Pizzeria Mozza

Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich's Pizzeria Mozza has become such a force in LA's pizza culture that nearly every other pie in town is compared to it, even if the comparisons are never quite apt. After all, Pizzeria Mozza is in a class all to itself:  Silverton's pizzas are unabashedly doughy and chewy, full of airy, sometimes charred, bubbles and topped with ingredients that would not be out of place in the kitchen at Lucques: burrata and squash blossoms, fennel sausage or wonderfully toothy long-cooked broccolini with caciocavallo cheese. Beyond the pizza are other showstoppers: hefty meatballs made with no less than three rich meats (veal, pork, pancetta) and served in a passata di pomodoro sauce; and a creamy, buttery, rich butterscotch budino that, no matter how many times you have it, is bound to be one of the best desserts you'll have all year. Just like the pizza.