la.foodblogging

I called to book a reservation for Jar’s Mozzarella Monday on Sunday night. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hi, I’d like to book a table for tomorrow night.”
Maitre d’ Jar: “We don’t take reservations for Mozzarella Monday.”
Me: “Okay. What’s the latest we can arrive and still expect to get a table?”
Maitre d’ Jar: “None, but we can seat you at the bar, or on some chairs.”
Me: “That doesn’t sound so promising…”
Maitre d’ Jar: “Mozzarella Monday is the biggest thing in town right now. People are waiting outside before we open the doors at 5:30PM.”
Me: “Really! So if we come by after work around 7:30 I suppose it’ll be too packed to get a table?”
Maitre d’ Jar: “You can try.”

I messaged my friend around 5:30 Monday night asking him if he still wanted to go. To be honest, I had worked him up in advance by saying things like, “You really never know how long Mozzarella Monday is going to last since Nancy Silverton is supposed to be opening a new restaurant soon.” He said he was still in, but given that it was already around 6:45 by the time we were both ready to leave, we made a contingency plan.

He found street parking and I had my car valet parked for $4.75 (+ $1 tip) — gotta make sure the primer-covered Pinto gets some love! Needless to say, given all the anticipation about the hordes of feverish Mozzarella freaks on Monday night, I was surprised when we walked in around 7:00, to easily find a corner table. A couple next to us was just wrapping up their meal. When they got the bill, the woman exclaimed, “Thirteen dollars for a cocktail?! That’s appalling!” In principal I agreed with her, but I snuck a peek at the drinks menu while she went off, and it said as plain as day that the premium drinks were $12 each. Not cheap, but in no way a surprise, either. We decided at that point to stick with a bottle of “gently carbonated” water.

I had a preconceived notion about the menu that was entirely incorrect. I thought, for some reason, that the meal would be prix fixe, planned in courses. I was actually looking forward to a chef’s informed progression of mozzarella dishes, from small bites to an appetizer, a main, and some final notes. But that’s not how the Mozzarella Monday menu is organized, and I’m not sure why I thought it was more orchestrated than it is. Instead, there were 13 small plates ranging from $8.00-12.00.

After having our server explain some of the preparations we decided to order two dishes each. First up was a complimentary appetizer. Sad to say, it was entirely forgettable, just a small hand-roll of mozz, salami and pesto. Next was truly our first course, a buratta, pesto, tapenade, salsa romesco, caper-berry relish. The buratta is served cold and has a soft creamy center that seems to be made from buttery curds. When you break its skin, and cut into it, it just oozes. I hadn’t read the menu closely enough and mistook the caper-berry relish for peppers before tasting. When I finally tried it I loved the pickled twist on the familiar caper berry flavor. The salsa romesco is also an ingenious twist on two classics, although, I’ll bet it was difficult to name, since there is nothing at all Mexican about its flavor. I don’t know where Silverton sources her bread (still La Brea Bakery?), in fact, I wish the menu had more details about vendors, but the small loaves are deliciously crunchy, chewy and dense — and provide a good backbone to the mushy mozz.

Our next dish was the burricotti, braised artichoke hearts, pine nuts and currants. I found this dish to be surprisingly sweet. I loved the garlicky and tender artichoke heart (thank you to the person who prepared this artichoke for braising — perfect!). The pine nuts and currants were still hot and flavorful by the time I got to the toasted bread base.

We also ordered mozzarella, Armandino Batali’s assorted salumi. The presentation of Mario Batali’s father’s cured meats was slightly underwhelming, cuttings tossed haphazardly onto wax paper on a wooden board. (The photo, right, ain’t great, but that’s exactly how the plate first appeared.) In this instance, I again wished that the menu provided more information about the variety of salamis. I presume that people who seek out an event like Jar’s on Monday would also like to be either educated (in my case) or reminded of what we’re eating. I also want to know what salamis to order again when Silverton finally goes into business with the Batali Boys. The restaurant’s small aisle and the proximity of other tables discouraged me from getting into much of a conversation with our server. She was very friendly but the restaurant’s layout wasn’t conducive to grilling a busy table server about the menu.

We were pretty focussed on the buratta, so our last dish included the same, with roasted asparagus, guanciale, hazelnuts. It’s a little difficult to share, but my friend did this Olympic tine twist with his fork that blew my mind. I wish I had the old PD-150 with me because I would’ve video-blogged that snit for you. Anyway, Guanciale is a bacon made from the cheek of a pig. The flavor is almost like boar as opposed to pork. The hazelnuts were hot toasted and the asparagus was almost as thin and tender as cappellini. Again, the dish was served on toasted baguette, which seems almost a crutch for many of these dishes.

Oddity of the Evening: On a few occasions there was a horrible odor emanating from the bar. It smelled like rotten fish sauce but I think it was cheese and vinegar being flash cooked. It’s a truly overwhelming smell. The staff has to open the doors to get rid of it but it’s still difficult to forget.

Conclusion: We split the bill that came to about $30 each. We had a fun time, enjoyed the event-like feeling, not to mention the uniqueness of the meal. I’d definitely go again. But if I have the chance, I’ll go later in the evening, since we saw tables available all night. I’ll ask more questions of my server. I think it’s also a really good option to just grab a drink and a single plate at the bar. In that instance I would order the buratta, pesto, tapenade, salsa romesco, caper-berry relish ($10). It’s a well conceived single plate, offering a variety of innovative tastes, and it pretty well exemplifies Silverton’s wit and skill.

Jar’s Mozzarella Monday
8225 Beverly Blvd.
LA, CA 90048
323.655.6566