Los Angeles: Pizzeria Mozza

According to some, Pizzeria Mozza has the best slice in LA. I didn't eat pizza anywhere else in Lalaland, so I don't have an opinion on this. I can only compare to pizza I've eaten elsewhere (Australia, San Francisco, Rome etc).

I'll be honest, when we hit up Mozza I wasn't too educated on things Mario Batali, Nancy Silverton or Joseph Bastianich, but they seemed to have a great reputation, especially if the line up to snag a seat in this place was anything to go by. I was prepared, our stopover in LA was only two nights so I wasn't going to risk it, I made a reservation ahead of time.

The pizza wasn't bad, just overcooked in my opinion and perhaps not the best combination of ingredients (they were competing for taste on this particular slice). What stood out for me were:

• the appetizers
• the dessert
• what seemed to be (and I'm probably wrong because I'm only assuming) a local West Hollywood crowd
• the ambience (its noisy so if you like a vibrant vibe, you'll dig it); and
• the Italian wine list.

And I mean it about the appetizers (especially the bone marrow) and dessert, they were hands down delectable, finger licking good. The two lovely elderly ladies sitting at the table next to us got more than they bargained for that night - they delighted in my constant groaning sounds and exclamations of "yum!" and "that tastes sooooo good!".

Bone marrow al forno - $12

 

Rub that delicious pickled garlic on the bread, then spread the marrow on. Yum!

Insalata mista - $8

Burrata crostone with Swiss chard,spring onion & Balsamico - $9

Finnochiona salame, mozzarella, tomato & Fresno chiles - $17

Banana gelato pie with hot fudge & candied hazelnuts - $12

As our trip through the states progressed, I came to realise how popular and how much influence Mario Batali has in the culinary sphere. I'm still not quite sure what it is about him? Is it his business mogulness - the fact he has opened numerous (successful?) restaurants throughout the states and abroad; the recent controversy surrounding his businesses; his influences on cuisine (whatever they are); his expertness on regional Italian cuisine; being an author and television personality; or the mere fact that he just manages to make so many people happy with his food? I think it's a combination of all these factors, and the fact that he is not a skinny man.

Never trust a skinny chef, they have to be sporting a pot belly to be trustworthy and likeable, nay, to be passionate about and to produce delicious food. Mario's shape, his roundness, his pudgy pink rosy cheeks and neck rolls remind me of a happy free range piglet roaming through beautiful green countryside, fattening up for slaughter and my imminent delight and enjoyment. By no means do I intend to be disrespectful or condescending. It's this picture of him I see that makes me think "this man enjoys his food, I want to enjoy it too, I want to eat what he eats".

I know you want to eat it too. Next time you're in Los Angeles, make sure to hit up Pizzeria Mozza, or if you're after a slightly more upmarket non-pizza version, head to Osteria Mozza conveniently located next door.

Oh, and I still don't know who Nancy Silverton or Joseph Bastianich are...

San Francisco: Tony's Pizza Napoletana

I admit it, I judge a book by its cover, I actually enjoy doing it. Tony's Pizza Napoletana was one of these calm, cool and collected judgemental moments.

We were being tourists all day and hadn't had a decent lunch, so by this stage we were starving. We got off the bus at North Beach (Little Italy) and walked up the main strip past Washington Park. My stomach started churning and it wasn't from hunger. It was from sheer fear that we'd walk into a tourist palooza. I hadn't done my research, I wasn't familiar with this area at all, in fact I had completely overlooked it until Chris expressed that moment he really wanted good Italian (what, Incanto at $160 wasn't good enough for him?!). Thinking about it now, that stomach churning was actually pure, raw instinct. My golden rule of sticking OFF the main strip kicked in. I stopped dead in my tracks, turned around and walked down one of the side streets past Washington Park to the other side of it, pulling Chris in tow. In the far distance my eye had caught a colourful awning and some people sitting outside. The scene was set, I had to get to that corner. They seemed to be enjoying themselves (far away from the obvious prowl of tourists) and I wanted to enjoy myself along with them.

The restaurant had a 1.5hr wait. Boom, I knew we stumbled onto a gold mine. It was getting real foggy and cold by this stage around 5pm. They said they might have a table outside, the hostess stepped outside to check and came back with great news, one table left outside. Mama. Dedication to the meal ensued. We got seated and froze our asses off the whole meal. It was worth it. Fantastic pizza - make sure to get the thin base, which is true Napoletana style. Tasty food, super fresh ingredients.

We ordered the Americana pizza and a salad of burrata, tomato and greens with a thick aged balsamic vinegar. Dave that salad was for you - we know how much you enjoy your vinegars!

It was all ass numbingly, frozen fingery delicious and worth the pain of sitting in the freezing cold to eat it. Needless to say we skipped dessert and coffee (boo hoo).

The cab driver on the way back to the hotel asked us how we found out about Tony's. He said its quite new (maybe six months old or so) but fast becoming an institution and probably serves up the best pizza slice in San Fran. And rightfully so, Tony is an 11 time world pizza champion. That is one master and perfectionist at work.

We told him we stumbled across it. This was one of those instances where social wasn't needed to pick a winner.

San Francisco: Incanto

Bourdain ate here in his San Fran episode. I promised myself we'd do one "nice" aka over priced, stiff restaurant per city on our trip. So with being a Tony fan and loving all things Italian in mind, we dined at Incanto in the very suburban neighbourhood of Noe Valley.

I was excited about this place probably because I had booked it like 1 month in advance so the experience had been building up. The verdict post dinner? Don't believe all the hype and everything you see on TV.

I now realise that Tony tends to be polite to all his hosts and censors perhaps what he'd really like to say or what he really thinks. Ok admittedly his hosts must put on the spread of a lifetime too, so that would up the ante considerably compared to my measly every day dining experience at the same establishments. *fist shaking in air* David Chang better deliver the goods in Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York! That's all I have to say.

Back to Incanto. Definitely above average. Hilarious waiter that knew his stuff and looked after us superbly, he even shouted us dessert wine and made half the food choices for us (I fear what the experience would have been like if he hadn't recommended some of the signature dishes).

We both did the mystery wine flight (all Italian as that is the specialty of the wine bar) which was very reasonably priced at $15pp for 3x half glasses. They were all superb choices as they tasted great and accompanied the food really well, a fact (the food ordered) the sommelier takes into consideration.

We had the complimentary bread plate with olive tapenade, two appetisers, two mains, shared dessert plus coffee with complimentary biscotti. Apart from the mystery wine flight and glass of dessert wine, I also snuck in another glass of red. The experience cost us about $160USD.

The food ordered was:
- chicken liver pâté with tomatoes and mustard, house made thyme brioche lightly toasted (this dish was the highlight of the evening)
- blood sausage with egg sunny side up and clams (disappointing, but I have authentic Argentinian and Uruguayan blood sausage as my bench mark)
- spaghettini with shaved tuna heart and egg yolk (most anticipated yet most disappointing dish of the night)
- lamb neck with greens and creamy polenta (extra soft and succulent meat that fell off the bone)
- bittersweet chocolate tart with basil sorbetto (refreshing and delicious)

What I do like about this place, apart from the whole experience, superb service, delicious wines and select delectable dishes, is its concept. Incanto is a nose to tail dining experience, the whole idea of not wasting any bit of the animal, but instead utilising and eating every part of it. Also, they produce their own sparkling water in house and serve it in recyclable and reusable glass bottles. Gotta love an environmentally conscious bunch!

So all in all it wasn't bad, it was actually great apart from the two out of five dishes ordered, but when I look at it as percentages it works out to 60/40 good/bad which is borderline, so its the tree hugging, ambiance, service and fantastic all Italian wine list that make it really great for me.

San Francisco: Mozzeria

I love Urbanspoon. Especially on holidays when I don't tolerate much room for food/dining error. I didn't travel around to the other side of the world to eat shit. I can eat shit in Sydney if I wanted to thank you very much! So any spiel or rant I may have made in the past about technology or social media or digital this or that taking over our world and changing the way we communicate, evil, bad, blah blah. Park it. Social has totally changed they way we engage and it has become abundantly clear to me during this particular trip, where I have loaded up my social and online capability to the max between iPhone, iPad and iPod. I am fully connected and integrated. I have information at the touch of my fingertips 24/7 (and especially in a place like the USA where wifi is free and readily available).

Social has given me the ultimate power as a traveller. It has enabled me to act like, in fact to be, a local. And ironically enough, as a tourist, that's all I ever wanted to be. I troll through Urbanspoon, Yelp and OpenTable like a machine. I will find where people have been going for years, what the local hotspot is and where the food is good, where it's bad and what some random dude ate three hrs ago and whether he liked it or not. This concept, as I think about it more and more, seems surreal. Long gone are the days of wandering aimlessly and giving a diner a "try". I'm on a mission and I won't stop until I get to my chosen food destination.

So it seems only fitting that we hit up Mozzeria in the Mission. This place is run by (what is the politically correct term?) - deaf people. There is no speech by the staff at Mozzeria. Sign language as a skill and mode of communication is a plus...alternatively as are really fast typing skills on your smartphone.

If not having their hearing is a penalty, then taste surely makes up for it tenfold. Every fucking dish (and drink), and I have to be crude to get my point across, was fucking finger licking mouth watering delicious! My hat off to the chef and pizza maker. I wish I went back there again before we left...

We ordered:
- gnocchi with pork ragu
- Italian sausage, fennel and caramelised onion pizza
- peanut butter ice cream with chocolate chip cookie sandwich
- tap Californian beer (my bad for not writing the brand, but I was too busy eating!)
- Californian Pinot Noir

The decor was simple yet trendy consisting of my favourite colour combination of red, black, white and grey. Plus the bonus of an in house fire pizza oven. I gotta get me one of those.

The staff were super friendly and sweet and even wrote down a welcome note "hello my name is Justin and I'll be your waiter tonight". We pointed at our menu choices and off our taste buds went on their delicious journey.

I'm not isolating dishes - they were all simply melt in your mouth.

If you're ever in San Fran, you must go there.