a meal at a mozza ... finally!

A few weeks ago my friend Katharine invited me out for a belated Birthday dinner and suggested we go somewhere on my list. I said I'd love to go to one of "The Mozzas" but really didn't feel like having a birthday dinner at 9:45pm on a Wednesday, since that appeared to be the only time you can ever get a reservation at either of the trendy establishments on the corner of Highland and Melrose. 

But lucky for me, I have really smart friends! Katharine emailed a week later saying she'd figured out the secret to getting a reservation on a weekend at a normal dinner hour. (I'd tell you what it is, but then it wouldn't be a secret anymore, now would it? Sorry. Yes, I know. I suck.)

Soon it was Saturday night at 7:45pm and we were being seated at Pizzeria Mozza, home of gourmet pizzas, delish sharable appetizers and a dessert menu to die for! But before the food, just a few notes... 

-- You can't slam these people for not having reservations. They have packed as many tables and chairs into their space as the fire marshall will allow. They literally had to pull the table back to let me slide into the booth side of our spot against the wall. So be prepared to get a good look at what your neighboring tables are eating (which is helpful if you can't decide what you want) and also for a pretty good noise level (although nowhere near as loud as say, the cavernous yet awesome Bottega Louie downtown).

-- Also, while waiting to be seated, we accidentally backed into the restauarant's private dining room. If you have a big group, this is the way to go. Although you won't get to see what neighboring tables order... or overhear their conversations (if you're nosey like that :)




And now, the food!

Course 1 - Antipasti

Everything looked delicious, but since we were having pizza, we decided to have healthy (okay, not fried) appetizers. First was this "Asparagus al forno with speck." Asparagus, proscuitto and cheese -- three of my favorite things --all baked together. Yum!

We also got an order of the "Olives al forno," which means baked olives for you non-Italian speakers. I've never had hot (as in temperature, not spiciness) olives. These came in oil with baked garlic too. After recovering from the burned tongue I got during my first bite (I wasn't thinking about the "al forno" part), these were great, especially with my Italian red wine.

Course 2 - Pizza, Pizza

I was craving protein, so I went all out and ordered the "Bacon, salami, fennel sausage, guanciale, tomato and mozzarella" pizza. Loved the crust, which was crispy yet chewy. And especially loved the sausage .... very flavorful.

Katharine went with something good she'd tried before, the "Squash blossoms, tomato and burrata" pizza.

Course 3 - Dolci 

We each decided to take home a slice or two of pizza in order to indulge in the dessert menu. Because, while the pizza is great, OMG, the dessert menu is amazeballs! Choosing what to get was a very difficult choice. We stared at other tables, used process of elimination and asked the waiter for his fave amongst two or three things, We finally decided on the little piece of salty/sweet heaven known as the "Bittersweet chocolate tartufo with olive oil gelato and sea salt." SO GOOD! And just what was needed to send me over the edge into food coma-ville. Can't wait to go back and try everything I didn't order!