During my last trip to New York, I had pizza from 4 different places, fully satisfying my desire for “true” New York style pizza. All respect given to Chicago and their carbtastic, deep-dish pizzas, New York has the best pizza there is in our great country. Why is that? Well, I just saw an episode of Food Detectives on the Food Network that attributes it to the municipal tap water. According to their findings, NY makes the best pizza because the most important ingredient, water, is head and shoulders above what LA and Chicago have running through their underground pipes. The panel of judges in the show were able to unanimously pick the correct pizza in a taste test that was created with Manhattan H2O instead of samples from the other two cities.
This makes sense to me, really, because water is a key ingredient for the crust, which is what usually defines the best pizzas. Face it, there’s really not a whole lot you can do to make your toppings taste better. You pull your pepperoni/mushroom/bell peppers out of a reach-in, slice it up, and top off your pie. Where along that process do you improve on taste? The pizza sauce and crust are the two parts where the ingredients and how you make it shine out the most.
If what the show found was true, then Chef Mario Batali has found some way to either import better water or outperform the limitations of Los Angeles’ finest. The crust on each pizza I’ve ever had here (and I’ve tried over half a dozen different kinds) have all been amazing. The texture, the fantastic crunch, the fresh from the oven taste… it’s a perfect symphony of yeast and H2O. So good that it almost doesn’t matter what you top it off with. Hell, it’s so good, I would even get a pizza without meat for that matter. Fill it up with Brussels sprouts, fermented soy beans, and crickets, and I’ll gladly eat it. It’s just so good.
Before the pizzas get to our table, we gotta get our appetizers. For me and my friends, the two must-haves are always the Mozza Caprese (pictured above) and the fried squash blossoms. The Mozza Caprese is the best I have had anywhere yet. The mozzarella is deliciously fluffy and fresh, and the presentation is as impressive as the taste. The squash blossoms are lightly fried to a crisp but with no greasy taste, and they’re also stuffed with a little ricotta.
So many pizzas, it’s hard to remember which one my favorite’s been. Oh, they’re all good. Like I said, it really doesn’t matter what your toppings are in this restaurant (prosciutto and rucola pictured). Each pie comes with six slices, perfect for a group of six. Don’t come here with seven, as one poor shmuck will be left out. If you come here with five, there will be fights for the last slice.
The butterscotch budino is the recommended way to finish off your meal at Pizzeria Mozza. I’m not much of a dessert guy, and each time I only get a spoonful and I’m good, so I can’t comment too much about the taste. If you like desserts and creamy butterscotch is your thing, get this. Our group also had gelato and caramel copetta, which were just as pleasing. I had a glass of the muscato, which was a refreshingly sweet ending to my lunch.
The waits for reservations can be a bit long at times, but I recommend coming here for lunch. Parking on the streets is free and will be easier, as well as landing that reservation time. The prices are very reasonable for a group lunch that’s a notch or two fancier than you’re probably used to. If you’d rather not wait for a table and just take it to go, there now is Mozza 2 Go as an option for take-out.
If the pizza crusts are this good here, it only makes me wonder what they would be like if they were made with the ‘superior’ New York water instead. No, that city already has enough good pizza, Los Angeles deserves a magnificent pizza such as this.
Pizzeria Mozza
641 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
that looks like a tasty crust indeed!
so you’re telling me it’s better than cpk?! kidding…fat men usually know how to cook well
if I gain 20 lbs will I be a better cook?
no, you’ll just be fat.