Short Order Now Open at the Farmers Market

Short Order, the burger restaurant at the Original Farmer's Market at 3rd & Fairfax recently opened after being in the planning stages for several years.  The concept is a partnership between restaurateur Bill Chait, burger maven Amy Pressman and chef Nancy Silverton.  Pressman was the driving force behind Short Order; she succumbed to cancer shortly before the restaurant opened.  Silverton and Chait moved forward with the restaurant as a tribute to Pressman.  Now the executive chef is Christian Page, formerly of Daily Dose in Downtown Los Angeles.

The heart and soul of the menu at Short Order are the burgers.  Options on offer include the eponymous Short Order Burger, which features a patty of grass-fed beef, morbier cheese, griddled mushrooms, bibb lettuce and mustardy mayo ($12), Nancy's Backyard Burger made with Nancy Silverton's beef blend, artisan bacon, comte cheese, avocado, tomato, onion, iceberg lettuce and spicy mayo ($13), and Ida's Old School Burger made with grass-fed beef, pickles, tomato, griddled onion, iceberg lettuce and secret sauce ($11).  There is a veritable Noah's ark of burger possibilities with lamb, turkey, tuna and pork available in addition to the standard beef.  The burgers are served a la carte, with sides available for an additional price.

The Ida's Burger (pictured above) was tasty when I sampled it the first week Short Order was open.  It was a little rarer than I would have preferred but as the kitchen was still getting up to speed, we didn't expect perfection.  The bun is also of high quality, which is pretty much a given, considering Silverton's involvement.  Silverton was a pastry chef at Spago and founded the La Brea Bakery, before co-founding Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza.  To say she knows bread is an understatement.

In addition to Old School Fries ($3), Short Order Spuds ($4) are also available.  These delicious little fries (above) are a cross between potato skins and tater tots.  Addictive, hot and ready to be dipped into the accompanying sauces.  The Spuds are a must order.

I sampled the Chocolate Malt Shake ($6) which was rich and chocolatey.  I split it with a friend (half portion pictured below) and it was worth every penny and calorie.  Shakes aren't the only beverages on offer.  Up a flight of stairs is a bar where Julian Cox of Rivera, Playa, Sotto and Picca created a cocktail program to complement the food.  Quality cocktails in the farmer's market?  That's all I need to know to know I will be back.

Short Order: 6333 W. 3rd Street, the Farmer's Market (adjacent to Du Par's), Mid City.  Phone: (323) 761-7970.  Website: http://www.shortorderla.com/

Osteria Mozza: Winning Dishes

Last week I found myself at Osteria Mozza for a friend's birthday dinner.  It had been a while since I had been to the Osteria, as I tend to go to the more casual pizzeria more often.  The table ordered a number of dishes but I will focus on the two I enjoyed the most.

First was the beautiful dish of mozzarella with tomatoes and toast.  The mozzarella was of top quality and had an unctuous texture and mouthfeel, both silky and creamy.  The cherry tomatoes tasted fresh and were juicy and the whole dish let the quality of the ingredients shine through without any unnecessary adornment.

The other standout dish was the Grilled Beef Tagliata rucola & Parmigiano with aceto balsamico.  This came from the Secondi section of the menu and was priced at $29.  The steak was sliced in the kitchen and was cooked a perfect medium rare, as asked for.  The dish was also simple with balsamic vinegar on it and a salad of arugula with thin slices of aged Parmesan.  The saltiness of the Parmesan cheese was a great complement to the sliced beef.  This dish was a real crowd pleaser.

We wouldn't have ordered this dish, except our first choice of the Grilled Leg of Lamb was unavailable, and it worked out.  Mozza seemed to be out of several dishes the night we dined, which can be frustrating as a diner as we weren't told of what they were out of until we tried to order them.  Memo to restaurants: don't hope that your customers won't order the dishes you are out of, so that you won't have to disclose their unavailability.  Tell them upfront so that nobody gets excited about an option they can't really have.  Readers: if you have your heart set on something on the menu, perhaps call Mozza in advance to ask them to save you a portion, to avoid possible disappointment.

Note that Nancy Silverton was there even on a Sunday evening, working at the Mozzarella Bar.  She mentioned she is typically there 4-5 nights a week.

Osteria Mozza: 641 N. Highland, Los Angeles. (323) 297-0100.  Website: www.mozza-la.com

Short Order: Ida's Burger previewed

Nancy Silverton, the founder of the La Brea Bakery and a co-founder/owner/chef of Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza will be opening a burger restaurant at the Farmer's Market on 3rd & Fairfax in January in the old DuPar's bakery space. Her partners in the venture are chef Amy Pressman, and restaurant investor Bill Chait (Rivera, Louise's).

Last Tuesday at the Taste of the Farmer's Market, Short Order previewed Ida's Old School Burger, made from "Nancy's blend", a blend of hamburger meat that was created for Silverton byHuntington Meats at the Farmer's Market.

Ida's Old School Burger was described as grass fed beef, American organic cheese, pickle chips, lettuce, griddled onion, tomato and secret sauce. The La Brea bakery brioche buns were grilled as well and the beef was of high quality with a real beefy flavor. The hamburger was delicious and I was happy to be able to have more than one.

Pictured above are Pressman and Chait. Below a giant hamburger balloon showed the crowd where to go to sample the dish of the day, Ida's Burger. This dish was the star of the Taste of the Farmer's Market event ($25 and up per person) and despite all the buzz around Silverton and the burgers, the line was surprisingly short when I visited the Short Order booth. The burgers came out in waves, on large trays, were dished out quickly and then the line built up once again.

I look forward to early next year when I can have Short Order burgers on a regular basis.

Pizzeria Mozza - an enduring hit

When Pizzeria Mozza opened in late fall/early winter of 2006 the buzz was deafening - a collaboration between hometown favorite baker and author Nancy Silverton (La Brea Bakery, Campanile) and television personality and New York restaurateur Mario Batali and his partner Joe Bastianich, riding the first wave of thin crust pizza momentum. Reservations were hard to come by and the line to eat at the wine or pizza bars was long at all but off hours.

Several months later its grown-up sibling the Osteria opened in spring 2007, and amazingly for a fickle town, both restaurants are still packed and serving quality and delicious food. The Mozzas have the staying power of Balthazar, Keith McNally's New York City restaurant that redefined the bistro and has been perennially packed since it opened more than a decade ago.

Some friends were visiting from New York post-Coachella and we made our ritual stop for pizza at Pizzeria Mozza on Monday. I had the Margherita pizza with mozzarella, tomato & basil and added an egg because isn't everything better with a runny egg? (as a non pork eater I have made runny eggs my substitute.) I began with the bone marrow because it was on the menu. My dining companions ordered the brussel sprouts, the Burricotta and the Fennel Sausage pizza. The sausage pizza looked like a meat lovers pizza - heaping portions of sausage on the pie. The burricotta had buratta cheese with ricotta cheese within it. I tried a piece of the cheese and it was rather good but I may prefer the traditional burrata.

The bone marrow was very rich and came as 3 cylinders, served with greens, salt, garlic and 2 toasts. A third toast was ordered (not sure why it doesn't automatically come - it should). It was good, very rich and better with the accompaniments but not as good as the bone marrow at some of the french bistros such as Church & State and Comme Ca. The marrow, while rich, was just not as flavorful as at those other restaurants.

The pizza however was top notch. The margherita (pictured) was a thing of beauty and the egg yolk ran over the pie in a very appetizing way. The crust was blistered but not burned and the ratio of sauce to cheese was to my liking as neither overwhelmed the other.

Service at the bar was knowledgeable. We were never rushed and the bartender brought over several wines to taste before we selected a carafe.

We arrived at 1:30 pm and were able to get seats together at the bar, but every tables was occupied. Note that although the brother of one of my dining companions is an investor in the restaurant, Mozza did not know of this connection. Disclosure: I once worked for a very brief time in an Italian wine shop in Manhattan owned by Batali & Bastianich.

Pizzeria Mozza is located at 641 N Highland, at the corner of Melrose. Phone: 323. 297.0101 Website: http://www.mozza-la.com/pizzeria/about.cfm