MOZZA! Dinner Party at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood
Tuesday evening and time for another Dinner Party!
At one of the finest restaurants in Los Angeles, California, the USA and the World!
101 Freeway to Hollywood. Exit Highland and down to Melrose. Valet Parking $12…

Dinner Party at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood
Nancy Silverton is a co-owner, with partners Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich, of Osteria Mozza Italian restaurant and Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, San Diego and Singapore, as well as Mozza2Go and Chi Spacca in Los Angeles. She also founded the La Brea Bakery and the recently closed Campanile Restaurant before opening Pizzeria Mozza.

Osteria Mozza Co-Owner Nancy Silverton (CherryBombMag)
Early in her career, Nancy was named Food and Wine Magazine’s “Best New Chef”. She was also awarded “Pastry Chef of the Year”, “Who’s Who of Cooking” and “Outstanding Restaurant” for Campanile by the James Beard Foundation. Bon Appetit awarded Silverton Best of Food & Entertaining “Food Artisan”. She recently received the James Beard Foundation Award for “Outstanding Chef” and is listed as one of the Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink by Fortune and Food and Wine Magazine. She has authored eight cookbooks: Desserts (1986), Breads from the La Brea Bakery (1996), Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (2000), Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book (2005), Twist of the Wrist (2007) and the Mozza Cookbook (2011).

Dinner Party at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood
We’ve been to Osteria Mozza before and thoroughly enjoyed eating here previously, but we haven’t been back in a long time, and they have a new Executive Chef. The decision was made and once again we are happily just a passenger on a “foodie journey” to Hollywood.

Dinner Party at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood
We arrived early. The restaurant was pretty much empty, but they have a policy to not seat a table until the entire party arrives, so we waited at the bar and ordered cocktails. Our bartender was very friendly and very patient, and since we were the only customers she had time to explain the single malt scotch selection and suggest a tequila-rum punch drink with cucumber and jalapeño for the guest of honor. We declined a pre-dinner cocktail knowing that there would be a lot of great food and a little wine coming soon.

The Bar at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood
CLICK ON ANY SMALL PIC TO SEE A LARGER PIC AND VIEW THE GALLERY!
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The Bar at Osteria Mozza
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The Bar at Osteria Mozza
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The Bar at Osteria Mozza
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Testing the Wine at Mozza
The restaurant is a beautiful space. Osteria Mozza is next door to Pizzeria Mozza, and in addition to the alcohol bar, there is a mozzarella bar in the large front dining room. There is a smaller adjacent dining room and a larger dining room (often used for private events and parties) with a wine bar and many stored Italian wine bottles in the back.
At our request, the manager made an exception to the rules, and we were seated at a table in the “private” room before our remaining dinner guests arrived, and we were the only table seated in the back room for the entire length of our dinner! We didn’t have to wait very long before our party was complete and the food service began.

Mozzarella Bar & Front Dining Room at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood
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Dining Room at Osteria Mozza
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Dining Room at Osteria Mozza
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Dining Room at Osteria Mozza
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The Small Dining Room at Mozza
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The Backroom at Mozza
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The Menu at Osteria Mozza
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Fine Wine at Osteria Mozza
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Fine Wine at Osteria Mozza

The Wine Bar in the “Private” Back Dining Room at Osteria Mozza
The Menu:
They have a very fancy and creative menu! Start with a nice selection from the Mozzarella Bar, then have an appetizer, followed by a first course (pasta), and then a second course (meat or fish) and finally dessert with coffee drinks and/or aperitifs. We chose to have only the appetizer and not the first course, instead eating bread and mozzarella before enjoying our entree choice and saving some room for their wonderful dessert.

Wine, a Coke and the Menu at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood
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Mozzarella Bar
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Appetizers
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First Course
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Second Course
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Drinks
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Desserts
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Whiskey/Whisky
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More Drinks
NOTE: The menu changes daily depending on what fresh ingredients are available!
The Meal (Wednesday May 17, 2016):

Mozzarella Tasting (3 Kinds), Burrata & Grilled Asparagus with Garlic Bread
On The Menu: Mozzarella tasting (3 kinds: bufala, smoked and burricotta) with salted garlic bread, Burrata and grilled asparagus in melted butter with toasted almonds and bread crumbs, Mozzarella with stewed zucchini sampler, Grilled Octopus appetizer, Porcini-rubbed Rib Eye Bistecca (charred & medium rare), Fried Potatoes with rosemary, Snap Peas & Romano Beans, bread & butter, a coke, Aetneus Etna Rosso 2008 red wine, espresso and Cannoli di Gelati (pistachio, caramel & espresso) for dessert. Yeah baby!

Porcini-rubbed Rib Eye Steak, Fried Potatoes, Snap Peas & Romano Beans
Other members of our party ordered tequila-rum punch, single malt scotch, the rabbit con salsiccia, grilled yellowtail, roasted beets, squid ink pasta, another pasta, the grilled whole orata fish, cappuccino, coffee, chocolate cake and the sautéed strawberries.
CLICK ON ANY SMALL PIC TO SEE A LARGER PIC AND VIEW THE GALLERY!
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Osteria Mozza Menu
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Wine, Bread & Butter
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Mozzarella Course
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3 Kinds of Mozzarella
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Burrata w/Grilled Asparagus
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Pour the Red Wine! Aetneus Rosso 2008
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Aetneus Etna Rosso 2008 Red Wine
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Mozzarella on toast w/stewed zucchini
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Grilled Octopus
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Squid Ink Pasta
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Porcini-Rubbed Ribeye
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Snap Peas, Romano Beans, Fried Potatoes w/rosemary
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Rabbit con Salsiccia (garlic, lemon & rosemary)
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Cappuccino
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Cannoli di Gelati
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Brooks Cherries al Forno
NOTE: As usual, we try to take quality pictures of our food quickly and without interfering with the service or disturbing other diners. We managed to get a lot of good pics without being annoying, but didn’t get pics of all the dishes due to the size of the table.
We also ordered a fine bottle of wine, an Aetneus Etna Rosso 2008 red that was recommended by the sommelier. She “primed” our wine glasses by lightly washing the inside with a small splash of the wine before bringing them to our table. It was “fruity”, “mellow” and complemented both the grilled octopus and steak very well.

Pour the Wine! Aetneus Etna Rosso 2008
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS DINNER!
EXCELLENT FOOD! TASTY WINE! SWEET DESSERT! GREAT SERVICE!
We really enjoyed the dining experience at Osteria Mozza. The only complaint we had about the food was that the octopus was a tad overcooked and a little too chewy (and it could have used more lemon). It was still good, but just a touch overdone. We shared the “market price” rib eye steak ($105.00) which was really delicious and cooked perfectly to order, but it’s also a lot of money for a plate of grilled meat for two. We realize how lucky we are and we are truly thankful for the privilege to enjoy such fine and expensive food!

Dinner Party at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood
BIG THANKS!!! Thank you to the Staff, Kitchen Crew, Managers, Hosts, Servers and Bussers who made this meal and party possible. Special thanks to our server Kelly, who did an excellent job and was extremely friendly and personable.

Osteria Mozza Executive Chef Elizabeth Hong (Brian van der Brug/LA Times)
Elizabeth Hong’s family settled in Los Angeles and opened Park’s BBQ, a Korean barbecue restaurant in Koreatown in 2003. Hong enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena and completed her cooking courses. Needing an externship to graduate, she applied to Osteria Mozza. Now Hong is 31 and has been at Mozza for as long as she has been cooking professionally: she first worked at the mozzarella bar, then moved to Pizzeria Mozza, where she became sous chef and then chef de cuisine. When longtime chef de cuisine Matt Molina left Osteria Mozza last year, Hong took over and she is now the Executive Chef.
From the Osteria Mozza website:
Hong’s first (paying) kitchen gig was alongside Nancy Silverton behind Osteria Mozza’s mozzarella bar. By quickly mastering each station in the kitchen, Hong worked her way to Chef de Cuisine at neighboring Pizzeria Mozza. As Executive Chef of the renowned and beloved Osteria Mozza, Chef Hong carefully adheres to Nancy’s words of wisdom: “Make it nice or make it twice.”

Executive Pastry Chef Dahlia Narvaez (Mozza website)
NOTE: Big Congratulations to Executive Pastry Chef Dahlia Narvaez for recently winning a James Beard Award. The desserts were excellent! She has been thrice-nominated for the James Beard Foundation’s “Outstanding Pastry Chef” Award. Her work has been celebrated in the LA Times, LA Weekly, New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, GQ and Metropolitan Home.

Brooks Cherries al Forno, Perugian Tart, Yogurt Gelato & Dried Cherry Brittle

Cannoli di Gelati: Pistachio w/cherries, Caramel w/marshmallow & Espresso w/chocolate
NOTE: Seriously, save some room for dessert!
After dinner we picked up our leftovers at the host desk and made it to the valet just in time! Three large parties exited just after we did and there was a sudden rush on the valet stand after we got there. Also, $12 is pretty steep for valet parking at a restaurant even in Los Angeles! There is street parking nearby, but it’s difficult to find a space and there have been some unpleasant “incidents” in the immediate neighborhood after dark, so we recommend valet or street parking on Highland or Melrose.
Osteria Mozza – 6602 Melrose Ave (at Highland) Hollywood, California
323-997-0100 http://www.osteriamozza.com
Open Mon-Fri 5:30-11pm and Sat & Sun 5-11pm
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The Osteria Mozza Menu! Click on Pic to Open a Larger Pic!
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Pizzeria Mozza Menu! Click on Pic to Open a Larger Pic!
We took a couple pics of the interior of Pizzeria Mozza through the window while we were waiting at the valet.
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Pizzeria Mozza
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Pizzeria Mozza
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