Osteria Mozza - Review (long): Best Restaurant in LA

[Tom P]

While I’ve been to Pizzaria Mozza numerous times and love it, I’d only been to the Osteria once, for the pasta tasting menu, soon after it opened. It was a wonderful meal but for some reason, I never made it back. Finally last Wednesday, two friends and I went for ready to eat in order to celebrate one of their birthdays. It was the best meal I’ve had in a long, long time. We ordered an enormous amount of food, so we were able to try a lot of things on the menu. After this meal it is my belief this is currently the best restaurant in the city.

We started with drinks at the bar where they do not have the traditional choices in liquor. While it throws some people, I like it because it causes you to try something new. I ended up having two martinis because I had never tried any of their gins and, well, it was a good excuse… so I tried two new gins. Great drinks, nice bartender.

I also think the restaurant is beautiful, particularly as it gets dark outside. It was packed with a crowd that clearly was happy to be there, which certainly added to the atmosphere. I’ll also say that the private dining room in the back, which apparently is often closed off, is an absolutely gorgeous room and is worth asking for if it is not being used for a party. Unless, of course, you simply want to be in the main room which as mentioned was humming.

Our waitress, Lindsay, was wonderful. She was friendly, knowledgeable and professional, took extremely good care of us, and made great choices for us with carafes of wine to split as the meal went on. All the staff we encountered, quite a few, were helpful, polite, savvy and genuine.

We are sharers and so ordered a lot, 3 courses. For the first course, I ordered a pasta, my two friends the bowl of Mussels as well as Prawns. Lindsay had the kitchen divide the pasta, which worked great and we were then able to use the plates for the other dishes. This first pasta was the Orchiette with Sausage and Broccolli Rabe. I had this the first time I was there and it remains a perfect dish of pasta. The Prawns were incredible, juicy and very sweet and the presentation was beautiful. They were served over a wonderful radish salad (also beautiful) with herbs draped over the entire mound. The dish was gorgeous and tasted even better. The mussels… wow. We all three love mussels and have mourned the closing of Vert, which had the best bowl of mussels in town. This one, though… sublime. It had a tomato base, which I have never had with this type of dish. So good! The mussels themselves were excellent, moist and flavorful but the broth for me is always what sells this particular dish. I’d crawl through glass for a bowl of this broth. It would be difficult not to order the mussels any time I go back to the restaurant.

For the second course we each ordered a pasta. I had the carbonara, which for me was the one average dish of the evening. It was good, just not the amazing decadent dish a Carbonara sometimes can be. One friend ordered the giant ravioli with the egg inside. This is justifiably famous and also impossible for me not to order. It is a must if you go. Perhaps the best, though, was the butternut squash ravioli. Sweet, yes, but not like a dessert. The sauce was somehow rich and light at the same time and the sage (I believe it was) that accompanied the dish made it perfect.

For the third course, I ordered yet another pasta. I figured, what the hell, I wanted to try a lot of them So I ordered the Amatraciana. Batali’s LUPA in NYC has the best Amatraciana I have ever had and while this is not quite as good, it was still terrific. My two friends had glorious meat dishes. One, a braised beef over polenta that was everything a slow cooked meat dish should be. And my favorite dish of the evening was a Beef Tagliata , which was a grilled hanger steak cooked with balsamic and covered with an arugula salad with shaved parmesean. The meat was cooked as we asked, it had a terrific a great char and a ton of flavor (the balsamic reduction was tart but not overbearing) and the meat meshed beautifully with the arugula salad which was dressed perfectly.

We of course had to try two sides, Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary and Cippolini Onions with Thyme and Sherry Vinegar. Again, two winners. I highly recommend both.

It could not have been a better evening. Food, atmosphere and service all combined to make it the best meal I’ve had in a long time.

[carter]

The long one block west to Hatfield's might cause a reassessment of your headline!

[Tom P]

Carter, I will go! I enjoyed Hatfield's very much at the old space, though not as much as the above. Happy for an excuse to try the new space.

There are a lot of restaurants I love in LA, some, such as Canele' and Taylor's, I will return to more often than Osteria Mozza. But it has been a while where every element in the restaurant, from Valet and host stand, to staff to food, has come together so beautifully without a hitch.