#9 - Pizza from Pizzeria Mozza

“What’s a blog???” said my Dad on the way to our first meal during a recent weeklong stay for the Hundgen clan. Well, this should be interesting…

You may already know Karen, Stephen and Kim from their last appearance on the blog for our Thanksgiving extravanganza. Or you may know them because you’ve met them in real life…and for that, I express my deepest condolences.

All (half)-joking aside, my parents brought nothing but laughter and tears of joy to my friends throughout their weeklong trip…and brought nothing but deep embarrassment to me through countless stories of “Mike - everyone’s favorite chubby teenager”. (Seriously Mom, how many times must we remind people I struck out…at T-Ball).

If Karen, Stephen and Kim were to be cast on a television show or, who am I kidding - Karen wouldn’t settle for less than a major motion picture, the breakdown would look something like this:

Kim Hundgen – Sometimes moody, always ‘sporty’, this character has a knack for losing cell phones (10 in two years) and breakd cameras (“It fell in the ocean” was the latest gem). Also, Meryl Streep may issue a restraining order if Kim’s doesn’t seek professional help to overcome her obsession with this woman.

Stephen Hundgen – features that resemble a cross between Brian Dennehy and the Dad from “Boy Meets World”. Stephen’s Facebook page includes “likes” for Jack Nicholson, Robert Dinero, Al Pacino, “Boardwalk Empire” and the “Sopranos”…does this guy love romantic comedies or what?

Karen Hundgen – Take a dash of Suze Orman’s style combined with the lipstick from Leslie Stahl and then load it up with Joy Behar’s ‘New Yawk’ attitude (beau font hair included) and you have Karen in a nutshell. Best described as “An Event”, Karen leaves her mark wherever she goes. Wallflowers and introverts beware, Karen will get your “story” whether you like it or not.

Since the family is only in town together once every year or so, I wanted to include them on a pLAte that I knew would be a surefire hit. Let’s be honest, there was no way in hell I’d be able to get Karen to someplace like Alhambra or Altadena and I don’t think Stephen would be into trying the fish kidneys from Jitlada. So for our “Meet the Parents” edition of 99 pLAtes we visited (along with Jessie and John) Pizzeria Mozza, best known for its mouth-wateringly-good pizza pies.

Mom – “So what’s the pLAte, what do we have to order”.

Me – “I don’t know…it just says pizza. Usually the author is very specific on what to get. I don’t know what to do…I mean I could investigate further.”

Mom – “Michael relax…who cares, so what…we’ll order a bunch of pizzas and talk about all of em.”

And that is exactly what we did. We ordered 5 Pizzas total plus a Chop Salad, Fried Squash Blossoms with Ricotta, White Beans ala Toscana and of course the famous Meatballs. Quite the meal for a light lunch…thank god for that Amex (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)…right Dad???

With our orders in (apologies to the waiter that Mom has already started sizing up for a proper Q and A session) the discussion turned to technology. Dad was raving about his newest toy the iPad…

Dad - “I mean I’ve got the g3’s now…it works anywhere!”.

Me – “Dad, it’s 3G.”

Dad- “That’s what I said, g3!”

Me - <sigh>

Meanwhile, Mom was amazed by the new fangled Dyson Hand Air Dryer in the bathrooms.

Mom – “We don’t have these in North Carolina, they are really hip out here in California. I wanted to stick my head in that thing, I bet it would be a good hair dryer.”

Dad - <sigh>

The appetizers arrived not a moment too soon. As the plates were passed around and forks divied up the squash blossoms, salad and meatballs everyone appeared to be on taste sensory overload. Karen exclaimed, “Oh my GAWD. These are the way meatballs should taste.” (which may or may not have been a subtle dig at her mother-in-laws meatballs).

It goes without saying that the food at Mozza is delicious. Everyone who’s lived in or visited LA in the past five years knows this place delivers time after time. It’s one thing to be great on your first visit, but the consistency is what continues to impress me when eating at Mozza. If they could just build a better waiting area…I’d be a pig in truffle butter.

Our pizzas came out next. “You know he has really nice eyes, they are so green. I bet he is an actor,” Karen claimed. This poor waiter…

The Lineup

Egg Guanccle Escarole

Tasted like a bacon, egg and cheese

Radisccio Bogna Cuda

Mozza’s version of a Pizza Hut Meatlovers Pie

Fennel Sausage, Red Onions, Scallions

My standby, I order it every time

Coach Farm Goat Cheese

With so many other creative toppings, this one was a bit too boring

Leeks, Scallions Garlic Bacon

Where do leeks come from and why do they taste so good?

After several more “OMG’s” around the table mostly about the food (Kim’s OMG was for seeing a character from “The Hills” saddled up at the bar), everyone agreed that Mozza was a winning pLAte. Nearly five years in LA and I still haven’t found a better slice of pizza.

With the dishes cleared and the check paid –phew, thanks Dad- Mom still had a mission to fulfill.

Mom – “Well, I think we should tell him about the blog”

Me – “Mom, we aren’t telling the waiter about my little food blog.”

Mom – “Why not, I bet he’ll read it…I mean he has such nice eyes.”

Me – “Mom! No, no, no! I don’t want to get into a fight about this.”

Care to guess who won that argument?

Pizzeria Mozza

641 N Highland Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90036

CREATE-A-PLATE – Pappardelle with Scallops

It's funny how you fall into routines with new roommates. For us at La Jolla, Mondays has become karaoke night (Jordan led us in an amazing rendition of “We Are the World” last week). Wednesday night is trivia - GUT FEELING rules! By Thursday we are in full on weekend mode, so that leaves Tuesday as La Jolla Cooking night.

Previously on CREATE-A-PLATE…I tackled Lynn Rosetto Kasper’s American Apple pie, and by tackle I mean the recipe blitzed and sacked me. In Round 2, I’ll take on the grandmommy of all the splendors of slaving over the stove – Martha Stewart.

Martha and I have become BFF's every since I added her Everyday Food App to my iPhone. At around 12:40pm (right around the time when my stomach is like “WTF is for lunch?”) I get a push notification of Martha’s Dinner Tonight Recipe Suggestion.

Pappardelle with Scallops….20 minutes prep and serve. “Done and Done” I said to myself as I cruised on down to Ralphs after work to pick up the ingredients. Check out the full recipe and glamour shots of Big Momma Martha here at her website:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pappardelle-with-scallops

Ten minutes passed and I was in-and-out of Ralphs (where I heard not one, but two middle-aged adults singing along with Whitney to “I’m Every Woman”….okay fine, make it three – I was humming along too) and on my way home to get cooking.

 

 With some Christmas music to set the mood (I can see you rolling your eyes…it’s not my fault, you can blame Time Warner’s ‘Sounds of the Season’ channel) I got to work on getting dinner on the stove. In between burning the first batch of bread crumbs…

…and correctly browning the second batch, Jessie arrived home and John followed a few minutes later – each with their own bottle of white. A steadfast rule of cooking at La Jolla is that the proportion of wine bottles must be exactly equal to the number of people eating dinner…if the food sucks, at least we’ll be toasted.

While I got busy searing scallops, boiling pasta, reducing a butter/thyme/lemon sauce and sautéing spinach (my own little addition to the recipe)….

John and Jessie were busy…eating hors devours. Don’t break a sweat you two.

Twenty minutes after beginning we were about halfway through the water boiling for the pasta…thirty minutes in and the scallops were browned…at forty minutes in (and one bottle of wine down) dinner was served. 

 

Thumbs up from around the table. The breadcrumbs gave the pasta a nice crunch, while the scallops didn’t overpower with a fishy taste.

I imagine it's just the same way Martha intended us to to enjoy it....surrounded by friends, sipping our second (or was it third?) bottle of wine and listening to Mariah Carey belt "All I Want for Christmas is You".


It is, indeed, a Good Thing.


http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pappardelle-with-scallops

#4 - Little Dom's Oyster Po Boy

“Hellooo….we’re rich!” Adam exclaimed as the platter of oysters appeared in the center of our table at Little Dom’s restaurant. No we’re not actually rich…but there is nothing wrong with acting like it.

Let me bring you up to speed. Previously on 99pLAtes, my new roommates Peter and Jessie joined me for pLAte #3 at Comme Ca. Well, I thought it only fitting that for my next dish, I’d have a meal with my old roommates – Adam and Meredith.

Adam and I met circa 2002 on the heights of Boston College. He was intrigued by my Survivor: Newton Campus television show I co-produced (for fun) and I was obsessed with raiding his collection of Napster music (he had the SNL theme song!). Fast forward four years and we’re roommates together in LA, living in the luxurious La Vista Terrace.

Meredith and I met a few years later while working together at the highly regarded website TMZ.com. Let me tell ya about what it’s like to work for TMZ. First of all….what’s that? Lawyers? On the phone….right now? Confidentiality agreement….right…

Ahem – pardon the interruption, back to our regularly scheduled blogging. At any given point in the last four years, some combination of Meredith, Adam or me lived in Apartment 213. At one point, all three of us lived there…at the same time…which was – ridiculous. There wasn’t enough room on the DVR, let alone in the apartment.

Now that you know the players…let’s talk about the place. Little Dom’s, located in the heart of Los Feliz village is the preeminent first date place in my opinion. You want a no-pressure, better-than-average food and cozy atmosphere spot – go to Little Dom’s.

I should note that so far on the blog, I’ve only been to places in neighborhoods I know…pretty soon we’re gonna have to go rogue people. Koreatown? Compton? Any takers?

Back in Los Feliz, where the level of hipster-ness is tolerable (unlike Silver Lake – sorry Peter), Adam, Meredith and I met for our mini-reunion. After a quick drink over at Big Bar, the new cozy watering hole next to Alcove (go with the LA Cocktail – it has egg in it and its delicious), we settled in for our main meal at Little Dom’s.

 

Our waiter, who may or may not have been a stunt double for Zach Galifinakis, showed us to our table and listed off the specials. The fun thing about this blog is before I even walk in the door, I know what I am going to eat – no pressure, no decisions, “no…t on the menu???” I exclaimed. What I was searching for was the Oyster Po’Boy…which is the same as the Fried Oyster Sandwich Mr. Galifinakis pointed out

Just for fun we ordered a platter of oysters to start things off, because (as mentioned earlier) “Hello…we’re rich!”. While sipping on white wine, the three of us reminisced on our time together in 213 (“I slept on an air mattress…for five months!” Adam exclaimed) and the neurosis’s of our new respective roommates (love you guys…mean it!). When the oysters arrived we each slurped two down, but noted they tasted fishier than we were expecting…will this spell disaster for the impending pLAte? Will this be the first blog entry where I cannot endorse the food?? Will Batman survive from the laughing gas and catch The Riddler???

Alas, the Oyster Po’ Boy did turn out to be a little fishier and greasier than my liking. Served on top of slightly over-toasted focaccia bread, the oysters suffered from over-breading and just a general fishy taste similar to the problem we ran into earlier. Little Dom’s rounds out the po’ boy with greens, an Italian meat called ‘speck’ and a spicy mayonnaise (called remoulade for all you food snobs). Naturally, I polished off the entire pLAte (the FFK in me cannot let food go wasted) but I ended up feeling less totally-worth-the-food-coma full and more I-need-to-go-for-a-run-tomorrow full. 

The traditional dishes on the table, Adam’s hangar steak and Meredith’s ricotta ravioli, seemed to go over a bit better. Although with the avalanche of mixed greens on Adam’s plate (and one bottle of Chardonnay down) it was hard to find the steak at all. 

Complaints about the pLAte aside, I still stand by Little Dom’s as a go-to dinner spot you can always keep tucked away in your back pocket. Besides…it’s not every day you see a celebrity waiting tables…

…and on a bus stop right outside the restaurant. 

Little Dom’s

2128 Hillhurst Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90027

(323) 661-0055