California Pizza Kitchen ASAP
30 N. La Salle St., 312-920-9662
First bite: Having conquered the upscale pizza market in both the dining world and the local freezer, California Pizza Kitchen has set its Thai-chicken sights on fast food. The Los Angeles-based chain recently launched its fast-food counterpart, California Pizza Kitchen ASAP, in select cities across the country, streamlining its expansive menu to its 12 top-selling pizzas, soups, salads, some appetizers, sandwiches and a few kids’ items. Breakfast pizzas, paninis and omelets are also available until 10:30 a.m.
The process: You can call ahead or order at the restaurant, located in an office building at the corner of Washington and LaSalle Streets. The wait averages 8-10 minutes per order, even with multiple cashier stations. But frankly, you don’t want a pizza to get the 30-second, zap-and-wrap burger treatment. Just relax and wait inside the restaurant’s sleek dining room, which comfortably seats about 60, or outside in the shaded patio area.
The chow: With California Pizza Kitchen ASAP, the concept is literally CPK to go, not dine-in. If you order soup, a panini and a 9-inch pizza at the full-size restaurant, you’re not going to get it–or at the same quality–within eight minutes. That said, ASAP’s BBQ Chicken pizza ($7.49), the franchise’s signature dish, is fairly close to the original. The sauce is a little too sweet (then again, it’s always been a little too sweet) but the smoked gouda and cilantro help cut the saccharine taste, leaving a tangier, spicier impression. Even spicier is the tomato basil bisque ($4.49). The soup is delicious with its blending of tomatoes, basil, onions, butternut squash, chicken stock and cream. Though a little awkward on ciabatta bread (the carb of the month), the turkey club panini ($7.49) satisfies with applewood-smoked bacon, sweet avocado and a biting Dijon mustard. Breakfast-wise, ASAP’s Italian breakfast pizza looks (and tastes) like an odd mash of scrambled eggs, Italian sausage and crust. Stick with a breakfast panini. Speaking of sandwiches, please allow a moment of silence for long-forgotten focaccia, the former favorite of restaurant and fast food chains. We hardly knew ye.
The wrap: The pizza comes in the restaurant’s trademark white pizza box with yellow trim, while the panini and the soup receive less preferential treatment: a clear plastic container and a paper cup. It is a sturdy paper cup, though.
Delivery: Yes, but only before noon and after 2 p.m. and within a three-block radius of the restaurant. $15 dollar minimum order. $2 delivery charge.
The bill: $21.22 for the pizza, the panini and the soup. $7.61 for the breakfast pizza and a green tea.
Last bite: If you have the time, check out this latest alternative to the burger chains.
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gjeffers@tribune.com
