Mozza: The Osteria with the Mosteria

[Woolsey]

Please forgive me for forgetting the particulars of the wine and some of the dishes. After so much food and alcohol, a few of the dishes have become a blur:

When I entered the Osteria tonight around 5:50 P.M., the room was less than half-full. Nancy Silverton was at work behind the Mozzarella Bar, where she would remain all evening; there was no sign of Mario Batali all evening. As I was the first to arrive, I was invited to wait at one of the free-standing marble tables by the bar, where I was greeted by a waiter. I ordered a Negroni for the wait – if one is at an Italian restaurant, one should have an Italian cocktail, right? – and given the option of having it on the rocks or straight up; I chose up. My Negroni was brought in a chilled cocktail glass with a piece of orange rind beside it on a silver dish. The waiter lit the orange peel with a cigarette lighter before dropping it in the drink. It was the finest Negroni I’ve ever had, even topping the excellent Sicilian Negroni I had a Lucques a few weeks ago. (For $12.99, I would expect nothing less that mixological perfection.)

By this point, my friends had arrived, and we migrated to our table, which was located in the “wine cellar” nook of the handsome room. With its chic teal-gray color, vast expanses of marble, black-painted wood, and old-fashioned fittings, the room manages to be both warm and familiar yet also fresh and modern, even if it is in the Restoration Hardware way. (Better that than the overdone Design Within Reach fashion.) With the aid of the charismatic young wine steward, we chose a bottle of spumante wine – not a prosecco, but a drier wine, the $29 selection at the top of the page – to accompany our antipasti. It was an excellent choice, and, along with the amuse-bouche of mozzarella with dried tomatoes, olives, and pesto, it set the meal off on the right direction. (However, I was scolded for using the French term “amuse-bouche” in an Italian restaurant by the wine steward. My friends, they were just stumped as to what an amuse-bouche was.) The bread was excellent, as one would expect from a Nancy Silverton establishment. However, replenishing one’s supply from the wandering bread servers can be difficult.

I received much resistance for ordering the grilled octopus antipasto, but I help firm on it – and it was the first of the four dishes to disappear. Slighty springy, but perfectly fresh and tender, perfectly seasoned, this was the highlight of the meal, served on a bed of celery leaves and slivers of fennel with fingerling potatoes. Even after the desserts were long cleared away, we were reminiscing about the wonderful octopus. At Japanese and Mexican restaurants, I always avoid tako and pulpo, but the octopus at Osteria Mozza is a dish that must not be missed. The crispy pigs’ trotters were a bit of a disappointment, though. The dish was very tasty, served on a mustard sauce and accompanied by a salad of chicory and radish. But the trotters were actually made into a croquette, coated in breadcrumbs and fried. If I wrote that it tasted of the world’s most luxurious fried Spam, that would seem like a terrible insult to the dish, but it is perhaps the most fitting description. We had two Mozzarella Bar selections, too. The bufala mozzarella with prosciutto di Parma was literally a plate of thin prosciutto slices and one scoop of creamy-soft buffalo mozzarella. This was easily our least favorite of our antipasti; I would not recommend ordering this with so many more interesting items. But the scamorza panino – loaded with melted cheese and cured meats, spicy and rich – was fantastic. Served with a delicately seasoned arugula salad, a slightly larger version of this would make a fantastic lunch.

We had four pastas, and three of them had something added at the table as “recommended by the chef.” The linguini cacio e pepe – “cheese and pepper” – “was finished in the kitchen.” This one was perhaps my least favorite, though I believe my fellow diners enjoyed it more. (It was highly recommended by our waiter.) To say it was my least favorite it not to say I disliked it, though. It was very good, a wonderfully simple dish of linguini with black pepper and cheese in oil. (With this dish, though, I did think about other writers’ complaints about the toughness of the pasts at Osteria Mozza. I did not encounted the problem with any of the other three pastas, though.) I really enjoyed the garganelli with ragú Bolognese, a curled pasta with a rich but simple meat sauce. The sauce was not obtrusive, not heavy on tomatoes, not thick or gluey. It was the perfect consistency with a beautiful meaty flavor. My fellow diners did not share my excitement for it, though they did not hate it. The bucatini all’Amatriciana was rather underwhelming. It was nice enough, with a rich, bright flavor, but I remember little more than red pasta and the tomato flavors. It was one of the most forgettable dishes of the evening, sadly. It was not helped by the fact that I ate it right before having the orrechiete with sausage and Swiss chard. Along with the octopus, the orrechiete stands out as one of Osteria Mozza’s superstar dishes. The complex sausage with just the right edge of spice, the slightly bitter chard, the perfectly cooked “little ears,” the crunch of the breadcrumbs added at the table – this is the kind of dish one finds oneself craving all of a sudden, at 3:00 in the afternoon, and then one spends a long evening waiting in a crowd for a spot at the Mozzarella Bar just to be able to order a plate of the stuff.

By this point, one friend and I had emptied the quartino of the fine Italian white whose name we had long forgot – a good deal for ten dollars – and we ordered the $25 quartino of Chianti Classico to share. I have never enjoyed Chianti before, but this was a very nice wine. The quartino deals are, on the whole, not nearly as good as the Pizzeria next door, but that is to be expected. There are still some good deals to be found on the wine list.

By the time our secondi arrived, we were fairly full, but we soldiered on. I had proposed the spot prawns al diavolo, the waiter recommended the orata, and the wine steward spoke in favor of the snapper, but one diner really wanted the salmon, so salmon was ordered. Please, folks – do not order the salmon at Osteria Mozza. I do not know why they are even making this dish. I knew it was a bad choice before it even arrived. It is cooked well, it is fresh fish, but it is bland. It is boring. It is wedding banquet food. It is a hunk of fish with a side of zucchini and cherry tomatoes and other innocuous, nothing vegetables in a medley of mediocrity. It is what one should order for people who are desperately wishing they were at a telecom convention banquet instead of a fine dining establishment. As for the other choices, the guinea fowl was amazing. My last encounter with guinea fowl was at Valentino (under the brief tenure of Stephen Samson) two-and-a-half years ago, and Mozza’s rendition blew that one away. The plank of toasted oiled bread beneath the slab of guinea fowl soaks up the juices of the meat, somewhat like a rich savory bread pudding. The meat has the depth of flavor and slightly gamy tang of turkey without the grainy texture or dryness. The quail was stuffed with onions, its skin sweet with caramelization from cooking. Deboned and grilled until juicy and just done, the quail’s unique flavor shines through in the preparation. The beef tagliatta, a steak grilled rare and sliced, served with an arugula salad dressed with balsamic and slivers of parmesan, was a beautiful piece of beef. The steak was tender enough for my bread knife and paired wonderfully well with the arugula and parmesan, though it stood up equally well on its own – as did the arugula salad. (The beef tagliatta was the biggest with everyone except me; I was partial to the guinea fowl.) We also chose two sides. The marinated peppers, our server’s recommendation, were delicious. But the real surprise was the long-cooked broccoli. I was a shock that such wonderful flavor could come from such a, frankly, ugly vegetable dish. It was great, unique and delicious.

Desserts were, of course, called for. The chocolate course was requested by one. I was not terribly impressed by this rather generic offering. A variety of small chocolates and nougats were served atop a slab of a sort of chocolate ganache cake. The ballyhooed olive oil gelato was a bit of a disappointment, too, if only because the gelato tasted more of rosemary than of olive oil to me. The rosemary cakes served with it, on the other hand, are outstanding, superior to the bombolini, which are little more than fancy doughnut holes. They were excellent fancy doughnut holes, but I do not feel the need to order them again. I enjoyed the raspberry gelato that accompanied it, but it was the mascarpone that came with the almond crescent – a stubborn dessert to cut apart, but very delicious – and sweet stewed plums that was the best of the frozen desserts we were served, I though. One big pet peeve: All the dessert plates were warm, and the gelati were melting very quickly.

We were told the bar was backed up, and that was no lie. Desserts were eaten, cleared, and we had some chat time before one friend’s Americano cocktail – which needed ample explanation (a Negroni without gin, and served with soda at Mozza) – and my Cynar digestivo arrived. We did get an even flashier “St. Elmo’s Fire” version of the flaming orange peel presentation for the Americano, which was a great topper for the evening. Some coffee was ordered, too. We did not mind; by this point, we had such a good evening (wedding banquet salmon and all) that we did not mind lingering. When we arrived at 6:00 P.M., the room was far from full. By this point, it was 9:00, and the room was packed. And no one was rushing us out! (A week ago, a friend and I were practically getting the bum’s rush at an overbooked, much less classy establishment.) We lingered a good while at our table, unbothered, enjoying the room. We all agreed it was a spectacular meal.

The total for the four of us (this includes four quartinos of wine, one bottle of sparkling wine, one cocktail, and one digestivo), before tip, was $441.66. This was for four antipasti, four primi, four secondi, and four desserts. Returning to Osteria Mozza, I would not indulge in so many courses. An antipasto and a pasta dish would suffice for me, actually. As with the Pizzeria next door, good company makes a huge difference, and I had great company. I thought that I’d be fine scratching my itch once and then having my pizza next door, but I think I might have to get back to the Osteria sometime in the future. I really did love it.

[omotosando]

Great review Woolsey! I really enjoyed reading it.

But I did have a different reaction than you to the desserts. I thought the olive oil gelato was one of the best things I had ever tasted, but I vastly preferred the bombolini doughnut holes that came with the raspberry gelato to the rosemary cakes that came with olive oil gelato. In fact, I was thinking that olive oil gelato with bombolini would be the perfect dessert in the whole world. But then I do have a weakness for doughnut holes and the bombolini to me were the Platonic ideal of doughnut holes.

[Woolsey]

The bombolini were good, don't get me wrong. But did the $11 price point lift them significantly higher than the standard doughnut shop offering? Not tremendously. Italian desserts are, in my opinion, rarely better than just nice. The French have them beat by a long mile - as they do with just about everything food-related. (Sorry Italophiles, but France unquestionably rules the kitchen in my heart.)

I would have liked to have tried the torta della nonna or cannoli, but the same diner who forced the awards banquet salmon also lobbied for the ho-hum chocolate plate. (Rule of thumb for Osteria Mozza: If it appears to be something common at other restaurants like a chocolate dessert or sautéed salmon, skip it! Go for the unique dishes.) I'll give the olive oil gelato another spin, I'm sure, but, for me, the mascarpone was, surprisingly, the best of the evening. I'd like to try the Greek yoghurt gelato, too. If olive oil is included in the gelato sampler, I might elect for that next time.

[Frank_Santa_Monica]

I gotta be honest. I have a 4 top at OsMo this coming Tuesday at 7:30, and since I'm picking up the tab this evening, I'm getting nervous. First of all, $441!!! Wow. I wish I'd heard just stellar reviews top to bottom, like when Cut first debuted. I'm hearing a lot of hits and misses too much.

I'm actually considering giving up my table and going to Providence or even PiMo. Last thing I want is to drop all this dough and have it be mezza mez.

I'm sorry but I expect those prices from a Nobu, Cut, or Craft even. But, wow, that's really steep. I'd rather do the Spago tasting menu.

[katkoupai]

Personally, I think it's too expensive. How much would it be to go to one of the other places that you mentioned above?

[Frank_Santa_Monica]

PiMo is much less, like half the price of OsMo. Providence is right up there with OsMo, but at least you can rely on them for quality and satisfaction. Never had a bad time at Providence. Only reason I don't go there often is because it's too far east from Santa Monica.

[katkoupai]

Cool. I can't get into the idea of dropping so much money to eat. The places you mention above sound more reasonable. Thanks for the info. :)

[Woolsey]

None of us regretted the money, though. After tip, we spent $130 each for three courses, dessert, and ample wine - a three-hour meal that saw a small army of servers removing more forks and knives from beneath us than we could count. If you plan on getting all three of the courses that the menu is structured for - I doubt most people will, at least after their first visit - then it is easy to get out of there for less money. In fact, by the time the entrées arrived, we were fairly sated anyway.

We went and decided to dine whole hog. The next time, I expect the tab to be much lower, and there are posts where people do eat for much less.

[katkoupai]

That's really important. The other thing that's worth appreciating is that you enjoyed the meal for three hours. :)

[diningdivala]

The two times I've been (yes, two already!) we spent around $115-$130 per person, including tip. Both times, we overinduldged because we wanted to try everything. I wouldn't eat as much on a regular night. Craft was easily $125 per person before tip. Any restaurant similar to these in caliber charge that much to eat. It's no more expensive than Providence, Cut, etc. But you can also go in for a few tastes. Three of us shared everything one night and it worked well. We had maybe four or five antipasti, two pastas, and two desserts. Just enough to taste. I think next time I'll be happy with one or two antipasti for the table, share a pasta, and have entrees. Or even stop at pastas. That's what's great about the menu.

Also, both times, there was maybe one or two dishes we weren't thrilled with. For fish, the orata is really special. The white fish is stuffed with fresh herbs and wrapped in fig leaves. Presentation and flavor are superb. I don't know why anyone orders salmon out any more anyway. it's boring no matter where you go; just about. It's the throwaway, like a restaurant always has to have a chicken dish, one always has to have salmon, steak, and so on. At a place like Osteria, it would not be my first choic ever. Far too many other delectable dishes to try.

Also, i have to second those orechiette. So. Good. I never had pig's feet before and never had Spam, but for me, it was a treat. Fried fat. How could you go wrong? The mustard sauce was a nice foil for the rich croquette.

[Woolsey]

Look, I worked mightily to veer us away from the salmon. God, did I try to get us away from the salmon. Both the waiter and wine steward made recommendations away from the salmon, too. But we were with someone who obviously was not a food person. This was someone who was horrified when I ordered octopus and pulled the waiter aside and asked that the tagliatta be cooked - ACK! - well done. (Thankfully this request was ignored.) A compromise had to be made eventually; that compromise was the boring salmon. I look forward to trying the more adventurous seafood offerings in the future.

As for me, I could actually forego the secondi on future visits. I enjoyed them (salmon aside), but, as is true in most L.A. restaurants, I felt the entrées were less engaging than the courses that preceded them. An antipasto and pasta dish - about $33-$35 - would be the way I would eat there on a more regular basis.

[Maxmillion]

FrankSM, some of us here prefer Sona to Providence, and you might find La Cienega (above Beverly) a fraction closer than Melrose and (essentially) N Cahuenga.