Patric Kuh jumps on the Mozza bandwagon with his review of the Mozza empire in the November issue of Los Angeles magazine. It's not quite gushing like Miss Irene's today, but still very positive for everything the Mozzas are while acknowledging some downfalls:
The main courses suffer the most. Let’s not waste time discussing dishes such as snapper alla livornese, just a fillet of fish on a soupy tomato sauce studded with caper berries, or the grilled orata, a deboned whole fish wrapped in charred fig leaves. If Batali’s reverence for pork is exemplifi ed by the trotter croquette, the lukewarm slab of arista is like a gelatinous revenge.Still, that's not enough to sway Kuh anywhere near the negative side of the critic-o-meter, and it shouldn't. He nails it with his own question and answer, basically the same thought of most people who've dined at either restaurant: "There’s one basic question that Mozza has to answer: Is it worth all the fuss? The answer is yes."My basic problem with the main courses is that they are often the concluding point of the themes that preceded their arrival: Salt, olive oil, and seasoning that were applied delicately in the earlier dishes now threaten to overwhelm.
· Double Vision [LA Mag]
