"It may have fallen on hard times in recent years, but California Pizza Kitchen was once at the center of culinary innovation in the United States. It's hard to believe that for a brand most people now associate with food courts and frozen food aisles, but when it first opened in 1985, California Pizza Kitchen was a trendy sensation in its home city of Los Angeles."
"Working at Spago, LaDou made pizza one of the main draws. His pies included exotic combos, like duck breast and hoisin sauce, or pate and ricotta. Rosenfield and Flax wanted to bring that trend to people, but at price points much lower than the swanky Spago. At California Pizza Kitchen, LaDou developed similar pizzas, but the more casual clientele wasn't as enamored of radicchio"
California Pizza Kitchen opened in Beverly Hills in 1985 and initially rode the wave of California-style culinary experimentation. Owners Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax hired Spago pizza chef Ed LaDou to develop approachable, lower-priced versions of creative pies. The barbecue chicken pizza emerged as a standout, translating gourmet flavors into a mainstream offering. The experimental topping trend traced back to Alice Waters and Chez Panisse and to Bay Area kitchens like Prego, where Ed LaDou worked before Spago. LaDou's Spago pies featured exotic combinations such as duck with hoisin or pate with ricotta, which influenced CPK's early menu.
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