Pizzeria Mozza (Los Angeles)

641 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 297-0101
http://www.mozza-la.com/

Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali, and Joseph Bastianich have combined their talents in Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza, which are located adjacent to each other on the corner of Highland and Melrose. At Pizzeria Mozza, the crowd is bustling and loud, but happily eating, talking, and drinking. The wait is pretty long so be sure to make reservations to guarantee a table. We were walk-ins on a Wednesday evening and had to wait 30 minutes for just the bar seating.

Nancy's chopped salad ($15) - Shredded lettuce and red cabbage, cherry tomatoes, aged provolone cheese, finocchio salami and radicchio in an oregano vinaigrette dressing. All the different flavors and textures melded very nicely here.
Margherita with mozzarella, tomato & basil ($13) - Simple yet tasty. I love the crispy thin pizza with the light and airy crust. I usually don't like eat pizza crusts because they're usually too doughy, but here, it was just the right crispness and I ate every single crumb. I wish they laid out more basil leaves though.
Tomato, mozzarella, sausage, salami, bacon & guanciale ($18) - Very flavorful and again, the crust was so light and crispy.

For dessert, we tried a warm apple fritter with powdered sugar. It had a nice crisp on the outside and soft and warm in the inside.

We also also had the Butterscotch Budino. It's a salted butterscotch pudding with a side of rosemary pinenut shortbread. This dessert tastes really good if you eat the pudding and the shortbread in one bite...mmmmmmm!

If you are visiting Pizzeria Mozza for the first time, try the fried squash blossoms with ricotta which are also very popular.