Grand Opening

Many times I have gone out to eat, and I couldn't decide a good place to eat.  I would ask my friends and I would get mixed reviews of different restaurants.  But nobody pinpointed the details of what makes a good restaurant good.  So this year, 2012, every Friday (when possible), I'm going to try a new restaurant and blog about it so you have an idea what the establishment is like.  I am not a professional critic.  Andrew Zimmern is my hero and in some cases (but not many) braver than I am.  His motto is "If it looks good, eat it".  My motto is "If you haven't tried it yet, try it now".

This first "Fun Frank Friday", hereafter known as "FFF", on 1/6/12, was held at "California Pizza Kitchen" on Camelback in Phoenix.   As we entered we noticed the place was half-filled with customers at about 5pm.  My wife and I always prefer a booth and we were seated quickly.  The restaurant has booths, tables as well as a patio.  As we sat down, the doors were open to the patio, my wife did smell cigarette smoke but that quickly passed and did not linger through our meal.  We were about to order drinks but they only served Pepsi products and as you know, I am a Coca-Cola man so we decided on water.

We received a small starter appetizer menu, the craziest thing that jumped out at me on it was the "Korean BBQ tacos".  The tacos came quickly but there were only two on the plate.  They are quite small and it only took me two bites before it was gone.  The strong Japanese, yoshida sauce influence and the tortillas overpowered the flavor of anything else.  This is where I broke my cardinal rule: "If you go to a specialty restaurant, DO NOT order something that is not their specialty."  That is why I will never by tacos from a pizza joint again.

We each ordered a pizza.  I had the "Original Chicken BBQ" with smoked gouda cheese.  Patti had the "Thai Chicken" pizza.  The BBQ pizza was exactly what you order.  There was a sweet BBQ sauce layered with a smoke gouda cheese and chicken.  I recommend this pizza for the non-adventurous eater.  The Thai chicken pizza blew my mind!  It was incredibly well made.  The peanut sauce had a small spicy kick.  The cheese and chicken were topped with bean sprouts.  The crusts on both pizza were ideal, neither too thick nor too thin.  There is an option for thin crust pizza that we did not order as I am not a fan of thin crusts at all.

Each pizza prices out to be about $13 and is about 10 inches diameter.  I at my entire pizza and was feeling very full.  Patti ate half of hers and took the other half home.  And now for the real test.  Left-over pizza!  We reheated it up in the microwave for 45 seconds and it was just as delicious as when they first put it on our table.

Those who are in the mood for a change of pace from the mundane pizza, I recommend the California Pizza Kitchen.  This is the first time I have ever tried Thai pizza.  So if you haven't tried it, try it now!