Rate-A-Restaurant, #118 in a series Extreme Dining Edition

Restaurant: Pizzeria Mozza

Location: 641 N. Highland (Los Angeles)

Type of restaurant: Pizzeria/Italian

They stipulated: It's our first week, make a reservation. (Otherwise, we can seat you at 3.)

We stipulated: We want to try things out of our comfort zone, show us what you got.



What we ordered: Chicken livers, pancetta and capers bruschetta ($8); Littleneck clams, garlic, oregano, parmigiano and pecorino pizza (above; $14); Lardo, rosemary and extra-virgin oil pizza ($12)



High point: Surprisingly, it was the chicken liver bruschetta (above)--the pancetta was very salty and worked well cutting into the richness of the chicken liver. Also, the pizza dough is what makes Nancy Silverton the bread goddess that she is: the texture and taste are supreme.

Low point: I made a reservation the first day they opened. They confirmed said reservation that morning. We arrived right on time. Why did the hostess seat us at the bar by the door? She instructed us to sit there and she'll get us after clearing a table (I noted that 3 tables were vacant).

Hostess never came back. Bartender started to take out order and we grudgingly gave it to him. After it was becoming evident that we ain’t movin’, I embarrasingly asked the bartender if we could please sit at the table we made reservations for. Bartender was nice, explained the busy first week situation and quickly talked to some people. We were then directed to our table. Thanks sweet bartender, but was all that really necessary?



Overall impression: Seems like the chefs have painstakenly thought out all the ingredients that go into every dish and that is what's key to this restaurant. Another diner at the table next to us was complaining that there was not enough cheese in his pizza, well this is just not any pizza joint but I understand the sentiment.

I liked the clam pizza with the excellent blend of clams, herbs and garlic. Lardo, as the nice bartender explained, is basically pork fat so it was a little hard for me to get over its texture but it was still good and the rosemary really comes through in this pizza. (As seen above.)

Chance we will go back: Yes, but after all the excitement is over. I'll may even skip making a reservation and head straight to the bar.