Pizzeria Mozza
So… I’ve been wanting to go here since before I knew it was one of Mario Batali’s restaurants. I’ve been to several of his restaurants in NYC when I lived there including Otto, Lupa and all of the restaurants within Eataly. In fact, I lived just down the street from Eataly and whenever I had a friend over who hadn’t been there, I’d always give them a tour of the inside, typically before heading up to Birreria. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan.
Anyway, I convinced Gretchen to go with me and in spite of our valiant efforts to get into Osteria Mozza next door, we were able to get a last minute rsvp thru Open Table after our morning doing orientation at Project Angel Food.
We valeted it since there’s very little parking there, and waited with other diners outside until they opened their doors. It’s a bit of a small space but that lends to its charm and warm vibe. There’s also an exposed pizza oven and wood tables, which, I assume, is very much like what you’d find in Italy.
We ordered our wine, the Cabernet Franc & Cabernet Sauvignon “Vigna Mare’,” Il Mottolo – Veneto for me, and the Verdicchio, Colle Stefano – Le Marche for Gretchen, and for lunch we shared the Mozza Caprese and the Goat Cheese, Leeks, Scallions, Garlic & Bacon Pizza. Let me begin by saying that the food is beautiful, which should be no surprise, but we both thought the food overall was a shade off of Fab.
First off, it would have been nice to have a couple more tomatoes on the caprese. Also they don’t start you with any kind of bread (assume that’s how it’s done in Italy), but you can order it for an extra $4. We weren’t big fans of it either. It’s ok, just didn’t compliment the caprese well, imho.
Next the pizza: We both liked it, but I thought it was lacking something sweet, like figs or some type of fruit. Not that I always have fruit on my pizza, but this one seemed like it could use it. A bit too savory, imho.
Then for dessert, we ordered the Butterscotch Budino, which was basically creamy butterscotch topped with a layer of caramel and fresh whipped cream. We both liked it, me more than she, but we both thought the flavor of the butterscotch was masked by the caramel. The pine nut rosemary cookies that accompanied it were very good.
That said, we did enjoy ourselves and we definitely want to try the Osteria, but we will be back to the pizzeria again at some point as we want to try something new.
Tips:
- Make an rsvp. We arrived before it opened and it’s small, so it fills up fast.
- It’s pricey ($12), but take advantage of the valet as there’s little to no parking over there.
- If you want to dine at Osteria Mozza, you’ll need to book it at least a day or two in advance.
Pizzeria Mozza: http://la.pizzeriamozza.com/
Book Now thru Open Table: https://www.opentable.com/r/pizzeria-mozza-los-angeles
