NANCY and ME

I just returned from southern California where I spent the past week.  The one thing on my to-do list while in L.A. was to dine at Nancy Silverton's newest restaurant Osteria Mozza.  The year-old restaurant, where she partnered with Mario Batali and Joesph Bastianich, is the hottest reservation in town and is located next door to Pizzeria Mozza which Nancy opened the previous year.  Osteria is located on trendy Melrose Avenue within sight of the Hollywood Hills and just a few blocks from the La Brea Bakery where she built a world-wide reputation with her incredible sourdough breads and then sold for a tidy sum. 

It's a beautifully designed space.  The center of the restaurant has chairs placed at a marble counter that wraps around the Mozzarella Bar where Nancy is at work nightly preparing various Italian cheese appetizers.

                          Of course, an incredible wine list.

I started off with a salad of butter lettuce and hazelnuts, bacon, gorgonzola dolce and egg.

This is an appetizer of Buttata with grilled asparagus, brown butter, guanciale and Sicilian almonds that Nancy made at the Mozzarella Bar.

My main course was Fresh Ricotta and Egg Raviolo with Browned Butter.  When I sliced open the raviolo the most brilliant orange egg yolk poured out onto the browned butter sauce.  I was told by our waitress that the hens are fed a diet of chrysanthemums to achieve these dazzling-colored eggs.

My daughter finished off her meal with Cioccolato Amaro, warm chocolate cake and bourbon gelato, in celebration of her 15th birthday.  And yes, everything tasted as good as it looks!