Italy: Venice (a.k.a. Part 7)

This is the second to last posting about Italy, so those of you who may be tired of this whole Italian vacation can check back in a couple of days for things non-Italian. Well, unless I hit an Italian restaurant, which I may very well do...

After saying goodbye to Isabella and Malte, Sandra and I headed up to Venice via the train. Even though I've seen numerous pictures of this city on water, I truly was amazed when I arrived. Literally a city on water...literally. And so beautiful and quiet and lovely. I'm not sure I can do the place justice with my words, so I'll stick with long captions and hope that they somehow capture the essence of this spectacular city.

Everyone takes water buses around Venice. Of course they are not really buses but that's what people call them. We bought a two-day pass and were able to take these to wherever we wanted to go within Venice. We stayed on La Giudecca island and visited many other "islands" around Venice during our stay.

Breakfast almost always consisted of a croissant and an espresso for us. These were flaky, golden and buttery-liscious. Mine is the one filled with jam (the one with the bite).

Just one of many restaurants that have patios over the water. Talk about romantic, right? Sandra and I joked that the city had a somewhat depressing effect on us since we're both single. But it's hard to get too bummed in a place like this.

The gondolas are all lined up and ready to take your money. When we realized that the charge for a quick gondola ride is about $120, we decided to stick with the water buses. Looking at them was enough. And cheaper.

Here's the little, narrow alley that lead to our hotel. Venice is full of these 4-foot-wide alleyways.

Another view of one of the numerous smaller canals that crisscross the Grand Canal.

Here's one view from our hotel room in Venice. This guy was a resident, just going out for groceries in his little boat. Venetians are lucky people.

Here's the courtyard in front of our hotel. Rustic, quaint and perfect for a little rest outdoors.

Sandra and I decided to have lunch at this cafe because the proprietor, a man named Elio, insisted we do (he kind of grabbed us as we were walking by). He took this picture with his shaky hands (God bless him, he was so adorable!). His restaurant was called Ristorante Ca Dolfin.

Elio's pizza was the best I had in Italy. Crispy crust, ripe tomatoes, just the right amount of cheese.

Sandra had the seafood pasta, which Elio says is the best entree he offers. It was incredibly good.

And here's Elio himself, standing in wait for passersby so he can grab then and drag them into his restaurant (I kid!). He was quite a character, actually. If you are ever in Venice, check out his place.

Mozza My Heart

I realize just about every food blogger and his/her mother has written about Mozza, so I will try to keep my review short and sweet. In a nutshell, I now know what all the hype is about, and why, at noon on a Monday, there was a line of hungry people waiting for the restaurant to open.

Thoughtful yet rustic appetizers like the chicken liver crostini (above) and the Mozza caprese (burrata with roasted tomatoes and basil olive oil - below) are exactly the kind of dishes I crave when at an Italian eatery. It's basic food made with the freshest ingredients, and there's no fuss with presentation or garnishes or froufrou plates. By the way, the caprese picture was taken after we'd eaten most of it; I kept forgetting to take photos before diving into the food, if that's any indication of how good it was!

We also ordered the Prosciutto di Parma, which was light and started with a mild sweetness before finishing with a salty bite. My boss thought it wasn't salty enough, but I liked it just fine. It was great on its own, or wrapped around the long breadsticks that Mozza provides on every table.

My coworker Joey's favorite appetizer was the cauliflower gratinate. This is like taking a plain ol' cauliflower, dressing it up in a silky robe of cream and adorning it with caramelized bits of goodness. Who knew cauliflower could be so decadent?

Of course Mozza is known for their pizzas, so we did our duty (it was so difficult!) and ordered one each. My boss got the Coach farm goat cheese, leeks, scallions & bacon pizza, which was the group favorite. The leeks work like cheese on the pizza crust; light, soft and full of flavor; and the dabs of fresh goat cheese offset the salty bacon ever so perfectly. It's pretty much everything I've been looking for in a pizza, and now I've finally found it. To quote a Kenny Loggins song, "When true love appears, everything you think you know is wrong." Kenny, you speak the truth, brother.

I stuck with the old standard, the Margherita with mozzarella, tomato & basil. It was very good, with tangy, fresh tomato sauce and a super crispy crust, but I would have liked a tad bit more cheese on it. I didn't mind that some of the crust was quite dark, because it didn't affect the flavor at all and I expect a few black blisters on a pizza made in a 700 degree oven.

Joey chose the fennel sausage, panna & red onion pizza, which he liked. His only complaint was too much fennel in the sausage. Both the boss and I liked his pizza quite a bit, but we all agreed that the goat cheese/leek/bacon was the favorite.

On to dessert. Yes, I know what you're thinking: How could you possibly have room for dessert at this point? It's Mozza, and I cannot leave without trying the butterscotch pudding. It was everything I've ever wanted and more, and that is not an exaggeration. The pudding was incredibly rich, but not too sweet, and the added sea salt just made the dessert. The best dessert I've ever had was a pine nut tart with buttermilk gelato, and that was at Babbo in NYC. I can honestly say that this dessert is now tied with that for my all-time favorite dessert at a restaurant.

We also ordered the strawberry gelato pie, which was good though not great. It is what it is; strawberry gelato in a cookie crust. We also got baked cherries with vanilla ice cream, which had great flavor but poor execution. The cherries came with stems on and seeds in, which is odd considering they were hot. Who wants to pick pits out of hot cherries?

Overall, however, the Mozza experience lived up to all of my expectations. And, for full disclosure, I should note that I do know the executive chef, Matt Molina, and am also acquainted with Mozza's general manager, David Rosoff. That said, I am a true foodie and would never be swayed to write a good review on a restaurant that I didn't think was worthy.

Mozza is undeniably fantastic.

Casa Bianca Pizza Pie

Pizza divides people. Everyone has their favorite place, and everybody claims to know the "best" pizza and where it comes from. But pizza can be so many things to so many people; you have to start with the type/style of pizza you prefer before you can even touch on who has the best in town. There's Chicago style pizza, there's thin crust, thick crust, upside down in a bowl pizza (as I witnessed on the Food Network last week). Then there's the toppings...some claim there's nothing more pure than the original pizza Margherita. Others say it's sausage. More say it's gotta be pepperoni or you might as well just have a sandwich. See how complicated this can get?

On Chowhound, there are very differing and passionate views about an LA city favorite, Casa Bianca Pizza Pie. People either love it ("thin crust is awesome!," "the eggplant is the best I've ever had!", "it's worth the wait!") or hate it ("greasy crust!", "canned mushrooms!", "the wait is torturously long!").

Well, I happen to love Casa Bianca, and was very proud and pleased to take my parents there for the first time the other night. We did have to wait an hour, but we killed time by walking down to the Colorado Wine Company and each had a glass of fabulous red (Boudreaux for my dad, zin for my mom, and a cab sav for me). We sat on some wine boxes which the manager kindly covered with cushions (the stools at the wine bar were all taken), and had a very nice, pre-dinner drink before we headed up the street to Casa.

Our wine box coffee table

We brought our own bottle of zin (corkage is only $2.50), and ordered two medium pizzas: one with eggplant, sausage, onion and easy cheese; the other with jalapenos, green peppers, tomatoes and onions.

The pizzas didn't disappoint. The crust was thin and crispy, all the way through. The eggplant, deep fried and full of flavor, was great company to the sausage and onions. And the easy-on-the-cheese was the way to go because of the heavier toppings.

Sausage and onions and eggplant, oh my!

The vegetarian pizza was very good as well. The fresh veggies balanced out the flavor of the salty cheese. And even though we got regular cheese on this one, it wasn't gloppy or overdone in the least.

Vegetarian with lots of jalapenos

I like Casa Bianca pies because they don't overdo the crust, cheese or toppings, and there's very little grease on the pizzas. The service was quick and friendly, even though it was absolutely packed (with 2+ hours worth of folks waiting outside), and the atmosphere is simple and focused on the food, not frills. I don't think it's authentically New York style (they don't claim to be) or that they're trying to be anything else or beat anyone else at the pizza game. Quite simply, they make a great pizza and, with the Colorado Wine Company and the Chalet close by, you can put your name in, go grab a drink, then come back just in time to be seated. So the wait factor is easily dealt with. Not a bad way to spend an evening, no?