California Pizza Works is already known around downtown Ho Chi Minh City for its wide selection of Italian specialties, especially – as the restaurant’s name suggests – pizza.

But as much as for its pizzas, the restaurant has also become famous for the preparation of the Italian dish. Namely, guests can learn how to make pizza themselves with a few pointers here and there at the restaurant.

The ingredients are found on a stainless steel counter in the middle of the ground floor room of California Pizza Works. Above them is a board that guides pizza bakers with detailed instructions and vivid illustrations.

So to make a pizza you first select the bread-like base and then cover it with your favourite sauce. Thirdly, you choose cheese, meat and vegetables and mix them with some sauces before putting the mixture onto the dough. The available ingredients include sausages, ground beef and broiled chicken. Finally, your assistant takes the pizza to the first floor to bake it in an oven, which takes only two minutes and 45 seconds.

Those who have no time for preparing their own pizzas can select one of the ready-made pizzas that Chef Geoffrey Deetz has created.

The American has named each pizza after the place from where its ingredients primarily come. For instance, Saigon Pizza includes grilled shrimp, hot peppers, straw mushroom, onions and basil from Ho Chi Minh City plus mozzarella cheese on peanut sauce.

Another creation, Hong Kong Pizza, is made with ingredients imported from Hong Kong, such as ginger chicken, black beans, zucchini, wood ear mushrooms, baby corn, bell peppers and mozzarella cheese on hoisin sauce.

Bombay Pizza’s toppings include ground curried lamb, potatoes, peas, fried onions, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on garlic oil.

But Deetz’s most special creation is The Ozone, which he came up with in Oakland, California, more than 10 years ago. Deetz explains The Ozone has a top and bottom with a hole in the middle that symbolizes the damaged ozone layer, but can be filled with all the ingredients of choice. A special type of cheese covers the pizza, making it spicier.

California Pizza Works serves thin and thick crust pizza and Sicilian style pizza with stuffed cheese crust. A small thin-crust pizza costs VND65,000, medium VND85,000 and large VND125,000. The thick-crust pizzas are VND10,000 more for each size, and the stuffed cheese crust pizzas are VND20,000 more for each size.

The restaurant also serves many other dishes, such as choose-it-yourself pasta, where you can combine different types of pasta with various sauces; risottos; garlic breads; and soups.

Besides food, California Pizza Works also offers diners a tranquil atmosphere. The restaurant is in a three-story building at the corner of Tran Cao Van and Hai Ba Trung streets in District 1.

Targeting families, a small garden in front of the restaurant sports many ornamental plants and, more importantly, children’s toys, such as power-operated toy cars, animal-shaped chairs, plastic balls and crayons for drawing.

The first floor’s walls are decorated with images of famous cartoon characters, such as Scooby Doo, Batman, Spiderman and Superman, while the top floor is spacious and quiet.