The Knife

Mozza's rosemary pine nut cookie recipe, as The Knife is but your humble servant

Lots of feedback on the butterscotch budino recipe, with requests that I be a completist: What about that rosemary-pine nut cookie that goes with it, huh? Lest I be branded a tease, you can find the cookie recipe here, in the LA Times' food section archives. (I've also cut and pasted it after the jump, since the LAT has a bad habit of moving their online content around, leading to those annoying "Sorry!" notices. Not that Variety.com would know anything about such bad habits. Ahem.)

It should also be noted, as a commenter pointed out, that Mozza's pastry chef is Dahlia Narvaez; not giving her credit is my error. However, referring to Ms. Narvaez as "Pasty Chef" is the Mozza webmaster's error.

The one where The Knife gives in to do-it-yourself budino

The Knife doesn't (and won't) usually publish recipes, but this is an exception as it's the best butterscotch pudding the world has ever known and, as such, is probably my favorite dessert. As far as I'm concerned, you can double the recipe, pop in a few candles and sing happy birthday. It is, of course, the butterscotch budino from Nancy Silverton and Pizzeria Mozza.

It's part of "Great Gatherings: Star Chefs Entertain at Home Cookbook" and something called the Macy's Culinary Council is responsible. This pudding is so good I'd consider paying the $20 to Amazon.com for that recipe alone, but that will no longer be necessary as I found it here. Ah, internet.

Recipe after the jump. It's long, a little complicated and worth it.

Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton, prepare to throw down: American Flatbread pizza

Nothing but love for Pizzeria Mozza, but things might be different if American Flatbread had Los Angeles locations beyond the Whole Foods freezer section.

Clarity: American Flatbread sells its frozen pizzas at gourmet-ish groceries across the country. I've never bought them. However, I have been to American Flatbread in Los Alamos (great wine list, too) and eaten pizza baked in its portable wood-fired oven (see above). It made an appearance at the Malibu Wine Festival earlier this year and may have a space at the American Food and Wine Festival Sept. 29.

These photos were taken in Paso Robles at Windrose Farm, which hosted a Tomato Tasting festival Sunday. Flatbread owner Clark Staub brought nothing but his dough (a 36-hour rise, just like Mozza) and buffalo mozzarella; everything else came from the farm. (Click through for larger images.)

In Los Alamos, Flatbread makes do with a one-acre garden plot behind the restaurant. This begs the question of coping in Los Angeles (rooftop garden? solved!); Staub says they've looked at spaces and continue to consider their options.

In the meantime: Wine tasting in Paso Robles? Go to American Flatbread in Los Alamos on the way home. In Solvang? Head 17 miles NW. Need a road trip? There are worse ways to spend 2 1/2 hours on the 101.

One thing: Flatbread's hours suck. It's 5-10pm, Friday and Saturday.

American Flatbread, 225 Bell St., Los Alamos, CA 93440. (805) 344-4400

Noisy Restaurant Report: Pizzeria Mozza is a factory

Life on Pizzeria Mozza's pizza assembly line.

That's not me passing judgment. That's according to the chart provided by Paul Tipler's Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Third Ed.).

My sound level meter measured the decibels surrounding lunch at Pizzeria Mozza this afternoon, from about 12:15 pm to a little after 1 pm. When I sat down at the bar (no reservation), the restaurant was half-full; when I left, there wasn't an empty seat and people were loitering in the foyer. During that period, sound levels ranged between 78 dB-84 dB, and hovered around 80 dB-81 dB -- the same level as an average factory. (Or, as another chart put it, a garbage disposal from three feet away.)

As comparison, the Variety newsroom runs about 50 dB. Facing Highland Avenue, by Mozza's valet stand: 68 dB-70 dB.

Mozza gets giddy

Mozza works. (Except for a few cranks on Chowhound.) Nancy Silverton is stationed at the oven; Mario Batali is still AWOL. (Perhaps Eater LA should take over BataliWatch.) Those who complain it's not the kind of place where you order a large pie to go are absolutely right, but La Buca is down the street.

For everybody else: Clam pizza is excellent. So is the homemade fennel sausage. I liked the pizza topped with rosemary and lardo (aka cured pork fat - translucent slices of proscuitto-flavored goodness), but that one's closer to focaccia. Also noteworthy: chicken liver crostini (so much better than anything else I've had with the words "chicken liver" in its name) and deep-fried ricotta-stuffed squash blossoms.

However, none of this acknowledges Mozza's true bid for greatness, which is the highest server-to-customer ratio you'll ever see in a pizza parlor.

Pizzeria Mozza: Hottie in Arabic

Generally speaking, The Knife will leave restaurant birth announcements to Daily Candy. Preview parties are swell, but they've got nothing to do with a place once it's twirled a valet sign out the front door and declared itself open to paying customers.

And the fact is, for a town that huffs buzz, hype and all the other PR drugs, Los Angeles doesn't get all that excited about new restaurants. An opening night party may bring out the fire marshal, but that's free food (the true lifeblood of L.A.). Bone-deep anticipation is rare. Maybe it's because no one knows the scene it will create, or because we've seen so many crap restaurants come and go, or the sprawl problem means it's easier to post on Chowhound. In any case, people often seem to have more enthusiasm for, say, Target opening a Paul & Joe pop-up store. 

And then there's Pizzeria Mozza, which opens today at noon.

"Hotly anticipated eatery" is usually a restaurant publicist's keyboard shortcut, but in this case it's fact. (It bears noting that neither Nancy Silverton nor Mario Batali employ a publicist.) Of course, at this point Pizzeria Mozza is as famous for blowing its opening dates as it is for teaming celeb chefs Silverton (former Campanile, La Brea Bakery) and the multi-tasking Batali (ubiquitous orange clogs). 

Preview-party reports say it's great pizza, something this city has in short supply; I'll reserve my judgment until next week. (Full disclosure: I did snag a slice at Phil Rosenthal's book party, which Mozza hosted last month. It was pretty good, but I suspect it will be that much better when I don't have to worry about elbowing someone.)

In the meantime, here's what we know: