I spent a lot of time binge watching shows on Netflix this summer. One of my favorite shows is Chef's Table. If you've seen the trailers or is a fan, you know why it's so enjoyable. The chefs are extremely passionate about their food, the quality and sourcing, and are super creative in re-inventing familiar dishes. Furthermore, many of them have rags to riches stories and/or are involved in philanthropy.
One of the more recently episodes featured Nancy Silverton, an amazing baker + chef based out of LA. She is the genius behind La Brea Bakery and the Mozza-plex (Pizzeria Mozza, Osteria Mozza, and Mozza to go). After watching her episode and doing some research on her restaurants, I just had to go. They are some of the most affordable spots featured on Chef's Table, a splurge that my college budget can support. Furthermore, given her spunky attitude, you know her food has got flare.
Last weekend, we went to Osteria Mozza, an upscale Italian restaurant that used to have a Michelin star until all the Michelin stars left LA. "According to Directeur Général Jean-Luc Naret, Michelin Guide chose not to publish a guide on Los Angeles restaurants because Angelenos 'prefer to select the restaurant not based on the number of Michelin stars, but based on the number of stars who go to the restaurant.'" (NBC). To be fair, if you really wanted to catch a model-esque celebrity, you would go to the new juice bar with all the superfoods for detox, not an Italian restaurant.
If you go to Osteria Mozza on a Friday or Saturday, you would need to reserve roughly a month in advance. Reservations for Sunday through Thursday can be made just a week or two in advance. Insider tip from our waiter: Nancy works Tuesdays through Saturday at the mozzarella bar if you want to catch her in action.
Our meal begin with a complimentary amuse-bouche from the chef that had burricotta and olive tapenade. Our appetizers followed with Burricotta with braised artichokes, pine nuts, currants and mint pesto, and Smoked Mozzarella di Bufala with Porscuitto di Parma.
For primi, we got Orecchiette with sausage and Swiss chard and Calf's Brain Ravioli with burro e limone.
Finally, we ended with desserts of Cioccolato (bittersweet chocolate cake with Perugian chocolates), Strawberry Crespelle (sauteed Albion strawberries with spiced almonds), and Honey Baked Peach (hazelnut cake, poached blueberries, sweet corn gelato).
It was the most sublime dining experience of my life. Next up: Pizzeria Mozza.
Just last week, on an unassuming Thursday, the astro(physics) community got served two humongous cakes at once. Both the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube) have ground-breaking scientific findings to share with the class!
A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the mountains are beautiful, and mysterious sounds echo between our walls while we don’t even pretend to sleep.
This summer I had the incredible opportunity to do a 10-week internship at Gilead Sciences in Foster City, CA. For those unfamiliar, Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a research-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative medicines.
