NOTE: All wines tasted at this event were provided by the sponsoring wineries. Please see my page ' Submissions, Reviews, Invitations & Disclaimers'. Here we go with Round Two of the Wine Bloggers Conference speed sipping, slurping, spitting and blogging extravaganza. As with the whites, we were given five minutes to absorb not just the wine itself but also the story of the winery and the process of the winemaking. A challenge, to be sure, but a good one. So I present to you the ten wines brought to our table, just as they were described at the time (with typos corrected to protect the innocent). J Lohr Falcon's Perch Pinot Noir 2012 Award winning and inky $17. Slighty smokey- succulent silky strawberry. 13.5% alcohol means really drinkable. Can we say BBQ salmon with something chocolaty for afters? Westerly Fletcher's Red 2010 Bordeaux style blend from Happy Canyon AVA . Black juicy berry meets licorice and black plum. Dark cocoa and earth and terrific balance of fruit acid and tannin keeps this rich and balanced. Sip alone or try with some braised short ribs. Winemaker hails from Harlan Estate. Need I say more? Main and Geary Dry Creek Zinfandel 2011 Big and plush palate zin from BevMo Private label series $19.95 and even less when you go to the 5 cent sale. Heat up the grill and get your party started with this very quaffable wine. Cornerstone Cellars 'The Cornerstone’ Napa Valley 2011. Releasing this September & made to be aged for 10 years plus. Blend Cab Sauv/ Merlot/ Cab Franc. Everything is there: acidity, tannin and plummy cassis fruit blending all together. Balanced wine to savor in the years to come. Only 100 cases. White Hart Pinot Noir 2012 Santa Lucia Highlands Central Coast 2012 40 year old vines in this cooler AVA brings out dark strawberry aromas with juicy red currants and subtle clove nutmeg spice. An elegant feminine Pinot made for sipping or cuisine. Delicious. Banfi Centine Rosso 2012 Banfi Wines are in the house. Sangio-Merlot marriage is your everyday "let's have some wine with dinner" vino and at around $10-12 you can make this tasty little fellow your house wine. The soil is limestone dominant so we have great structure welding together cherry, berry and a bit of tar with great palate cleansing acidity. Bueno. 2008 Satrapezo Saperavi from Georgia - the country! The grape is native to Georgia and the juice as well as the skin is red giving the wine a deep opaque hue. Rustic and earthy with plummy notes. Interesting. Aridus 2012 Syrah The winery is in Arizona but while they wait for the vines to produce they have sourced from the Russian River for this vintage. Dried sage herbs and black fruit with solid tannins would be good compliment to grilled meats and root veg. Charles Krug Howell Mt Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 Broody and big with dark fruit and cocoa tobacco leaf. A touch of Petit Verdot and all French oak ups the anti on this voluptuous red. Prime Rib is calling. Ottimino Vineyard 2011 Russian River Valley Zinfandel Cooler climate means longer, slower ripening so higher acidity and low alcohol- for a Zin!! Dark strawberry jam and cassis with black Dutch licorice, tealeaf and vanilla bean. Thinking some Tex-Mex. NOTE: All wines tasted at this event were provided by the sponsoring wineries. Please see my page ' Submissions, Reviews, Invitations & Disclaimers'.
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The recipe seems simple: take 2 award winning chefs and one acclaimed restaurateur. Blend with high quality sustainable ingredients, sprinkle liberally with lots of creativity and serve with class. The result: Pizzeria Mozza! A Southern California favorite since they opened the original Los Angeles restaurant in 2006, it seemed only fitting than when owners Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich were seeking a location for their new San Diego incarnation, they selected a slice of local social history – the “Headquarters” at Pacific Coast Highway and Harbor Blvd. From 1939 to 1987 this was the original home the San Diego Police Department. And a stylish complex it was, with a typically SoCal mix of architectural styles, ranging from Spanish Colonial and Pueblo to Classical. The buildings have been beautifully restored, befitting it’s stature on the National Register of Historic Places, with fountains and shaded courtyards mingled with commercial spaces. Pizzeria Mozza, with its respect for history and tradition - enhanced by a modern twist- is a perfect fit for the location. There are four Pizzeria Mozza locations: Los Angeles, Newport Beach, the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and now San Diego. Each restaurant shares the same philosophy summed up in this quote from Nancy Silverton : “ Simple, all natural ingredients lead to artful nutrition”. This location is green certified and procures its products from green oriented suppliers. Even the sparkling water is produced ‘in house’. There’s a spacious outdoor patio (great for people watching on Sunday’s during the Certified Farmer’s Market!) and an inviting interior dining area. Several months ago I was invited to a Press Lunch for the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association. We had a chance to not only sample some of the classic dishes from Pizzeria Mozza but also to meet many of the people who make it all happen
The menu also features a host of local San Diego draft and bottled beers and a creative wine list focusing on, not surprisingly, Italian vino. Many are from organic, smaller wineries that you won’t see on your average wine list. All have been chosen with the menu in mind and we can thank Sommelier LaMont Schroeder for that! Each incarnation of Pizzeria Mozza shows a bit of it’s own personality, especially San Diego. With ever changing menu items to suit the season and the chef’s creative streak you could come back time and again and always find something new. There are, however, some classic staples and we were thrilled to sample them all. We began with a selection of Bruschetta -White Beans alla Toscana with Saba and Chicken livers, capers, parsley and pancetta. The bread was perfect – toasty but not so crisp as to shatter into a hundred pieces when you bit into it! The texture of the white beans was amazing and the savory liver was brightened by a hint of lemon and fresh parsley. Chef John Stenbakken explained that the Bruschetta are a menu tradition, but the toppings are rotated on a regular basis. Everything is made in house – an important element in maintaining consistent quality. John has been with the company for may years and plans on adding more pasta dishes and grilled items to the menu. Our next course was a huge plate of gorgeous Pane Bianco, dripping with high end olive oil and garlic – the perfect compliment to probably the most beautifully presented Mozza Caprese I have ever seen! The small ‘on-the-vine’ tomatoes were roasted for about 2 – 21/2 hours to concentrate their sweet flavors and worked really well with the ultra creamy Burrata and fresh pesto. To cleanse our palates, a colorful Insalata Rosso was served. Crisp radicchio dressed with a simple lemon vinaigrette, delightfully ‘chewy’ Wisconsin applewood bacon, freshly shredded Peccarino Romano and softly cooked egg. I could have made a meal of this with some of that wonderful Pane Bianco! But we couldn’t stop without trying some pizza! The ‘signature’ pizza, unique to San Diego, is the Kale Pizza. Beautifully balanced toppings of fresh baby kale, savory red onion, ricotta cheese, mozzarella and spicy coppa adorned the light, crispy, crust. Delicious. We were introduced to pastry chef Juli Sinning, keeper of the secret dough recipe! Julie started with Pizzeria Mozza four years ago in their Singapore location and was brought out to San Diego to open the new restaurant. Although she could not be bribed to divulge all the secrets of this fantastic pizza crust, she did explain that they make all the dough by hand, twice a day – once in the morning and again in the afternoon. The dough will sit overnight which aids in developing the texture and flavors. Wood fired ovens at incredibly high temperatures bake the pizzas in a matter of moments and give them that distinctive deep color. Julie is also in charge of the terrific dessert selection. She makes all the Gelato from scratch using a special machine imported from Italy and they even squeeze their own fresh fruit juices to go into the house prepared sorbets. We were lucky enough to sample some of these cool, creamy confections: a hazelnut gelato and the pineapple/coconut sorbet. Refreshing, vibrant and true flavors shone through. These contrasted with the other signature dessert – the Butterscotch Budino – a decadently creamy pudding topped with burnt sugar, softly whipped cream, and Maldon sea salt. Sinful. The accompanying pine nut and rosemary biscuit was a savory addition to the sweet and salt of the pudding. Wow. Whether you visit Pizzeria Mozza for a quick ‘slice’ and a beer or spend several hours sipping your wine and savoring multiple courses, you are sure to leave this terrific location knowing you celebrated “La Dolce Vita”.
Pizzeria Mozza is located in the “Headquarters at Seaport District”, 789 West Harbor Blvd, San Diego 92101 (609) 376-4353 http://www.pizzeriamozza.com/SanDiego/home.cfm http://theheadquarters.com/shop-dine Parking: There are two lots at Seaport Village, across the street, Valet Parking at the Headquarters and metered parking on surrounding streets. |
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