On Sunday night, the day after Vince and I got married, we treated ourselves to a nice Italian dinner at Pizzeria Mozza, Joe Bastianich’s restaurants. We have been watching the latest seasons of Master Chef and became huge fans of Joe Bastianich. Joe Bastianich is a huge restauranteur and he had a couple of restaurants in Los Angeles.
We’re like.. “Why don’t we treat ourselves out to a nice dinner at one of Joe Bastianich’s restaurants since we’re obsessed with him and want to try his food?!” We decided to try Osteria Mozza (but it is currently closed). However, it is co-opened with Pizzeria Mozza (his other restaurant) and offers outdoor patio dining.
We made reservations online ahead of time and found street parking nearby. They set up an empty section next to the two restaurants very nicely & cute. I asked the host if this were going to become a permanent part of the restaurant after Corona virus is over, but she says unfortunately not due to city restrictions.
It’s such a pitty they will have to clean this out because the patio looks so cute! They did a nice job with the floor, plants & the lights. It gave a semi-casual yet romantic ambiance.
Bufala Anchovy. Mozzarella di Bufala, anchovies & garlic toast. This appetizer was a pleasant surprise. The garlic toast was very crispy, light and airy at the same time. There was a richness to the garlic that brought out decadence of such a simple toast. The anchovies were lightly salty, much less saltier than I anticipated. It contrasted nicely with the soft & fresh mozzarella balls.
Funghi Misti. fontina, tallegio, thyme. This pizza is my favorite! This is probably the first time I’ve eaten a pizza that had such a generous amount of mushrooms spread out on top. So much mushrooms! And they were delicious and juicy with flavors! The cheese was very cheesy and stringy. The crust is to DIE for. Vince is now convinced this is the best pizza he has ever eaten (even better than his current favorite Nolita Hall pizza back in SD). The pizza dough itself had a lot of bubbles in the crust, the color of the dough (and the bottom too) had the occasional toasted colors. The crust is so crispy & air on the inside. It was good. I could eat the crust by itself just as an appetizer too!
Jimmy Nardello. peppers, ‘nduja, tomato & fontina. Vince has officially said that this is his favorite #1 pizza of all time >> Even better than Nolita Hall’s margherita pizza. Pizza for pizza, he will choose to eat THIS pizza over Nolita Hall’s margherita pizza. Now if you know Vince & his pizza craziness, this says A LOT. He says it’s the peppers that make the pizza. He also loves that they kept the stems on the peppers to signify what they are and where they are from. There is no mystery to these peppers.
Sagne a Pezzi. with aglio e olio, pecorino, anchovies & breadcrumbs. We chose this pasta because we like anchovies. Personally, for me, I was disappointed in this pasta.. I thought it would be more creamy. Vince likes the pasta but it was more of a dry pasta and a lot of the flavors come from the bread crumbs as you chew on it. While the breadcrumbs stay crispy & crunchy, I personally thought it was too salty for me.
And there was our first dinner out as a married couple! We had a nice view, a nice dinner & good conversations, celebrating the success of our “escape wedding.” We will DEFINITELY come back to try his famous runny egg yolk ravioli that was on Master Chef & eat more PIZZA!
(This place is definitely a good alternative to real Italian pizza when we can’t go to Italy yet).
