO, marketing people, managers, and PR went around to introduce themselves and to tell us more about the restaurant and menu. I loved that they all went around a few times and was all really friendly and sweet. A few of us, including myself, even scored their new cookbook signed by the CEO. The staff was also really sweet and attentive. They were good with any request and were knowledgeable about their menu. During our dinner, the CEO set up a table to teach us how to make pizza. I got the opportunity to learn from him how to stretch out the dough and throw it like a pro. I had a lot of fun.
This event included live music which I loved. The energy was really there and I had so much fun. When it was time to leave, we were all given some cool freebies. From Unilocal,we received power bank chargers for our phones. This is new to me and I that we got something so useful. From CPK, besides my cookbook, we were all given a pizza box with stuff inside. It included some cute yellow CPK sunnies, some salt, and a wonderful $ 20 CPK gift card! Thank you so much to Ryan C. for making this happen and the wonderful people from CPK for having us! This was one of my favorite events this year and thank you again for an amazing time.

Day 1 — Open, crazy busy, full staff and service, great food.
Tried several awesome tastings and drinks — have to give it to that rib eye (drool) and pizza (s).
It was nice to see old friends and new friends as we all enjoyed our tastings. I am quite surprised how CPK revamped their entire menu! Hats off to them since with the growing customized food industry, they will have stiff competition with trendy and upscale places.
The frozen, pre-​cooked meal I had 6+ years ago now tastes fresh and amazing. They provided cool gifts to go, including a 20 dollar gift card, which I’m pretty sure I will be spending when I come back here this week cause the food was just awesome.
Thanks Ryan, Unilocal,CPK, and everyone who made this event bomb dot com

This was only my second Unilocal Elite Event and once again, I was super impressed! CPK was very gracious — everyone was so kind, warm, and welcoming. Service was definitely on point. Although it was a packed house and it was pretty hectic, the servers had great energy and attitudes. The restaurant was beautiful and had wonderful ambiance — definitely different from all of the other CPKs I have been to. CPK is reamping its style and it is definitely showing! It was truly a fun time meeting with fellow Unilocal Elites as well as trying some fabulous food.
The cocktails were very pretty. My favorite was the sangria — slightly sweet, tangy, and vibrant. Definitely very refreshing especially on such a warm day. The avocado (yes, avocado!) cocktail was surprisingly very tasty and refreshing as well. I didn’t care too much for the blueberry whiskey one though — a little too strong for my taste. But all in all, very good!
The pizzas were all really tasty. We started out with the brussel sprouts and bacon flatbread. Seriously, how could you go wrong with that combination? It was absolutely delicious, but I got nervous. Why, you ask? Starting out with a killer dish sets the bar high, so I was worried that the coming dishes might not top the first one. Thankfully I was wrong because CPK really did deliver. The mushroom pizza was absolutely amazing — perhaps one of the best pizzas I ever ate. Top it with a little truffle oil and you’re in heaven. The sausage and pepperoni pizza was also tasty, but the mushroom pizza took the cake for me.
The kale salad was okay, but I wouldn’t order it on my own. Maybe it’s because I’m not a huge fan of uncooked kale. It was very flavorful and light though. It seemed to be Asian inspired. It was the best raw kale salad that I’ve had.
The highlight of the night was definitely the ribeye. Who woulda thunk that CPK makes ribeye? Well, apparently CPK is restructuring its menu to be more diverse and expansive beyond just the typical pizzas. I think that this is brilliant. At first I was skeptical about CPK making steak but to my pleasant surprise, it was perfect! Well-​seasoned and well-​cooked. Delicious. The potatoes on the side were also a nice touch.
The last part of the meal was the sea salt caramel pudding. Very tasty and perfect balance between salty and sweet. Yum!
Another excellent event. Thank you Ryan C. and co for organizing this wonderful event. I had an amazing time!!!

It’s some risky business to have an amazing Elite event and the Grand Opening on the same night.
But it was great! All our servers were so friendly and attentive; would have never known it was the restaurant’s first night! Got to meet the regional manager, some of the PR team and that was pretty cool. And not just that. I got to meet a lot of cool Unilocalers!
Shout out to Billie, Francine and Rob! We never got our epic selfie :(
Favorites of the night:
wild mushroom pizza (with that delectable truffle oil)
Ribeye steak with arugula
and lastly… California Roots cocktail
Alcohol was flowing, good conversation was going and pizzas were a-​throwing. Fun night. Thanks to the OC Unilocal team for putting this together for us! Definitely one of the best events so far!

What a treat it was to be invited to be part of such an awesome event. It was opening night at CPK and was already packed and buzzing, even without us crazy Unilocal elites adding to it. This stand-​alone CPK has a beautiful set up (and here I thought CPKs were only attached to malls), with the California vibe, with patio seating and beautiful beach photos on the walls.
The CEO was there and was very friendly and made multiple rounds to all the tables. He even tossed pizza dough with us! Really though, the whole CPK staff was great. This was probably the one of the best waitstaff I have encountered.
The food was amazing: everything was really fresh and we got to sample so much, but my favorite would have to the wild mushroom pizza. With four different types of mushroom, three different types of cheeses, it was perfection. Drizzled with white truffle oil, took this out of this world. My tastes buds were in heaven! The Harvest Kale salad was also delicious: light on the dressing and with a kick of sweetness with added squash, it makes a perfect summer salad.
I had lots of fun meeting Chris B, and catching up with Morgan H and Jeni H at my table. Thank you Morgan for letting me have the CPK recipe book! Maybe I will try to host a dinner party to make some of that pizza for all of us!
To top it off, we each got a $ 20 gift card! I gotta give it to CPK for a great experience and serving some quality food! Its worth checking out again! Thank you everyone who made this happen!

Another well-​executed event by the amazing UnilocalOC crew! This event was held at the new CPK in Irvine in celebration of their grand opening. This CPK location was like none I’ve ever been to. Special attention was paid to the lighting, décor and overall to provide a very relaxing and energetic vibe that makes for a great place to hang out for some drinks after work. I really never thought of CPK as a place for such an occasion but this new location definitely stands out in that regard. It reminded me a bit of True Food Kitchen with its environmentally friendly theme.
The service here was truly exceptional. Everyone we came across was extremely polite and friendly. Our drinks were always full, we were always greeted with a smile and our food arrived in an unbelievable speed despite the amount of people they were serving at once.
For drinks we were offered the blueberry ginger smash, blood orange sangria and California roots. All three were great but the blueberry ginger smash was my favorite. I’ve had a few ginger smash drinks before but the subtle and sweet taste of the blueberry definitely heightened it to a new level of drink complexity.
For food we started with the brussels and bacon flat bread. It had tons of flavor and the combination of brussel sprouts, caramelized onions and bacon topped with Parmesan cheese was definitely a hit at our table. I would order it again.
The harvest kale salad was topped with a variety of different ingredients including dried cranberries, goat cheese and butternut squash. I liked that it still tasted very light and had a floral element to it. The dressing wasn’t overwhelming at all. This salad made for a nice lighter dish in between the flat breads and pizzas.
We were offered two pizzas: the wild mushroom pizza and the mushroom pepperoni sausage pizza. The meaty pizza was my favorite dish of the night. The sausage was spicy and all the other toppings were full of savory flavors. The while mushroom pizza was served with a side of truffle oil which paired very nicely with the earthy mushroom flavors.
Our main course was the fire grilled rib eye with pinot noir sea salt and creamy bleu cheese dressing. It was served alongside arugula and golden potatoes. While it was hearty, the dish wasn’t too heavy which I really appreciated. We were offered a very generous portion of the three sides and the meat was tender and juicy.
To end the night we had some salted caramel pudding. It included whipped cream, cookie crumbs and salted caramel. The combination of these flavors definitely took pudding to the next level. It was a worthy dessert after all our delicious savory entrees.
The staff at CPK definitely knew how to make us feel welcome. The CEO provided us with cookbooks specific to the dishes that are served at CPK included the ones we had just tried, he stopped by each of our tables to discuss the food and even had a pizza hand toss event for us.
At the end of the night we were given a CPK pizza box with $ 20 gift certificates to the restaurant, a portable phone charger and some other fun Unilocal and CPK swag. This event was such a treat. Many thanks to Ryan C. and everyone at CPK that put together this amazing event for us!

Many props and thanks to Ryan C. and the Unilocal OC gang for hosting yet another awesome Unilocal Elite Event! It was a good thing I had Brandon C. save me a seat because the parking situation here was nuts! It was CPK’s opening, so this place was packed to the brim! Despite the crowds, service was top notch, and the food was delicious! I don’t eat at CPK often, but I do enjoy their fare. We were served a variety of dishes, which I won’t detail here since I’m sure a million other Elites already have, but I really enjoyed every single dish they brought out: the flatbread, both pizzas, the fresh tasting kale salad, the rib-​eye, and the salted caramel pudding. Freaking YUM!!! My mouth was enjoying this party as much I did.
I had the pleasure of sitting next to Brandon C. and Rob L. as we have been Unilocal friends for awhile, but I don’t see them at events nearly as often as I would like. The conversation flowed well as the dishes kept coming at a pace far too perfect. My favorite of the drinks was the Blueberry Ginger Smash, though all of them were tasty in their own right. The night ended with a pizza box from CPK full of cool little swag and a $ 20 gift card to a CPK! Score! I love these dinners because it creates a lot of closeness and intimacy with fellow Elites that you can’t get a giant events.
Thanks Unilocal OC, Ryan C, and the CPK crew for hosting such an incredible event for us Unilocal Elites! 5 stars PLUS!!!

The people of CPK pulled out all the stops for us Elites at this event, and were so gracious throughout the whole evening. It was the grand opening night for this new CPK location so I’m sure they had a ton on their plates, but they expertly executed our night. From the good-​spirited servers all the way up to the CEO of CPK, everyone introduced themselves, made conversation, and were so helpful and quick to get us anything we needed.
This new location is part of a CPK revamp that will be executed throughout all locations by the end of the year. The décor was updated, as well as new menu items. I was surprised to find out that they use a lot of sustainable and locally sourced food. We were given 3 fabulous alcoholic drinks, of which my favorite was the California Roots. It included vodka, avocado, mint and agave sour with a fennel salt rim. Who would have guessed that it would taste good?! It was quite refreshing.
Menu items (new and classic) served were the Brussels and Bacon Flatbread, Harvest Kale Salad, Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage Pizza, Wild Mushroom Pizza, Fire-​Grilled Ribeye and finished with a Salted Caramel Pudding. I can’t possibly pick a favorite because all items were fantastic and I would order them again. We were sent off with the ribeye spice rub and a $ 20 gift card, as well as 1 cookbook per table. Again, such generosity. Thank you to everyone from CPK, and to Ryan C for organizing another wonderful event. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my table mates!

California style goodies to munch on a bunch of Unilocalers and the people who pretty much run the company you know this was a killer time!
Not having been to CPK for many moons I wasn’t sure what to expect but what I found tonight exceeded my expectations and gave my taste buds a treat!
They started us off with a few rounds of drinks all of which reflected that Cali culture that we all know love and pretty much live by.
My favorite of the drinks being the mint and avocado concoction as it was just refreshing on this super humid hot Cali summer day!
Sometime around the middle of our meal the CEO came by to chat with us he was super cool and just an all around nice and very happy host to us. Wile on that note it was cool to see a CEO who actually was willing to take time from the busy night I know he was having to show some of the people how to bust out a proper pizza!
My favorite item of the night had to be the pepperoni and sausage pizza as it was just all around yummy with a super fresh taste in every bite.
Me not being a huge rib eye or steak person in general (yeah I know that’s hard to believe) I actually kinda enjoyed it as it was cooked very well and had an all around delicious zest to it!
The salted Carmel dessert we were given was rich in salty Carmel goodness that left me looking for a glass of water wile enjoying the salty goodness down to the last spoon full!
The establishment itself was all around awesome I love the new design they have put together as I feel it’s an awesome reflection of the California culture and was just all around filled with positive vibes and awesome tunes that were played live on the patio!
Much Cali love goes out to CPK for hosting us at their awesome new location I look forward to my next visit here or to another location as this was an all around awesome experience with awesome Unilocal friends!
Shout out to the always radical Ryan C for another killer event that brought good times and new friends!
See you guys on Unilocal or at CPK!

Thank you CPK and Unilocal for an event that was beyond amazing and fun!
This was my actual first real YEE event. I’ve been blessed with Unilocal Perks and tickets to fun events, but this was the FIRST true Unilocal OC Elite event I have to come. I was nervous coming alone and eating with strangers, but let me say, the introvert in me was no where in sight tonight. I sat with 3 great people, 2 whom have already Unilocal friended me! Yay!
Okay, with that being said, I must say I was super impressed tonight (which is very hard to do). I have restaurant management background, and for CPK to do a Unilocal event on their grand opening night was a huge risk and could have been disasterous, but quite frankly, it was awesome. Service was fantastic. The food was delicious. The cocktails were on point! Kudos to all the regional managers, CEO, and PR staff who were present and made the experience even more wonderful! And thank you Ryan for checking on our table a mulitude of times. You are all awesome! Makes me want to come back into the industry again!
Anyways, the cocktail I enjoyed the most was the California Roots. It had fresh avocado in it and the rim of the glass was dusted with Fennel Salt. I felt like I was drinking a healthy cocktail, but of course, what delicious cocktail can be deemed healthy? The blood orange sangria was also delicious. It was on the sweet side, but on a hot Cali summer night like tonight, it totally hit the spot!
All the food was really good. I cook all the time myself and worked for a few restaurants, so I could be quite snobby when it comes to pleasing my palate, but everything was really delicious tonight. My favorites were the brussel bacon flatbread and the ribeye. My table was discussing if CPK could pull off a good steak and we were wowed and pleased with the results. I will definitely be telling my friends to order the ribeye!
Several of us got to throw around and toss pizza dough at the end of the evening. I was sort of embarrased to be chosen first, but I had a blast doing it. Genuine laughter and smiles from me tonight! My belly is full and content and my face is going to have some new wrinkles tomorrow morning from all the laughing. Thank you to everyone who made tonight possible!

When you add California, pizza, a kitchen, and a group of Unilocal Elites, what do you have?! You got one major Unilocal Elite Event! With a grand new opening in Irvine with a famous brand of pizza, we’ve got to Unilocal this place out. From drinks to appetizers to pizza to dessert, we celebrate the Grand Opening of California Pizza Kitchen. Grab your taste buds, get your Elite Badges and, of course, your phone because this is the Unilocal Elite Event: Elite Tasting at California Pizza Kitchen Alton Square in Irvine.
Located in the Alton Square Shopping Plaza, you can hardly miss the new hit in town, California Pizza Kitchen. With CPK, the newbie in the area, this will be opening will be a hit. I am sure the community and the nearby Irvine Valley College will get a surprising amount of visitors coming in and enjoying their wonderful selections of meals as well as specials they may offer. Parking can be a difficult issue. Unilocal Elitists started to show up on Wednesday evening around 6pm. 6pm is a heavy traffic area with lots of cars. Alton Square does provide parking in the rear. However, it will take you awhile to get to CPK. After eating all that food, you’ll need to burning all that calories.
I met with fellow Unilocaler and friend, Richard M. and FINALLY got to meet Scott R. and Gabe P. in line. We were a bit early because we saw another line of guests (non-​Yelp related) for the grand opening of CPK. Naturally, we had to be the first ones in line. As we checked in, we got a little Unilocal freebie. We got a Unilocal Power Bank! If your phone dies, you can get a single charge and go on with your day. Gaby checked us in and we the party was about to start. Before going in, we met a cool dude in a fancy shirt. He shook our hands and asked we were excited. His name was G.J. At that moment, we thought he was the store owner or franchisee. Of course, I did my due diligence and found out that he was the President and CEO of CPK. What?! I guess this opening was a big deal for CPK and the city of Irvine.
There were two choices to sit: Inside or at the patio. Our group sat inside at a booth and we saw the menu of the evening. Starting from Brussel & Bacon Flatbreads to Salted Caramel Pudding. Of course, in between, the pizza is in there. We wouldn’t be going to CPK if they didn’t serve pizza. Even before getting food, the drinks were already coming. I only took a sample of the Blueberry Ginger Smash. I don’t drink, but this tasted very good. Glad I ordered some Shirley Temples to make me not feel left out in this drinking fest. Scott and Gabe had their own drinking fest and they were the sure winners in that contest.
As for the food, where do I begin without drooling again. I will pick my highlights of the food. OK, this will be hard since I love it all. I loved the Wild Mushroom Pizza. The Wild Mushroom Pizza has shaved Cremini, Shitake, Portobello, and white mushrooms. Now, talk about wild mushrooms. To add more flavor, there was a little cup of oil to dab some on your pizza. Let’s say, that made the pizza so smooth and DELICIOUS! My second favorite dish was the Brussels and Bacon Flatbread. Some people hate brussel sprouts, but I LOVE IT. Add some caramelized onions and sweet bacon, you got yourself a HIT! The third dish was actually a dessert: It was the Salted Caramel Pudding. Its pudding with cookie crumbles embedded in it. Add some whip cream, caramel sauce, and sea salt, you got your self a reason to sleep after eating this.
Some notable mentions, I don’t eat red meat anymore, but the Fired-​Grilled Ribeye looked delicious. Richard, Gabe, and Scott definitely enjoyed it. Of course, I had to envision what it looked like if I was in place. I had the fingerling potatoes and the lemon-​garlic arugula salad. Just as good and cooked very well. Now, there was one pizza that was left out that we didn’t get until the very end. It was the Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage Pizza. We were checked on many times and did not get it, but the restaurant lead/​manager made sure we got filled. When we did, it wasn’t as expected as we thought. It did have some kick from the spicy Italian sausage, but that was it. However, we appreciated that the CPK staff was on top of our order.
Throughout the night, we were entertained by live music, pizza tossing, and more importantly chatting with other Unilocal Elites, CPK Staff, and their CEO/​President. I didn’t forget to leave out the Unilocal OC Team. At the end of the evening, they did a contest of who had the best photos posted on Twitter and Instagram. Even if you didn’t participated, every Unilocal Elite went home with some CPK Swag ($ 20 Gift Certificate, Sunglasses, and some Sea Salt). Thank you Ryan C. & the OC Unilocal Team for coordinating this with CPK. This was a fun event and I am wishing CPK the best on their endeavor of making CPK a world-​known brand.
**I hope everyone got their Unilocal Power Bank because we have no excuses for not Unilocaling**
Unilocal…I Live, Breathe, and Share my Reviews for everyone to read. Come Join Me!

This was my first YEE ever & I couldn’t have been more blown away by the entire thing. Ryan and Candice were phenomenal, making sure everyone was checked in and feeling welcome. When I got here, I was immediately greeted and asked to fill out a name badge. We received a power pack as a gift. On each table there were Unilocal mint tins, beer bottle openers, and Unilocal pins. There was great live music on the patio. There were photographers taking pictures of the food, attendees, and environment throughout the event. All in all, the Unilocal team did a fantastic job.
Tonight was the grand opening of the re-​modeled CPK. The CEO was there! He was incredibly friendly, spreading awareness about CPKs involvement in the community and providing information about the food and food chain. The staff was friendly and accommodating. Our food arrived quickly, and there was always someone asking if we needed a refill, new silverware, or any help in general. This was probably the best service I’ve ever experienced.
Now onto the food & drinks. The California Root was my absolute favorite drink. It has vodka, avocado, and mint. Highly recommended. The bacon and Brussels flatbread was delicious. I loved the crispy crust and the balance of saltiness and lightness of cheese and Brussels. My second favorite item was the sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom pizza. The sausage was spicy and savory. CPK started hand tossing their dough. How great is that?!
Overall, CPK is phenomenal. They did an outstanding job. The Unilocal team outdid themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Great job everyone!

It’s been 9 months and 22 days since the last Unilocal event I attended! I just haven’t been able to find the time but boy, did I pick the right one to come back to!!!
CPK went all out to showcase their new concept and new menu. It’s all about bringing the outside in with their open layout and seasonal dishes. Sustainability is another key focus for them… our napkins were made of recycled bamboo!
The menu tonight was HUGE!
***3 cocktails: Blood Orange Sangria; Blueberry Ginger Smash; California Roots
***2 starters: Brussels + Bacon Flatbread; Harvest Kale Salad
***2 pizzas: Mushroom, Pepperoni, Sausage Pizza; Wild Mushroom Pizza
***1 main course: Fire-​Grilled Ribeye
***1 dessert: Salted Caramel Pudding
My favorites were the Blood Orange Sangria, California Roots, Wild Mushroom Pizza, Fire-​Grilled Ribeye & Salted Caramel Pudding. I know what I’m ordering when I go back!
Besides food, tonight was also about the swag. For checking in on the Unilocal app, we each got a cute & colorful portable charger. And then CPK gave every attendee a pizza box filled with awesome goodies ($ 20 gift card, sunglasses, and a sampling of their pinot noir sea salt)!
Tonight’s event also included a fun Instagram contest. We were asked to take photos throughout the night and hashtag #yelpatcpk and #newcpk. 3 winners were chosen for either Best Food Shot, Best Beverage Shot and Roulette (any and all entries). I actually won the Roulette category thanks to my little «friend» that I snuck in. The winning prize consisted of a very generous $ 50 gift card, a CPK cookbook, a sippy cup, a pen, a bottle of nail polish and an aluminum bottle of Diet Coke. I definitely scored at tonight’s event!
I want to thank Ryan C and all the other CM’s and Unilocal staff. And a big thank you to CPK for their hospitality, the CEO and President who went around greeting and checking in on us, and the fabulous wait staff for the excellent service.
Another perk of attending Unilocal events is meeting new people and making new friends that share the same passion in food & fun. Tonight I had the honor of meeting and dining with Karen H, Elaine C and Denise K. Hope to see you girls soon at another event!