Webisode #2: Intro to Pizzeria Mozza

When we launched our first official pizza quest in the summer of 2009, we began in Los Angeles at one of my absolute favorite restaurants, Pizzeria Mozza. It is the creation of Nancy Silverton (many time James Beard Award winner) and superstar chef Mario Batali, probably the most influential Italian chef in America today. Mario, who rarely allows filming in his restaurants, was kind enough to give us his okay to bring in our crew.  And Nancy, who oversees the growing Mozza universe — there is both Osteria Mozza (a restaurant/mozzarella bar), and Pizzeria Mozza in adjacent locations, was a most gracious host.

In this short intro video, you’ll see Nancy, along with Los Angeles Times Food Page Editor Russ Parsons–who expands upon last week’s homage to the obsessiveness of pizza makers–and Kristine Kidd, of Bon Appetite magazine, as we sit around one of the Mozza tables surrounded by some of the most beautiful and delicious pizzas imaginable.

This is a short episode, an intro really, to the upcoming episodes that we’ll post in the coming weeks that will take us into the LaBrea Bakery where the Mozza dough is made (for those who don’t know, Nancy Silverton was the founder of LaBrea Bakery), and then back to Pizzeria Mozza where head pizzaiolo and executive chef Matt Molina will show us how he turns the dough balls into the distinctive pizzas that have established Pizzeria Mozza as one of the greatest pizzerias in the world. We’ll then return to Nancy and the gang for more table talk as we devour those incredible pies! So, lots more still to come. Till then, enjoy this first, up close taste of Pizzeria Mozza, and know that there’s more to come….