Birthday Dinner at Osteria Mozza

We had a nice birthday celebration at Osteria Mozza recently. We all got there early before it opened and as we waited with anticipation, little Maisie entertained us all. The restaurant actually opened a few minutes early and let us in, unlike a bank or post office where they would not open a minute before.

As usual, I find it hard to make decisions on appetizers, pasta and entrees. After a long discussion with each other we finally made some decisions. For appetizers, the celebrant ordered Baby Kale with pine nuts, ricotta salata and marinated anchovies. Alma who was next to me had the Burrata with bacon, marinated escarole and caramelized shallots. That is one of my favorites so I was happy when she shared one of her 2 pieces of toast with the burrata. My niece had the Tagliatelle with oxtail ragu which I also have had in the past and liked it very much. Someone had the Garganelli with Ragu Bolognese which was wonderful. Before anything else,we were served a choice of bread with butter. They also brought a plate of bruschetta with what tasted like an olive tapanade.

I skipped the appetizer since I knew I would be having part of the Kale Salad which was delicious. I ordered the Bavette Cacio e Pepe as my primi. I was disappointed in it because it had too much pepper that I hardly could taste the Romano cheese. It is not easy to make this very simple dish right. I can say this because I consider myself a very good judge when it comes to cacio e pepe.  I have made the dish myself which was pretty good but not even close to the ones I had in Rome a month ago. Naturally, I had high expectations. Oh well....my entree made up for it. I had the Grilled Beef Tagliata rucola & Parmigiano with aceto balsamico. This was cooked to perfection and had a nice flavor.

The other entrees included the Duck Al Mattone with pear mostarda and Brussels sprouts and Wild Striped Bass alla Livornese. The duck was crispy as can be and the fish was nice and tender. Elliot had something big but even he couldn't remember what he ordered. He seemed very pleased with it.

At least 2 people ordered the Torta della Nonna loaded with pine nuts, including the birthday celebrant. I had a bite of that and totally loved. It might have been the best Nonna I've ever had. Someone just had ice cream and I ordered the Bombolini with huckelberry marmellata and lemon mascarpone. Though it looked like I would not be able to finish the 3 large balls (like mini donuts)
with the ice cream, I surprised myself and inhaled them.

Dinner was very good; it was a nice birthday celebration and I thank Elliot and Aimee for the invitation.

Osteria Mozza is still a good place to have good food. The service was also commendable. Osteria Mozza is located at 6602 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles.