Crave pizza? You're in luck: California Pizza Kitchen has launched a new gluten-free pizza crust, which means that 29 of its pizzas now are available gluten-free.
Customers of the restaurant chain, which has locations in more than 30 states, can order favorites such as the Original BBQ Chicken pizza, the Pear & Gorgonzola pizza and the Wild Mushroom pizza with a gluten-free crust.
California Pizza Kitchen also says that its current menu features gluten-free appetizers, soups, salads, specialties, kids items and desserts. As always, I recommend you consult with a manager before ordering to emphasize the need to avoid cross contamination.
With its new gluten-free crust, California Pizza Kitchen joins a growing list of pizza restaurants and carry-out options. To see what's available, check out my article on Gluten-Free Pizza Restaurants.
Unfortunately, if you read the fine print from their menu it contains the following warning:
“…normal kitchen operations involve shared cooking and preparation areas, or we may need to substitute ingredients in menu items. We are therefore unable to guarantee that any menu item is free from gluten or any other allergen, and we assume no responsibility for guests with food allergies or sensitivities.”
Essentially, they don’t appear to make any effort to prevent cross contamination or even that all the ingredients are gluten free. Even if all the ingredients are gluten free, there’s not much point of offering a dish made with those gluten free ingredients if you contaminate them with gluten because of your preparation practices. There are methods of preparing foods in facilities that offer both gluten full and gluten free items and prevent cross contamination. There are even resources to teach restaurants how to do it. Restaurants have been able to successfully employ those methods (like Cheeseburger in Paradise). Frankly, I won’t be adding California Pizza Kitchen to my list of gluten free friendly dining any time soon, at least not until they figure out how to do gluten free the right way.
I actually went yesterday on a whim because Chipotle was closed and CPK was just next door. I spent 10 minutes discussing with a manager how things were prepared and trying to make sure possible cross contamination issues were eliminated.
This is what I was told:
The normal crusts are not tossed but pressed and they do add flour to them but it’s not like they are throwing flour into the air with tossed crusts. They keep their gluten free crusts pre-packaged and only open when it is ordered. The gluten free crust is prepared in a sepratate area on clean surfaces and placed on aluminum foil. Everyone was to wash their hands/change gloves. All pizzas are cooked in the same oven (non-gluten free ones are placed directly on the oven) and so I asked for the pizza to be put in and taken out using a fresh and clean pizza spatula. Being that the gluten free crust was placed on foil the contamination from both the spatula and the oven surface should be eliminated. Lastly, they claim a specific gluten free pizza cutter is used only with the gluten free pizza crusts.
I felt comfortable with eatin there after I was explained all of this, but I forgot to question how the toppings were handled and if there was contamination on them. I usually ask when I go to places but forgot to here. I usually don’t know whether I eat any gluten so I can never specifically say when a restaurant did something wrong. So if there was cross contamination that I received, I can not say. Nor can I approve/condone the gluten free menu and their practices.
Hope this helps start the questioning process, and let me know if anyone finds something different that what I came across or if I missed any other potential cross contamination sources.
Hip Hip Hurray for California Pizza Kitchen!!! I use to eat their pizza’s and loved them, but then I learned I was gluten intolerant and had to give them up. I am so excited that I can now get that order in one that can be shared with the whole family and they not feeling like they “have to” follow my gluten free diet. Yea!!!