Tartine Manufactory

Standing in front of the gigantic six decker oven, I felt a familiar excitement that brought me back to days of working in a large bakery kitchen.  The familiar beeps from the machinery signaling when something needed to be checked on, watching the pastry cooks polish each piece of brioche with egg wash, dough being separated, weighed, and rolled.  I couldn't stop looking around, like a new visitor to New York City, my neck craned around and around trying to see all that was around me and above me.  Hearing the chatter of the café goers, the clinking of glasses, and "I'd like a brioche, one of those buns, and...an espresso with chocolate...is that like, a mocha?"

A Coffee & Espresso + Chocolate

I hate to say that wasn't something I would ask, but one of my barista friends had frustratingly told me that the only people that order fake coffee, aka: mochas, were always bakers.

My husband and I recently went back to visit San Francisco to attend the wedding of a couple of his friends. Whenever I visit, I have a necessity to fulfill: make time to visit Tartine and purchase one of every pastry I love, which ends up being at least 90% of the baked goods.

This time, it was suggested that we check out the new Manufactory on Alabama Street. I was so excited when I saw it, like a kid at a candy store and was looking forward to having an orange scented morning bun, a lemon tart, passion fruit cake slice... all typical items found at the Guerrero Street store. Low and behold, I got in line and did not recognize any of the pastries. Not one. There were a lot of look-alikes, but none of my usuals.  I hate to say, I was a little disappointed when I realized that not even one pastry was anything close to what they had at the other store.  However! That did not stop me from trying some of the new items. I did find a gem that I would go back for: the jelly-filled brioche.

At the original Tartine, I typically get the morning bun, lemon cream tart, passion fruit cake slice, almond croissant, tea cakes, fruit tart, frangipane tart... the list goes on...and finish it off with a Blue Bottle chickory iced coffee (see, I do drink other things than mocha).

At the Manufactory, I have discovered that items I would most likely have there again would be those on their breakfast menu. Guerrero Street Tartine doesn't have as large a breakfast menu. Mostly special toasts... I haven't been in awhile so I could be wrong if they have expanded the menu more so, but the Manufactory had some great breakfast dishes.  The coddled eggs were our favorite dish. Soft, coddled egg topped with trout roe that would surprise you with small bursts of saltiness.  Toast for slathering the soupy delicious mess that is topped with za'atar, a Mediterranean spice mix, which can be a mix of fresh thyme, sesame seeds, sumac (ground berry from the sumac plant), and salt.  Depending, the mix may also have Greek oregano, marjoram, and, or cumin.  It tasted very earthy and paired perfectly with the soft, soupy egg.

If you are going for something a little lighter or sweeter, perhaps the white corn grits with huckleberry, pecan and maple might be more enjoyable.

White Corn Grits / Coddled Egg & Toast

If you are interested in baking or are even just curious about the bread baking process, this store lets you have a sneak peek at how they do what they do and make what they make.  It's like taking a quick field trip for baker nerds such as myself.  

An Observation Window from the Hallway

Typically, guests don't get to see what's behind closed bakery doors. Most bread bakeries start baking late in the evening to finish their loaves of bread around 2am to get boxed up and ready for delivery by 4am and delivered at restaurant doors or smaller bake shops by 6am.

There is parking on the street, but it might be difficult based on the time you go, whether it is brunch or lunch rush.  

Order in line and grab a seat!

The Wine Bar

They serve dinner and drinks, which is another reason to go back for another visit.  I can't wait for them to open in LA.

Tartine Manufactory

595 Alabama St
San Francisco, CA 94110

b/t Mariposa St & 18th St in the Mission District

(415) 757-0007

Open 7 days a week

Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 5:00 pm
                               5:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Saturday & Sunday 7:30 am - 5:00 pm
                                  5:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Pizzeria Mozza

I don't know how the heck I got from Pico and La Cienega all the way to Western without seeing Highland!  Well, I blame bad eyesight and loud music; but I think it just doesn't connect or I'm just crazy.  Either way, it made me a wee bit late for my dinner.  Luckily, I didn't have to struggle much with parking, though, I did worry a bit.  I parked right out in front of the restaurant like a rock star (loading only zone).  hehe...I was just lucky. 

The building is marked, but I wasn't super sure which door was for the pizzeria and which was for the osteria, so I asked and was kindly directed.  I rushed through the door (since I was late) and luckily, remembered my manners and said hello to the hosts at the host stand who greeted me in a friendly fashion as I stated that I was meeting a friend who was already seated at the bar.  I made my way over and apologized for being late.  My first instinct was to grab the bottle of water that was in front of me and pour some in my glass for a drink when out of nowhere comes this arm the does it for me.  Amazing.  Now that's good service.

The restaurant was packed for a slow night.  I guess everyone thought the same thing as me, "oh, it's Monday, it'll be slow".  And it was slow...for them.  The atmosphere at Pizzeria Mozza is warm and friendly, like a neighborhood restaurant around the corner.  Not snobbishly fancy.  Lights hanging from the high ceilings and dim sconces along the wall light the dark reddish walls that promote our appetites.  I'm sitting front and center at the bar so that I can watch the pizzas being made.  The guys on the line don't miss a beat...especially that Chef Joseph. 

Chef Joseph Tagorda

This is how they do it...

Ready for the oven

Adding the final touches

In front of me sits a glass of prosecco wine.  MMM...I love it!  Compliments to the chef already!  haha.  First dish up is an appetizer.  Goat cheese, battered and fried sitting in a pool of lentils and bits of meat. (This is just my guess.) Topped with yummy arugula.  For those not really into goat cheese (I am not a fan AT ALL of goat cheese), I tried a little and ended up finishing my half of the dish (and we're talking about two people who really have a disdain for goat cheese) and so did my friend.  The portion of cheese seemed large, but was so light, it didn't mask any of the flavors of the lentil or arugula.  Sorry, there's no picture...that just means it was so good I forgot to take a picture and just went for it.

Next up were mussels. Mussels al forno (baked in the freakin' hot oven) with salsa Calabrese.  I'm ashamed to say that I didn't try these because I have a fear of soft and squishy sea stuff.  There are times when I will just go for it, but today wasn't that day.  My friend said they were good though. 

Bruschetta, pronounced brush-ketta.  Normally you have tomato, but at Mozza, it's butternut squash!  Delicious sautéed bitter greens that tasted like caramelized onion confit covered in a butternut squash puree topped with applewood smoked bacon.  Delicioso!  I feel like making this into a breakfast item, 'cept with a waffle! hehe.

And then there were two...

Squash blossoms.  If you like crunchy fried things, add this to your favorites list.  Filled with a ricotta filling and lightly battered and fried.  If you're not familiar with squash blossoms, they are the flowers taken from summer squash:

And for the main event:

The meatlover's pizza.    No, this isn't Dominos, but it was referred to as that as its nickname I suppose. Bacon, salami, fennel sausage, guanciale, tomato and mozzarella.  The pizza was about 9" or so, just enough to share or eat on your own.  In our case, share, since we'd already had so many appetizers.  The crust was super thin without it becoming soggy from the sauce.  Perfecto.

We also had individual sized pizzas; one with a sheep's cheese, Cacio di Roma, stinging nettles, and Salumi salami.  Now, let's get back to these nettles.  I was eating the pizza and suddenly, I thought of Chinese medicine.  I couldn't tell if it was from the taste or the aroma, but now I know it was from the aroma.  Stinging nettles are a plant that (for visual thought's sake) whose leaves kind of remind me of parsley but have little hairs (that inject histamines) to protect itself from humans or other animals.  It has a long history of being used for medicinal purposes such as this Chinese balm called Mopiko, which we used to use on our mosquito bites when visiting the Philippines.  All o' dis from the smell of my pizza.  By the way, the nettles were fried, so no tongues were numbed while eating.  Interesting.

Pizza Bianca.  Mozzarella, fontina, sottocenere, and scattered pieces of fried sage.  Very good, but I still have to stick to the meaty one as my favorite.  I am biased though, only because I enjoy red sauced food items better and I like meat vs. much else.

At this point, we were stuffed--but there was still enough room for some gelato!  And by some, I mean three small scoops.  Lovely scoops of Gianduja (hazelnut), vanilla and mint chip (I know, boring).  For my friend, pistachio (highly recommended), coconut, and espresso.  Next time, I say get the gianduja (I just like saying gianduyah...don'tcha?), pistachio, and espresso, unless they have something different next time.  All of this was topped off with a pretty waffle tuile, which I used as a scoop for my gelato.  I imagined I was sitting on the Spanish steps in Rome, eating gelato out of a waffle cone.  Not really, but maybe they'd like me to.

Lastly (and this time I mean it), we had a meyer lemon tart with fresh blueberries, with a side of cream and sprinkled with candied lemon zest.  Creamy and delicious.  The shortbread crust was light, moist and perfectly baked!

What a lovely meal.  I'd like to say that I was so full I passed out from food coma, but the sugar from the dessert helped me stay awake to write all of this. yay! 

Here's the menu for your next visit.  http://www.mozza-la.com/pizzeria/menu.cfm#69

Pizzeria Mozza
614 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles
(323) 297-0100 for reservations

Valet Parking about $10 or if you're lucky and it's after 6pm, you can park in the yellow loading zone right in front of the restauant (*at your own risk of course*) ;0)

XIV

Oh XIV.  I always drove by it. It seemed like I wouldn’t ever be able to afford to even step onto the property unless I was going to work there or something (awww…).  Then one day my sister asked me if I wanted to go for LA’s restaurant week (they had a $30 or $40 three course tasting menu).  Of course, I accepted!  I hadn’t been to an upscale restaurant in awhile.  I wanted to see what this place was all about.  Driving by, it seemed like a very busy restaurant with majorly high end clientele.  We called to see what the dress code was: California Chiq.  Uh, really?  Oh, but it’s a fancy way of saying, jeans with heels or clubby.  Haha…oh geez.

Taking this as an opportunity to dress up, of course, we all did (six ladies).  We headed over, left our car with valet and walked towards the randomly positioned gentleman who made you suddenly realize that it was no coincidence as to where he was stationed.  The front door, which looked like a secret entrance if one was not aware of where the door handle was.  And so, we entered.

My sister walked up to the hostess stating that we were there for our 9PM reservation, though we were missing one person.  The hostess said we needed everyone there before she could seat us.  Two minutes later, the last of our party had arrived and my sister went up to the hostess again to inform her that our party was all present.  The hostess stated that it would only be a few minutes…so we waited.  And waited…after thirty minutes of chatter and noticing that everyone around us was getting seated, my sister went up to the hostess and asked why it was taking so long for them to seat us when we had a 9PM reservation.  The hostess said that they weren’t aware that we were all there.  WHAT?!  ARE YOU KIDDING?   Needless to say, we were all pissed.  Especially my sister, who started doing the attitudinal neck weave from afar.  (uh-oh).  You would think that they would A) pay attention to what they were doing. (This IS Michael Mina’s after all), and B) a friend of ours chimed in and told the hostess that next time, you shouldn’t keep telling your guests “it’ll just be a few minutes” if it’s going to be more than 20 minutes!”  Five minutes later, our table was ready. 

Our waiter was pleasant.  We all decided on the tasting menu which included a tasty appetizer of yogurt dusted with espresso and served with pita?, a first course of butternut squash soup or tuna tartare, hanger steak vs. lobster ravioli and choice of dessert.  (Of course I had both). 

The service was okay.  They got a couple orders wrong and when asking everyone if we wanted coffee, they pretty much assumed that we weren’t interested.  The food was simple.  I don’t know if the regular menu is spectacular, but the tasting menu didn’t wow anyone at our table at all.  Perhaps we expected too much and our standards were just not met OR it was just disappointing overall.  I definitely expected to be wowed at the end of the night, but sadly, I wasn’t.

Update: XIV shuttered in 2011 and was taken over by Hyde Sunset Kitchen & Cocktails, a concept by SBE group, owners of The Bazaar Hotel on La Cienega, in 2014.

Backtracking

Today I bought one of those little rounds of Happy Cow Swiss Cheese. I initially went to the supermarket just to buy some butter, but I passed by a display of Happy Cow and suddenly I was reminded of my recent trip to Turkey. A flashback of swimming in the salty mediterranean, soaring through the sky over Oludeniz, fearing for my life while swallowing much of the Dalaman River, hearing the beats of late night clubs in Taksim Square, smelling the warm aromas of shawarma, watching the best sandwich ever being made at the bus station on the way to Fethiye...

Sounds a little bizarre at first...Happy Cow? I concluded from my trip that a simple and basic Turkish breakfast is made up of delicious white bread, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, and beyaz peynir! (a white cheese)...and ah the lovely cay (pronounced shay). Turkish tea is better than any coffee high I've ever been on. You just can't beat a small glass of Turkish tea to keep you going all day. It doesn't make you jittery. You are just awake and everything will be okay! haha...sounds like crack.

When my friends and I began our adventure through Turkey, we thought, great! This is a nice, simple and fresh tasting breakfast, but then when you have it EVERYDAY, by the end, everyone's running for anything and everything else. I still like it though and even as I left Turkey, I had that simple mix of ingredients together in a sandwich at the airport (with some tea of course!).

I love how little things like that can bring you back to a great memory. I'm reliving it all again tomorrow for my breakfast!