Don't you hate it when you're at a restaurant and people keep on staring at you and snapping pictures cause you're so damn Hollywood? You even have paparazzi waiting outside!
Honest to god, I was just trying to take a picture of the fennel sausage pizza covered with panna and sweet red onion, but well my camera slipped and whaddyaknow, two actors landed in the frame.
But really, the pizza at Mozza was so good it distracted me from stargazing for at least 5 minutes. Never mind the place gets so packed that it took a month to get an 8:30 pm reservation. Never mind, it took them a good 20 minutes to finally seat us. Wish I were almost as famous as the people around us. But no matter. Like the wedding crashers we are, we headed straight for the bar. I had a Sangiovese ($14). I was so hungry that one drop set me into happy delirium for the rest of the night.
Once we got to the table we looked around to see what everyone else was ordering. Antipasti dishes seemed popular but we decided to go with Nancy Silverton's trademark chopped salad. The vinegar came on strong at first but once your palate adjusts you really begin to taste all the ingredients that makes this salad special: sweet cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans, pepper jack cheese, salami, and dozen other tidbits.
Then came the pizzas, one being the fennel sausage and the other ...
...being a Proscuitto di Parma with arugula, tomato and mozzarella. Basically, it was the same pizza as what we ordered at Il Chianti, but this being the real deal. Low moisture is key for good-tasting proscuitto. It just feels right as your teeth tear at it bit by bit. Each pizza crust was excellent too -- fresh and crispy. Anyone outside the U.S. would take those two qualities for granted. Not me. You gotta enjoy it while it's in front of you.
Aside from the yummy Owen Wilson, my favorite dish of the night was probably the fennel sausage pizza. At first, I didn't know what panna was. All I knew was that there was something so delectably sweet and creamy coating the crust. Well, apparently panna is the fatty, creamy substance that rises to the surface of milk. ...No wonder.We ended the evening at Al Gelato, one of few dessert shops open til 11:30 pm. I popped my lactaid and ordered the mint chip. I never usually bother with the ice cream but I designated tonight as my special day to splurge on dairy, cause in the next few days I'll be going cold turkey. No milk, ice cream nor cheese for a month. 38 days to be exact. I'll explain more later...
Pizzeria Mozza641 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
