California Pizza Kitchen menu now calorie free

Diners at California Pizza Kitchen last week found some enticing new offerings, such as white chocolate strawberry cheesecake, Baja-style tacos with sautéed mahi-mahi, and a Moroccan-spiced chicken breast salad. But gone from the menu are those often-revealing calorie counts that the restaurant had listed for each item since July 1.

The Los Angeles-based pizza-and-pasta chain dropped that data when it printed new menus last week, in part because customers just didn't like it much.

"You have to look at the restaurant business as entertainment. Why make the customer feel guilty?" said Larry Flax, co-chief executive at CPK. "People kept getting mad,"  he said.

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-- Jerry Hirsch

On Twitter @LATimesJerry

Photo: Rick Rosenfield, left, and Larry Flax are co-chief executives of California Pizza Kitchen. Their chain of pizza-and-pasta restaurants recently dropped calorie counts from their menus, although state law will require them in 2011. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Cheri]

Maybe customers were mad that they listed calories per slice for a pizza that is clearly designed to be eaten in its entirety by one person.

[KW]

Bummer, it was a good reminder that eating a full restaurant meal contains at least half of your daily calories, and that's before you factor in the beverages.

State law requires they add them back in 2011 anyhow. At that point perhaps restaurants will adjust portion sizes to more reasonable levels.