Mozzarella Monday

[bapopik at AOL.COM]

MOZZARELLA MONDAY--70 Google hits, 0 Google Groups hits
MOZZARELLA MONDAYS--10 Google hits, 0 Google Groups hits


(FACTIVA)
New York Pulse
ITS TODAYS CHEESE WIZ
CYNTHIA KILIAN
600 words
23 March 2005
New York Post
46
English
(c) 2005 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

MOZZARELLA is the new Big Cheese.
Restaurants are making their own, concocting whole platters devoted to the once overlooked pizza topper and serving the Italian cheese in endlessly fresh presentations.
Bond 45, a handsome new Italian addition to Times Square, serves a large platter with four types of mozzarella, including one made in the restaurants kitchen.
"I was really going to build a mozzarella bar and do it like our antipasto bar," says owner Shelly Fireman, "but one of the problems is, mozzarella looks kind of boring . . . Its white balls and slightly milky, so the appeal is mixing and matching it with other things."
For now, that means serving it with eggplant caponata, nutty fava beans and walnuts, proscuitto and roasted peppers, but there are many possibilities.
"Its so endless," says Fireman, "adding is easy."
In Los Angeles, Mario Batali is joining forces with baking wizard Nancy Silverton to open a West Coast mozzarella bar, with plans for a spin-off here. Silverton should know a thing or two about the subject - she already presides over "Mozzarella Monday" at L.A.s Jar restaurant.
The idea has taken off here too. The Rock Center Caf is doing its own "Mozzarella Monday," with dishes such as crispy sausage and mozzarella purses, and fresh mozzarella, basil and prosciutto pinwheels with garlic crostini.
The current darling of the mozzarella world is a variety called burrata, a rich, leaf-wrapped specimen imported from
Puglia, Italy.
"People are going crazy over it," says Donatella Arpaia, owner of SoHos just-opened Ama, dedicated to Pugliese food.
"Mike Myers - you know, Austin Powers - was here a few days ago and just fell in love with it. Hes like, Its sick! I love it! "
Ama serves the lush cows milk cheese on the leaf it comes wrapped in, which was originally used to keep the cheese cool, but is now just for decoration.
"All we do is help the customer open the pouch and we drizzle a little olive oil from Puglia, and thats it. You dont have to add salt, you dont have to add pepper, you dont have to do much to it at all. Its a very rich mozzarella."


I eat at Donatella's restaurant, and she name-drops Mike Myers? Oooh, that woman!

"Mozzarella Monday" is something that might catch on. What's next? Andy Smith's "Tuna Tuesday"?


(FACTIVA)
GO!
A LA CARTE

734 words
18 February 2005
The Record
All Editions
G38
English
(...)
Rustic-Italian-style handmade mozzarella takes center plate on Monday nights at the bar at Rock Center Cafe. Executive chef Antonio Protelli offers a menu with six mozzarella dishes matched with a selection of Italian wines by the glass. The signature Mozzarella Monday menu offers plates priced from $8 to $12 each. Rock Center Cafe is at 20 W. 50th St., Manhattan. Information: (212) 332-7620.


(FACTIVA)
Silverton, Batali to join forces for Mozza Bar concept in L.A.: locally produced mozzarella to be central to dishes.(News)

Jennings, Lisa
755 words
14 February 2005
Nation's Restaurant News
4
ISSN: 0028-0518; Volume 39; Issue 7
English
Copyright 2005 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved.

Los ANGELES -- La Brea Bakery founder and renowned chef-restaurateur Nancy Silverton is teaming up with a counterpart from New York, celebrated chef-restaurateur Mario Batali, to open a new concept here that tentatively is named Mozza Bar and someday may be replicated in the Big Apple.
The casual, Italian-inspired restaurant will be a first on the West Coast for Batali and his longtime business partner Joseph Bastianich. The pair owns seven critically acclaimed New York restaurants, including Babbo, Esca, Lupa and the recently opened Bistro du Vent. The Los Angeles venture also marks a reversal of Batali's former stance that he never would open a restaurant in that city.
(...)
Over the past several months, Silverton also has hosted the popular "Mozzarella Mondays" at the Los Angeles restaurant Jar, co-owned by chef Suzanne Tracht. The weekly dinners include a bar menu that features locally produced mozzarella prepared in various ways.

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COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC: WHERE DID BARRY POPIK EAT?

A brief round-up of my Tyler Cowan restaurant challenge. I visited some excellent restaurants and then some standard types.

KLUNG--I ate there Wednesday (last night). A Siamese restaurant on St. Marks Place, between Second and Third. It's been open about six months. A nice place.

MERMAID INN--On Second Avenue. I ate there in Monday and finally got a seat. Worth it for the seafood.

INDIAN PLACE A BLOCK AWAY FROM THE MERMAID INN WHEN I COULDN'T GET A TABLE IN THERE--Not bad for Northern Indian.

BLT FISH--I finally got in there. There's a nice garlic and cheese bread before the meal. I can't tell much from OK fish & chips.

PORTFOLIO RESTAURANT--The next block from BLT Fish, when I couldn't get a table there. This place was empty, but it's OK Italian.

SERAFINA RESTAURANT--There are at least four different ones in Manhattan--one on Broadway and West 55th, one on Lafayette Street, and I ate at the one on West 61st. I had lettuce and then noodles. It was about $33 with taxes and tip! Overpriced, overrated Italian. Would be OK if cheaper.

BROADWAY DINER--Not on Broadway, of course (that's now a Serafina), but on Lexington Avenue and 52nd. Nothing special, but bright enough to read the paper.

PIZZA RESTAURANT ON CARMINE STREET--Already mentioned.

ITALIAN RESTAURANT ON CARMINE STREET--It's a block down from the pizza restaurant. Above average. Reasonably priced.

PIZZA & PASTA ON LA GUARDIA--An OK place, about two blocks from the NYU Bobst Library.

JACQUES IMO'S TO GEAUX AT GRAND CENTRAL--Already mentioned.

HUMMUS ON MACDOUGAL STREET--Same as the Hummus on St. Marks Place.

LOUIS G'S ICE CREAM ON MACDOUGAL STREET--One of a Brooklyn chain. A good egg cream, but I still like Carvel ice cream better.

MARY'S FISH CAMP ON WEST FOURTH AND CHARLES STREET--Tiny and crowded, but good fish. Closed on Sundays. Mary was there, but is no Donatella.

MARY'S DAIRY ON WEST FOURTH--The Hawaii Five-O with killer chocolate and chips and nuts remains the only flavor to get. Not related to Mary's Fish Camp on West Fourth, but I felt like a Marys food chain last Saturday.

GOBO ON SIXTH AVENUE--There's now an uptown one as well. It's been rated one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the country and it certainly is good. I'll have to go there again for another dish. I was told to get the "New England rolls," which are fantastic, but New England? Is it supposed  to be a veggie lobster roll? It tasted more Vietnamese than New England!

BELLINI RESTAURANT ON EAST 52ND--Donatella's first restaurant. Good but overpriced. My most expensive meal, at $55 (after taxes and tip). The $28 tuna entree was not spectacular.

879-TACO ON FIRST AVENUE--Yes, I actually went here when I just didn't feel like a $60 "angry lobster" dinner at David Burke & Donatella on East 61st. Hey, it was ten bucks.

BLOCKHEADS--There are several, but I went to the closest one at Second Avenue and East 51st. Just average Mexican. Better than Taco Bell, not even close to Rosa Mexicano or Mama Mexico or Mexican Radio. Not even as good as Mary Ann's. But it's bright enough to read the newspaper with your meal.

MEDITERRANEAN CAFE--Falafel dive on East 53rd Street, below the ground.

KELLY AND PING--An "Asian Grocery and Noodle Shop" on 340 Third Avenue (near 23rd Street), also at 127 Greene Street. OK Asian.

RAY'S PIZZARIA ON PRINCE STREET--This is supposed to be the "original" Ray's pizza, established 1959. It says "pizzaria" in the window, not "pizzeria." An average slice place.

MEKONG RESTAURANT AND BAR ON PRINCE STREET--Average Vietnamese/Asian.

ENGLISH IS ITALIAN ON THIRD AVENUE AND EAST 40TH--Not a place to go by yourself. A good deal at $39 for all the rounds. I gotta take Grant Barrett and Jesse Sheidlower here. Orion Montoya's girlfriend looks kinda skinny, too.

IRISH BAR ON 43RD STREET, BETWEEN GRAND CENTRAL AND MADISON AVENUE--I didn't go to an Irish bar on St. Patrick's Day, but before, when it was empty. A surprisingly good French onion soup.

NATHAN'S-BLIMPIE'S-THE BEST PIZZA ON WESTCHESTER SQUARE--This opened near where I work. Two places on Westchester Square sell "the best pizza." Neither one is very good.