Pasta Tasting at Osteria Mozza

The beginning of my birthday weekend began with what I picture heaven will be like…a 7-course Pasta Tasting at Osteria Mozza.

Since I was celebrating getting older, my husband and I dined like senior citizens at 5:45 pm at the always hard to book Osteria Mozza on Melrose.

The Nancy Silverton and Joe Bastianich restaurant has been a staple of the L.A. Italian food scene since it opened In 2007, and decades later it is still just as popular.

Here’s a sneak peek of what you might experience during a pasta tasting at Osteria Mozza.

Appetizers

The meal begins with a burrata flown in that morning from Puglia, and it’s only available on Thursdays and Fridays. It’s served over caramelized leeks and is complimented nicely with toasted bread bathed in olive oil.

Pasta Tasting

The Osteria Mozza Pasta Tasting begins with a fresh farfalle and fava beans, paired with a white wine that has a hint of fungus (the waiter’s words,not mine…it means earthy)

Since every bite is paired with alcohol, the details of the meal start to become little hazy…so, I will only share the most memorable moments of this perfect evening with you!

Picking Favorites

My favorite pasta course was the Pici with Wild Boar Ragu paired with a glass of Barolo. Each thick noodle is rolled by hand, and the meat melts into the pasta like it was puréed.

Dessert

The last two courses of the tasting are dessert, and although it seems excessive, I do not think one would have been as good without the other.

The first dessert course is a Hibiscus Flower Gelatina with lime sorbet paired with the best dessert wine my husband and I have ever tasted; a Bigaro Elio Perrone.

This is the reason food and wine are paired together because the combination creates a flavor explosion in your mouth unlike any other.

Not to be outdone by the first course, the second dessert of Olive Oil Cakes and Gelato grounds the entire meal and balances out the sweetness of the lime and hibiscus. It is paired with a much stronger desert wine, a Vin Santo, and if you’re not fully sauced at this point then I can only suggest drinking lighter fluid.

Final Thoughts

The reason you go to Mozza is to have an experience and not just a meal.
You go for the service from 10 staff members at once and for the wine that is not available to anyone but Bastianich. Lastly, you go for a pasta tasting at Osteria Mozza because it can make any day of the week special even if it’s 5:45 p.m. on a Tuesday 🙂

Dinner is better with friends! Share the meal with the pinnable image below!