Backyard Kitchen & Wood Oven Featured in LA Times

The LA Times published an article that includes a great shot of the homeowner, Celestino Drago, his oven and a great looking pizza:

ARTICLE LINK

PHOTO GALLERY

"Drago seems fairly indifferent to his indoor kitchen, though it's the sort of room that agents use to sell a house. “To be honest, we don't use the one in the house much,” he says."

Visited Pizzeria Mozza - L.A.

I finally had a chance to go to Pizzeria Mozza in LA last weekend for a lunch variety of pizza. It's truly a wood-oven pizzeria, as pictured below. It's one of the 50 or so VPN-certified pizzerias in the U.S.

My wife and I had three pizzas. Two are pictured here -- at top, the zucchini flowers with burrata. Zucchini flowers are much more popular as a pizza topping (and in general) in Italy. This pizza had a little tomato sauce, topped with the cool burrata after it came out of the oven. The flavors, the hot and the cool creamy cheese... fantastic. 

The second pizza below was the Fennel sausage, panna, red onion & scallions. The fennel sausage had a great flavor and crumbly texture (they were rather large chunks). The scallions added a nice touch to the thinly-sliced red onion. Another winner.

Finally, we have another white pizza, the Bianca with fontina, mozzarella, sottocenere & sage.  This was certainly good, but didn't live up to the other two. Sage is an underrated pizza topping.

Their menu:

My general high-level review:

• Ambiance: B.  Great display of the oven (somewhat blocked by customers dining at the counter). The tables are REALLY packed in tight and the place gets loud. You'd better hope you appreciate your dining neighbors.
• Pizza Toppings: A. Really creative toppings, well executed.
• Pizza Crust: B-. This was my biggest disappointment. What I want in wood burning pizza is white crust with black charring or spotting. This crust was too consistently browned and the crust was brittle in spots. My guess is that the oven was running cool and they had to leave the pizzas in longer than normal. 

Overall, I'd give Mozza a B+. It's not close to Pizzeria Bianco and I'd even say that Olivella's in Dallas beats Mozza in terms of the crust. My backyard crust generally comes out better too...

Former Quarterback Nemesis Redeems Himself with Pizza

As a graduate of Northwestern University and a huge football fan, the name Brad Otton brings shudders as I think of him teaming, as quarterback of the USC Trojans, with wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson to defeat us in the 1996 Rose Bowl.

I'd say he has redeemed himself by opening a small chain of VPN-certified pizzerias that have, of course, wood-burning ovens.

See the LA Times story for more info and a picture with Otton and his oven.

Visiting Wildwood Ovens Monday Night!

I'm excited to visiting the Wildwood Ovens test kitchen on Monday night, while in town for business.

I'll post photos ASAP!

A Near Pizza-Related Darwin Award

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a story about a home fire...

In the "things not to do" category:

1. Do NOT put cardboard pizza boxes in your oven to reheat pizza
2. Do NOT put the smoldering boxes outside, where wind can blow and set your backyard and house on fire

At least the homeowner didn't injure himself by jumping out of a glass window, as did another homeowner featured in the story...

Wood Oven Cooking - Short ribs, risotto, brussels sprouts

All recipes are from the book The Art of Wood-Fired Cooking

• Braised short ribs
• Butternut squash and prosciutto risotto
• Brussels sprouts with pancetta and garlic

Fired Up the Oven Tonight

Fired up the oven tonight... got the temperature just right (about 650 to 700F on the oven floor). It was only about 35 F outside, so chilly, but the oven held heat wonderfully.

Here are three of the pizzas (click on any for a larger view).

1. Sausage, red onion, and ricotta

2. Pancetta, swiss chard, and fontina cheese (from this recipe) - no sauce

3. Olive oil, salami, red onion, and capers

New Peter Reinhart Pizza Video Series

Here is the trailer for a new video series, available on YouTube, by Forno Bravo and Peter Reinhart, the author of the amazing book American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza

Here is the trailer:



The first episode is also available, on Ricotta and Parmesan pizza:

Real Cheese? What Else Would You Use?

When I see this on a box, it really makes me shake my head that anyone would use fake cheese... this box comes from Olivella's in Dallas, which has great wood-oven pizza... and real cheese!

A Long Island VPN Pizzeria - Grana

The NY Times features a new restaurant that imported a wood oven from Italy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/nyregion/03dineli.html

The hallmarks of true Neapolitan pizza, according to the Brunettis and other aficionados, are a thin, blistered crust; a light swirl of sweet tomato sauce perfumed with fresh basil; and ovals of melted mozzarella on top. “We keep it simple and fresh,” said Dave Plath, 52, the head chef at Grana, which is owned by his wife, Nancy.

The article tells their story and also lists some Long Island pizza options...