Osteria Mozza

Behold! One of the BEST restaurants in LA! My first trip to Osteria Mozza was a mindblowing experience, but my camera and my inexperienced skills resulted in some pretty mediocre pictures.  This time around, I came prepared with the H.o.P. and an SLR camera in tow, courtesy of Running Man, of course.

Osteria Mozza is known for its handmade fresh pastas and mozarella bar.   The main entrees are good, but certainly less impressive than the aforementioned foods.  Even if you don't like cheese, you should try items from the mozarella bar.  You will NOT be disappointed.

Now dining here twice, I would say to avoid dining here in a large group. By large I mean more than 6. There's only about 4? tables that accomodate groups that large. Both times we waited close to 1 hour past our reservations because some squatters were endlessly shooting the shit at our reserved tables.  You could imagine how disgruntled a bunch of hungry foodies could get in this situation.   My sister and I were throwing angry stares like poisoned-tipped daggers at the people still squatting at our table.  We would casually walk by, make eye contact, and proceed to give the dirtiest of all dirty looks.  I blame the hunger for my rudeness!  After being seated, we were handsomely rewarded for our long wait with some free food.

Mozarella with Four Sauces salsa verde, romesco, olive tapenade, caperberry relish
I probably would not order this if I had to pay for it, but since it was free, it was delicious.   It was pretty simple, just a blob of smooth creamy mozarella and different accoutrements on crispy grilled bread.  I think my favorite was the romesco or the salsa verde.

Burrata with Bacon marinated escarole, caramelized shallots
Since Smooth Obturator and myself have been here before, we suggested the best way to order: 1 mozarella and 1 pasta dish per person.  We pretty much all had to order this particular dish.  It is a mini bite of heaven.  The bacon provides a smoky saltiness, the caramelized shallots brings a rich sweetness, the escarole brings texture and slight bitterness, and the burrata is unparalleled in rich creaminess.  It is probably the most satisfying thing off the mozarella bar menu.

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Cube Cafe & Marketplace

So it was my birthday a few weeks back and I wanted to celebrate with a week-long festival of eating.  If you know me, you know that I don't like to dine in large groups with a few exceptions of course (Korean bbq, potlucks, etc).  So I celebrated my birthday with separate groups of friends on different days.  I guess I really pumped my birthday for all its worth, but I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed themselves.  Round 1 consisted of Care Bear, Token Bear, MC Bowtie, The Bottomless Pit, Macadamia Bear, Teety, Buff Bear, The Pouter and Grumpy Bear.

Cube doesn't seem like a place that is on people's radar.  When I say people, I mean bloggers.  I get a lot of my restaurant recommendations from fellow bloggers, but I found Cube on Yelp and had it on my to-try list for some time.  It's an Italian restaurant focused on seasonal ingredients with a great selection of cheeses and salami.  I'll try my best to describe all the foods, but I got pretty smashed (thanks to Teety for bringing the 5 buck chuck) that night so it may be more of a pictorial than a true blog entry.

Hook's 5-yr Cheddar cranberry 
They started us off with a nice cheddar that went nicely with the tart dried cranberry.  I don't know much about cheeses so pardon my lack of descriptors.


Formaggi e Salumi assortment (left to right) red cow parmesan, aged balsamic vinegar, dried cranberries, gruyerre, 4-yr gouda, candied pecans, some very soft cheese like brie, salchichon, roasted marcona almonds, tartufo salami
I was pretty impressed with the nice spread our waiter selected for us.  I thought everything was delicious, and I'm not even a huge cheese fan.


Prosciutto di Parma
You can never go wrong with prosciutto!

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Syrup

The problem I often encounter when I dine with friends, is that people are so full by the end of the meal that nobody wants to get dessert.  Or out of guilt, they don't want to get dessert.  Syrup Desserts has been on my radar since its early opening.  But its location in Downtown and the aforementioned reasons, I didn't get to try it until recently.


The place was pretty packed, but I was able to snag a table.  From my table, I eyed a shiny bright display full of treats.  I knew better than to order anything from this window, since the place is known for their waffle creations.

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