RESTAURANT REVIEW:

It had been a while since I had been to a California Pizza Kitchen. I remembered what a novelty they were when they opened in 1985. The pizza with its exotic ingredients seemed so revolutionary at the time.

An old girlfriend and I were in college in the late 1980s, and that used to be our special place. We would order the roasted garlic chicken with extra garlic. It was a nice change from the pepperoni or sausage we got at the local Italian place.

The salads seemed equally unique. The barbecue chicken chopped salad with black beans and tortilla strips were ingredients we hadn’t seen in a salad. Even the Cobb salad, which was her favorite, had applewood smoked bacon that tasted so good.

We had such naïve taste buds back then, but CPK did make us feel more mature than I am sure we were. Now it seems the concept has become cliché and there are so many chain restaurants that hide behind a hook and a sappy TV commercial.

The reason I believe CPK has avoided that is the evolution of its menu. They haven’t relied on one or two menu items and have routinely added new entrees. They don’t seem content in what they have, and I decided another visit was appropriate.

Most of the new items have been around between one and three months, and I began with one of the two new salads.

The Miso salad is a mix of shredded Napa cabbage (Chinese cabbage), red cabbage, avocado, julienne cucumbers, daikon, carrots, green onions, cilantro, wonton bits and rice noodles.

The dressing is a combination of miso paste, sugar, soybean oil and rice wine vinegar. I could have sworn I tasted ginger in it, as well.

The salad is outstanding, the vegetables plentiful and the Napa cabbage has a mild, sweet flavor. It took me three bites to realize they had forgotten to put the dressing on, and it was so good dry, I almost left it at that.

The other salad is a Mediterranean salad that has romaine leaves and cucumbers, red onions, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and Greek olives. It is served with a lemon-herb vinaigrette on a bed of hummus. Pita bread is on the side of the salad with homemade Tzatziki sauce.

There are a couple of new pizzas I thought were intriguing. As with the others, these are hearth baked, and the toppings are eccentric.

The one I had was the Cajun pizza, which was distinctive with its blackened chicken and spicy Andouille sausage with a Creole sauce, roasted red and yellow peppers, mild white onions and mozzarella cheese. Though the description said it was topped with green onions, I didn’t see or taste any.

It was spicy, but not too much. The sauce was limited, though, so the pizza seemed a little drier than I expected; but overall, it was good. It does have a special taste and might not be for everyone.

The other pizza I would recommend is the tomato and basil.

The imported Italian tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese and house tomato sauce, topped with fresh basil and Parmesan cheese is a nice blend of seasonings and makes for a subtle, yet enjoyable, pizza.

The last dish I tried was the pesto cream penne. It is penne pasta with a basil pine nut pesto cream sauce, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.

I could have added chicken or shrimp, but didn’t want to complicate the dish. My server did suggest asparagus, and I am glad she did. It was perfect with the pesto.

As I was paying the check, a young couple in the booth in front of me sat side by side — not across from each other — and I couldn’t help but smile at the memory it brought back.

Address: 1151 Newport Center Drive

Newport Beach, (949) 759-5543

3333 Bear St., No. 316

Costa Mesa, (714) 557-1279

Cuisine: California style

Specialty dish: pizza

Alcohol served: full bar at Newport Beach, but no energy drinks, no alcohol at Costa Mesa

Dress: casual

Family friendly: yes extensive kid’s menu

Credit cards accepted: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Diners Club International, JCB and American Express

Rating: ***

JOHN REGER is the Pilot’s restaurant critic. His reviews run Thursdays.