Dinner at Pizzeria Mozza (Los Angeles)

Last weekend we were headed down to a show at The Wiltern theater, and decided to pick a place to eat beforehand that  would only be a short drive to the theater.  After weighing several options, we decided on Pizzeria Mozza.  For those who don't know, Pizzeria Mozza was created by two well-known chefs, Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali.  Silverton is the founder of La Brea Bakery, which was one of this first artisan bakeries in Los Angeles, and has grown into a massive bread empire; and Batali is a specialist in regional Italian cuisine, an "Iron Chef," co-host of "The Chew," and a James Beard Foundation "Best Chef" Award Winner.  With Silverton's expertise in dough, and Batali's extensive knowledge of all things Italian, they were a perfect team to partner up and open a gourmet pizzeria in L.A.  The result was Pizzeria Mozza, which has been touted by many as having some of the best pizza in the city.

We each started off with a glass of prosecco, something we picked up on our recent trip to Italy.  Prosecco is a sparkling Italian wine, which acts as a great palate cleanser at the start of a meal.

Next, we each picked an appetizer to share.  My husband ordered the fried salt cod which was served with an aioli on the side.  The salt cod was prepared in small, round balls, similar to fritters.  They were perfectly fried, and the batter was light and crispy.  The fish inside was flaky and not greasy.  It went very well with the aioli, and a little bit of lemon squeezed on top.

For my appetizer, I ordered the platter of prosciutto de parma with fresh bufala mozzarella. As you can see, it was a generous portion of prosciutto. With the meat and cheese, we had some large slices of crusty bread that had been brushed with olive oil and grilled to perfection. The prosciutto, cheese, and bread together were delicious, and probably my favorite part of the entire meal.

 

After finishing our appetizers, we were already getting full.  However, since we were really there for the pizza, we soldiered on, and each ordered one.  My husband ordered a pizza with egg, bacon, Yukon gold potatoes, and onions.  He thought the crust of the pizza was fantastic, but overall, he felt that it was really a bit too "breakfasty" for his liking, and he missed the tomato sauce that he craves on a good pizza.  He did enjoy the sunny side up egg that was cooked in the middle of the pizza, and used the runny yolk as a sauce.

I ordered a pizza with with house-made fennel sausage and red onions.  I also thought that the pizza crust was delicious.  It was crispy and crusty on the outside, yet still chewy on the inside.  The house-made fennel sausage was also quite tasty.  However, it was placed in large chunks on top of the pizza, and really needed to be more evenly distributed on top.  In addition, I also missed having some type of tomato sauce on the pizza.  I think that a sauce would have worked well with the sausage, and would have brought more balance to the pizza.

Overall, we both agreed that the pizza crust was one of the best we've had in all of our extensive pizza exploration.  However, we both felt that we should have ordered different types of pizzas which included a tomato sauce.  We each tried to get a bit fancy with our pizza toppings, and we agreed that we should have probably stuck more to the basics.

One thing about the interior of Pizzeria Mozza is that the tables are extremely close to one another, so it is almost like you are at one big communal table.  It is also quite loud, and you can hear everything that is being said by the other guests seated around you.

One positive about the very tight quarters is that we got to chatting with a table of four women seated next to us who were celebrating a birthday, and coincidentally, headed to the same show as us at The Wiltern.  They had three different desserts served to them. (When do you ever see a table of four women, especially in L.A., ordering three desserts?)  One of the desserts was the clear winner amongst their group, and as we watched the women devour it, they told us we absolutely had to order it.  One woman actually said she would buy it for us if we didn’t like it.  The winning dessert was a caramel copetta (gelato) with marshmallow sauce and salted Spanish peanuts.  We ordered the dessert and it was yummy!

We felt that Pizzeria Mozza delivered an enjoyable meal overall, however, there was no single course that really blew our minds.  If you get a chance to visit, you should definitely order a pizza, but my advice would be to try and stick to something simple, and choose toppings that will help accentuate the delectable crust.