The Other Critics

Rodell Raves About Mozza’s Salumi Nights; Gold Name Checks at Plan Check

Colby's salami
Colby’s salami Photo: Chad Colby/Mozza Facebook

“The number of ways Mozza aspires to feed us now is slightly staggering,” writes Besha Rodell, taking a peek into Chad Colby’s impressive new Salumi Bar that transforms the restaurant’s Sculoa di Pizza, where the critic enjoys “by far my favorite dining experiences at Mozza.” Nancy Silverton’s Italian is now “the first and only restaurant in Los Angeles County licensed to produce and serve cured meats on its premises,” leading to a “huge selection…[that] stands head and shoulders above anything else in this town on that now-ubiquitous ‘charcuterie’ section of the menu.” Cue the bacon tenderloin pâté, stuffed squash blossoms, capretto t-bone, and off-the-chain pickle-topped pork sliders, part of what Rodell labels “some of the most delicious food that Mozza, and Los Angeles, has to offer.” On another note, she advises skipping the $150 pizza making class, where some guests left audibly disappointed at having to keep their hands to themselves. [LAW]

Jonathan Gold name checks modernist chefs Nathan Myhrvold and Heston Blumenthal while considering the burger at West L.A.’s Plan Check, citing their burgers which are “not much less complex, I suspect, than the directions for rebuilding a Porsche.” Detailing its use of fricco and ketchup leather, Gold notes,”the Plan Check burger has been carefully engineered to resemble the great bar burgers of your youth, in the way that a designer at Ford might try to capture everything you love about a 1968 Mustang in an ultramodern car,” calling it “what you would have wanted to have waiting for you after you got off Monsanto’s old Adventure Thru Inner Space ride at Disneyland.” But not everything should be so eagerly embraced he warns, such as the “flabbyish oysters,” an “odd melon ball and mozzarella salad sprinkled with flavorless prosciutto dust,” tasteless “vegetable chips,” and a “special of fries tossed with cheese and minced pastrami” that he ate anyway. Better stick to the perfectly engineered fried chicken, short ribs, and crullers, he suggests. [LAT]

Rodell Raves About Mozza’s Salumi Nights; Gold Name Checks at Plan Check