James Beard 2012 Best Chef Pacific was awarded to Matt Molina of Osteria Mozza. Chef/Owner, Nancy Silverton was one of the nominees for Best Chef nationwide, but that went to Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park. Also in the mix at Osteria Mozza are co owners and chefs Mario Batalli and Joe Bastianich. Molina helped these two open Del Posto on Manhattan and had worked at Campanile for Silverton earlier.
What about the food? We started out with drinks at the bar – whiskey, Chardonnay and a Pomegranate and Seltzer -until Amani arrived after her rehearsal and we were promptly seated. I felt that the amuse, ricotta on toast, and our appetizers came a little too quickly, as well as a very nice Super Tuscan bottle of red. Our small table was overwhelmed by glasses and plates. We shared the appetizers and then I asked the waiter to help clear us some room and he removed the appetizer and bread plates.
Our appetizers were all good and were as follows:
– Burratta (mozzarella) from Puglia, the heel of the boot of Italy, in olive oil with fennel. They gave us a crusty Italian bread for spreading on the cheese and it was very good. This is a specialty available only Thursday and Friday nights and it is flown in directly from Puglia. Nancy Silverton is known for her mozzarella and the restaurant has a mozzarella bar as well as a liquor bar. Both were full.
– Kale with pine nuts. We were told that kale is the staple green of LA, so we tried this and liked it.
– Grilled Octopus. We each had one piece. Grilled and served over greens. a very simple dish but presented nicely.
Our entrees arrived after a pause, which was appreciated. We had:
– Tagliatelle and ox tail ragu
– Garganelli with lamb ragu
– Pea Ravioli with mussels
– Short rib and polenta with shaved horseradish
You can see the preference for pasta. The restaurant also offers a ‘pasta tasting menu’ with 5 courses for $69, but the entire table has to participate and it was more food than we desired. I think we felt all was very good and the wine great. Dining out as a foursome, for the first time on our cross country journey, was a treat and we found that good conversation and sharing with those most important to you were were the main courses of the evening, complemented well by tasty, Italian style comfort food.
Dessert came as two servings of a trio of cannelloni with fillings of caramel, espresso and pistachio. Joan was resisted the temptation for sugar and had a luscious fruit plate of Raspberries, Cherries and Aprium ( cross between an apricot and plum). Mike had a bittersweet chocolate cake with Perugian chocolates on the side. I also had an excellent decaf cappuccino.
So that is it for our mission, at least with regards to James Beard Award winners. The theme helped us organize ourselves and allowed us to enjoy excellent meals all along the way. We are a little poorer for the gilt spent, but richer for the experience. Perhaps we will post another entry about ” lessons learned” before we call it quits as your favorite bloggers.
[portfolio_slideshow]
You guys should read bastianich’s book ‘restaurant Man’ when you get home; the Mozza cookbook is neat too. Love reading about your trip!
Pavlov could have used me for his experiments. By the time I got to the plate of mussels, my mouth was literally watering.