‘Designer’ Pizza Eatery Satisfying, If Bizarre

From the number of supplicants begging admission to the new California Pizza Kitchen in Solana Beach one recent Tuesday evening, you might have supposed the place was handing out free meals (no way) or that the cooking is among the best on earth (it isn’t) or that Madonna and Michael Jackson were schmoozing over pizza in a secluded corner (they weren’t).

Actually, there’s no such thing as a secluded--or quiet--corner at the first San Diego County outpost of this phenomenally successful nationwide chain. The location in the new Beachwalk shopping center in Solana Beach is the chain’s 26th and is just one month old.

Founded in 1985 by a pair of attorneys, California Pizza Kitchen chooses locations primarily in upscale malls, and specializes in the “designer” pizzas and pastas popularized by Los Angeles super-chef Wolfgang Puck. Puck does it all vastly better, but Pizza Kitchen turns out a fairly good product and scores with the unusually extensive menu.

To sample the tuna melt pizza or mustard-tarragon pasta you first have to battle crowds, lengthy table waits and hockey-game noise levels. The decor, which seems a cross between a 1950s diner and high-tech industrial design, is less than restful, and guests who want to converse without shouting will request one of the handful of patio tables.

Once seated, it still may take 20 minutes or more for a lemonade, a bottle of wine or even simple glass of water to appear. Guests at one nearby table repeatedly begged, “Please, could we have our order soon?” The staff by and large seems sociable, if bogged down.

The food itself more than satisfies. Some combinations seem unreasonably bizarre, such as the Tandoori chicken pizza with spicy tomato-yogurt curry (and mango chutney on the side!), or the tuna melt pie with tuna salad, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions and Cheddar; several pasta treatments are equally unorthodox.

But, if you consider that pizza crust and noodles are bland products that, like canvases, can receive almost any burden--no matter how outlandish--the barbecued chicken pizza garnished with cilantro and smoked Gouda no longer seems all that strange.

A party of two should be able to share one of the composed salads, a bowl of pasta and a pizza; roughly multiply this order for larger groups. The desserts are oversized and meant for sharing. In this category, the rum-flavored chocolate pecan pie wins hands-down over the fluffy, soupy tiramisu .

There’s a lot of flavor and basic goodness to the romaine and watercress salad, a nicely balanced plate of greens given interest by the chunks of Gorgonzola and crunch by the addition of crisp walnuts. The chopped salad is a pale copy of a classic that calls for a rich blend of cubed meats, cheeses and vegetables.

The menu notes that the kitchen will prepare any pizza without cheese, but also offers a special cheese-less selection that includes a basic vegetarian version, and, much better, a grilled eggplant pie buried under a lawn-like layer of shredded spinach, applied after the pizza leaves the oven. Guests drizzle vinaigrette over the slices to taste, and the result, if strange, is quite wonderful.

The Thai chicken pizza, with or without cheese, has a good, strong flavor and is likable for the sprinkling of peanuts that finishes it. Among other choices is a “Southwestern burrito” pizza, which includes marinated chicken and black beans. Oddly enough, the traditional New York-style pizza with mushrooms, pepperoni and sausage had less flavor than some defrost-and-bake versions sold in supermarkets.

Pasta choices include a plain tomato-herb sauce and a garlic cream sauce enriched with chicken or shrimp. On the wild side, the fettuccine with mustard, cream and tarragon goes over the brink. These flavors, great with a good piece of beef or chicken, overwhelm the pasta, which on the occasion in question also happened to be overcooked.

There was, however, a quiet flavor and a good deal of sense to the angel hair with shrimp in gingered black bean sauce, a nice Asian-inspired dish that incorporated bits of broccoli and scallion and exactly the right touch of garlic.

California Pizza Kitchen

437 S. Highway 101,

Solana Beach Calls: 793-0999

Hours: Lunch and dinner daily

Cost: Most items $5.95 to $9.50; dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $25 to $45