Osteria Mozza - "the Mozzerella Tavern"

We arrived to LA, no traffic, wow.  Spoke to soon, shit.  We left 40 minutes early to get to Iron Chef's Mario Batali's Osteria Mozza.  We arrived 50 minutes later, it was 5 miles away.  Yes, I am serious.  After our relaxing drive we walked in, thank god it was worth it.  I felt like we walked into a hot spot in NYC, it had been open for about 10 minutes and it was already filling up.  Then I looked outside and saw a Chevron and a 7-11 and remembered we were in LA.  We knew we were going to sit at the bar until the greeter asked us which one, huh?  She asked if we wanted to sit at the Mozzarella Bar or Amaro Bar.  What's the difference we asked?  She said at the Mozzarella Bar we could watch people make food and at the Amaro bar we could watch them make drinks.  Which do you think we chose?

We took our seat at the Mozzarella Bar, since the name of this place translated is: Mozzarella Tavern.  The bar top was littered with little Italian trinkets and small bowls with spices and herbs.  There were girls dressed as chefs and maids behind the bar working away.  But the difference between a real bar and this one was that we had a server not a bartender.   We were in quite the hurry but we were determined to enjoy ourselves in the hour or so we had.  Everything was in Italian so I kind of had to trust the waiter when making our first two appetizer selections.  First thing I asked was what is the Affettati misti with gnocco fritto .  He said it was cured meat, one of my favorites. 

The white stuff in the bottom left is Lardo, a type of salume (Italian charcuterie) made by curing strips of fatback with rosemary and other herbs and spices.  Top left Prociutto di San Danielle, bottom right Copa, top right a salame.  The gnocco frito (fried dumpling) the pillow in the middle that I melted some lardo on is basically some fried salty puff pastry.  There were probably about 6-8 of these I just put one on the plate for pictures sake.  But it's completely hollow and very different than the typical bread that comes with salumi plates.

Next, I asked what the best Burrata was as there were multiple selection on the antipasti menu.  Burrata is a form of mozzarella, too long to explain.  But creamy goodness is what it really is.    The server said the one with the Bacon was the best, and knowing that anything with bacon is fantastic, I said bring it on.  So we got the Burrata with bacon, marinated escarole (endive) & caramelized shallots.  It was a bruschetta of sorts, the shallots were caramelized in a balsamic reduction which was rich and flavorful.  It had contrasting flavors that melded together.  It was like a rave (one of the wild parties that go on all night with glow sticks and ecstasy), a rave in my mouth. 

Next was the pasta, we didn't really have time BUT I couldn't leave this Italian wonderland without having some pasta. So, we had something traditional, but something neither Sol or I had ever tasted. It was something we saw on No Reservations (Anthony Bourdain) and couldn't wait to try.  It was Bucatini alla Amatriciana.  The pasta looked like spaghetti but was a little thicker.  It was al dente for sho!  Sol said that pasta is cooked that way because its healthier.  I don't know, let me go look it up real quick. My dictionary Wikipedia doesn't say anything about that, I'm all ears if any of you agree!  I'm prepared to say this was the best pasta dish I have ever had. 

This is a split portion

It had some guanciale-cured pork cheek, which I didn't know was going to be in there but am so glad it was.  The sauce was red and a bit spicy, and the al dente pasta was damn good.  There was Pecorino cheese grated over top.  Honestly it was so good I didn't stop to enjoy the true depth of this dish.  I have to say if you live in LA, you'd better get here.  If you don't live in LA make it a spot to check out when you visit, its located in Hollywood.

Service was fantastic, even though the waiter didn't really have much common sense at times.  We told him we had somewhere to be and he took care of everything very quickly.  He had great recommendations, and was very knowledgeable. 

Hope you get here soon my friends.  Eat Well.