Mozza Mozza Mozza

Once again I have started a post with little thought toward its direction or composition. Well some thought obviously went into it, as evidenced by the title, but that is all. Further complicating the matter is that I have not as of yet this morning had a drop of coffee. I ran out yesterday and, knowing that Peet's restocks its beans on Wednesdays, have decided to abstain for the day in order to get fresh beans this evening. I know, it's sick.
Well, to the subject at hand, my wife, being the good little flogger that she is, came straight home and wrote all about opening night at Mozza. I on the other hand, could barely manage a few late-night, and probably incoherent emails before passing out. So I come to you today, a day late, with tales of Pizza.

First of course, the restaurant itself was nicely done. With warm orange walls and a long bar that wound its way along one entire half of the small space. Behind which, Nancy Silverton worked all night, shoving pizzas into the oven. There were no signs of Batali, though that is appropriate. This project is supposed to be more Silverton than Batali. Bastianich was also there, working the room.

For an opening night, everything seemed well planned and thoroughly rehersed. Our service was excellent and the food arrived in short order. However, the table next to us, who had arrived earlier and order just before we sat down, still had not received anything when our second course came out. To start with, we ordered the Affetati misti, an assortment of cured meats from Armandino's shop in Seattle. (Check back next week for pictures from the source) The Lardo was absolutely delicious, as was the Finnochiona. They were out of the Proscuitto di Parma, due to an earlier ham heist by a Vespa riding gourmand. As a substitute, they offered another salumi which was good, but as a substitute for proscuitto, no.

The salad was next. This was an amazing salad. My wife will complain that I stress too often and too enthusiastically that I am a carnivorous creature. It is true, I eat salads occassionally. And who doesn't like at least some vegitables (I like most.) But none of this matters with this salad. This salad was more meat and cheese than green stuff. But the salad is not what either of us has come for. We came for Pizza. And some of Armandino's finest. And well because it was opening night and there is no Tuesday night Football.

The pizza was very good. So good in fact that I even ate some of the Wife's longneck clam pizza (I don't typically eat bivalves or fungus for that matter.) I had that Salami with mozzarella and red chilis. It was excellent. We also shared a Margherita. The table next to us, when they finally got their food, had the Burrata. The pizza was beautiful. In fact I welled up a little. I think I may have had a chili in my eye, but it was hard to tell. All and all a wonderful LA food experience. We stayed nearly three hours and never felt rushed to leave. I very highly recommend a trip to Mozza. I know that we are already planning a return visit. A little wiser after our first though, I think we will try to stagger our order a bit. The pizza tends to get cold by the time you make it around to the third.

I realize this should be where I wrap it up. Or maybe I should have done that a long while ago, but I am not a writer. So here is the close.

By the way, this is her plate, not mine

Oh the shame.