Pizzeria Mozza in Police Chief's Office: Italian Dining DeLuxe at the Headquarters, San Diego

[Karsten Boone]

Where can you get a varied, perfectly seasoned, five course rustic Italian meal with great wines and original cocktails in San Diego?  Pizzeria Mozza fits that bill.           

Pizzeria Mozza, sits on the western end of San Diego’s Headquarter’s, a rebirth of the historic San Diego Police Department Headquarters, built in 1939.  After 28 years in limbo, it is now on the national registry of historic places, with buildings and an open air plaza at the entrance to Seaport Village.  The Headquarters is an eclectic mix of complimentary architectural styles, including Spanish Colonial, Classical and Mediterranean Revival, and Pueblo Deco.  The plaza includes a reproduction of the original fountain on its original spot.  Now, you can stroll through shops, dine at fine restaurants, and enjoy San Diego’s tropical climate.  The area is dog friendly—as is most of the surrounding area.  You’ll find people walking their dogs, and dining with them in the outdoor areas of the restaurants. 

Pizzeria Mozza occupies the former commanding officer’s offices, catty-corner from the inmates’ cells, which are open to the public.   As with all four Pizzeria Mozza locations, this is a green certified restaurant.  They make their own sparkling water, buy fresh local produce, and even recycle their kitchen’s grease into biofuel and, further, into hand soap. 

This is Southern Italian rustic dining, with exceptional ingredients from Italy and California.  The varied menu draws upon its founding chefs—Mario Batali, La Brea Bread’s Nancy Silverton, and chef/writer Joseph Bastianich.  We tasted Coppa from Mario’s father in Seattle, wine from Bastianich vineyards in Italy, bread baked daily on site, pizza dough from Nancy’s secret recipe, prepared twice daily, and a cocktail with their own house-made bitters.  This isn’t grab and go, plan on spending a couple (or more) very enjoyable hours.  You won’t want to miss the bruschetta, antipasti, insalata, pizza or desert.  We certainly didn’t.  Stray off the beaten path with your wine, there are great Italian varietals you may never have heard of, that will make your day or night.  Or, try a local brew or local distillery spirits.  You’ll want to taste a lot, so the larger your party, the better. 

Sommelier and all around go-to guy, LaMont Schroeder, hosted the International Food, Wine, and Travel Association’s Spring Press Lunch.   He and his staff created an original cocktail for the group, the Orchard Blossom Cocktail, with gin, peach liquor, apple cinnamon bitters, St. Germaine, and lime juice—spring in a glass, a fresh orange aroma, rounded out with high notes from the bitters.

We enjoyed two bruschetta:   a white bean alla Toscana with saba and a chicken livers, capers, parsley & pancetta bruschetta.    The first was light, with depth and sweetness from the saba (a reduction of grape must, essentially).  The second was savory, hearty, full, refreshed by lemon and capers.  I’d go for the second on a cool night, the first in the summer-time heat.

Normally, one might skip an antipasti of bread and cheese—don’t, just don’t.  The Mozza caprese uses creamy, meltingly flavorful burrata (mozzarella & cream), pesto, and slow, oh so slow, roasted cherry tomatoes.  The slabs of bread drizzled with olive oil and topped with Maldon sea salt—light, airy, and you could spend an afternoon happily with this bread. 

The Insalata, with radicchio dressed with lemon vinaigrette to cut the bitterness, applewood smoked bacon, pecorino Romano, and perfectly prepared eggs, is the right combination of salty, citrus, spice.   If, like me, you routinely add pepper to your salad (you know, the waiter comes with that too long pepper mill before you’ve had a bite)—don’t, not here.  This is a combination of flavors that needs no addition or subtraction.   You could make a meal of this dish alone—but then you’d miss out on everything else.

After all, it’s a Pizzeria, so you need the pizza.  If you want deep dish, this isn’t it.  If you want turducken style crust, this isn’t it.  This is thin crust, almost paper thin, crisp enough to hold everything piled on, cooked in a wood fired oven, with Nancy’s secret recipe.  We dined on the kale Pizza, with cacao di roma, mozzarella & spicy coppa, which was developed here at San Diego’s Pizzeria Mozza.  The coppa comes from Mario Batali’s father in Seattle, pork shoulder cured with chili flakes.   Everything is made from scratch, by hand, with a 14 hour starter made twice daily, under the watchful care of Chef Julie Sinning.  You and I can’t make this crust, and probably couldn’t devote the time and care to it.  The Mozza cook book, however, has a version for the home cook. 

Two deserts finished our feast.  Pizzeria Mozza’s signature Butterscotch Budino, with Maldon sea salt, and rosemary pine nut biscotti—the butterscotch substitutes for the caramel topping on a crème brulee, with a rich mousse below.  If you are a fan of crème brulee—step this way for a different take.  Or, you may want to try the gelato—which we did.  The pineapple was especially refreshing.   Of course, both are complimented by a full flavored cappuccino made by one of their many trained baristas.   

Throughout the meal I enjoyed a wine from the Bastianich vineyards in Italy, a 2011 Friulano, which, like 15 other wines is available by the glass.  The glass is really 1/3 of a bottle, served in a carafe, so it can last throughout the meal if you like.  This white wine began like a fresh but fuller bodied Vermentino, with a savory taste on the end.  The wine list offers the opportunity to explore a variety of unusual varietals.  Call upon LaMont Schroeder (he’s there almost every night until closing).  He can suggest a wine to compliment your meal and your taste.  If you do, you’ll find something new to add to your cellar.    

All of these dishes come from a small, well-staffed kitchen.  As Chef John Stenbakken described it:  the food has a simple presentation, which comes from lots of preparation.  A great deal of thought and experience goes into each dish and menu, which changes, in some way, daily.  Expect to spend about $30 to $40 plus wine (which is by the glass for about $12, or the bottle averaging around $40).  Come hungry, and plan to spend a couple of hours—that is, after all, authentic Italian dining.