Nancy Silverton is a Los Angeles restaurant giant. In 1989, she co-founded Campanile and adjoining La Brea Bakery with now ex-husband Mark Peel. In 2001, Silverton and her partners sold the bakery to Irish conglomerate IAWS Group for $55 million. Her breads are now in supermarkets across America. Though Silverton still develops breads and pastries for La Brea Bakery, she’s expanded her repertoire. In addition to writing more cookbooks, she now hosts a series of specialty nights at L.A. restaurants. After several years, her Thursday Grilled Cheese Night at Campanile is still a hit. She devotes Tuesdays to antipasti at La Terza, an excellent Italian restaurant where she also designed the dessert menu. Find Nancy Silverton at Jar for Mozzarella Mondays.
Silverton’s planning on opening a mozzarella-centric restaurant in L.A. with New York celebrity chef Mario Batali that they tentatively call Mozza Bar. They’ll feature cured meats made by Batali’s father, Armandino, who owns Salumi in Seattle. For now, Silverton makes mozzarella for Mozzarella Mondays in-house at Jar, which is owned by Silverton’s friend, chef Suzanne Tracht. Mozzarella Mondays are tantamount to Silverton’s test kitchen. I joined four cheese-crazed friends to find out what happens when you combine Silverton’s deft culinary touch with a tableful of fresh mozzarella.
Five of us shared 10 of the menu’s 13 mozzarella dishes. With some guidance from our waitress, we just dropped “Insalata Caprese with heirloom tomatoes,” since we can get that anywhere. We also lost “Mozzarella, Berkshire prosciutto, arugula, tapenade on baguette” and “Mozzarella, Armandino Batali’s assorted salumi,” opting for two dishes apiece.
Our waitress offered to divide our selections into two courses, but that required too much patience (which our hunger wouldn’t allow), so we ended up with 10 different mozzarella dishes on our table simultaneously. We mixed so many different flavors that it was overwhelming. It’s been a week since the meal, and I just finally processed our experience.
Jar started us with a plank of wood topped with crusty La Brea Bakery bread and butter. Not surprisingly, La Brea Bakery bread was prevalent throughout the evening, with mozzarella dishes often set upon crostini.
Harissa really ignited the crostini topped with “spicy fried egg, melted mozzarella, and harissa” ($9). According to the epicurious.com “food lover’s companion,” harissa is a Tunisian hot sauce composed of hot chilies, garlic, cumin, coriander, caraway and olive oil. Silverton’s zesty version bordered on black.
Silverton paired her mozzarella dishes with “Mozzarella Monday Wines,” a selection of Italian wines by the glass. Four whites and six reds all cost $8 a glass. Several people at my table imbibed.
Overall, our mozzarella immersion was a success. Cheese was high-quality, and pairings were inventive and flavorful. There wasn’t a single dish I wouldn’t recommend. If Mozzarella Monday is truly a sign of what’s to come at Mozza Bar, Los Angeles is set for a special dining experience. The idea that Angelenos will be able to indulge in Nancy and Mario’s mozzarella creations on a daily basis is an exciting proposition. I’ll have my cell phone handy to book one of the first tables.
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