OBICÀ MOZZARELLA BAR PIZZA E CUCINA ANNIVERSARY PARTY
Photo by Noelle Kristine.
Yes, I spelled the name of this eatery correctly; for those of you already familiar with it, they changed the “k” to a “c,” I think to make it more Italian. But their anniversary fete was so bustling that I forgot to get to the bottom of it for you.
This chain of cheese-centric cafés was celebrating its tenth anniversary, in general, and its fourth anniversary in the Century City shopping mall, where this soiree took place.
Dillon and the little pizzas. (Great name for a music group, right?!) (And doesn’t it look like that little girl is eating one?!!! Fun pic, if I do say so myself!) Photo by Karen Salkin.
There was so much going on there! Very generous food was served all night to the big crowd, (and very amiably, I might add,) by servers Dillon, Michael,and Don. (More on the food in a sec.) And through it all, we were entertained by fabulous jazz guitarist, Paul Abbate.
When we arrived, most of the assemblage was on the patio, watching the chefs do a demonstration of how to actually make mozzarella. It didn’t matter that I missed most of the demo because, trust me, I’m never going to be making that myself. I don’t make anything! (Well, at the beginning of my relationship with Mr. X, I did attempt a lasagna. After one bite, he said, “Kah, please never cook again!” And guess what? He got what he asked for! Hence, I became the restaurant critic that I am today!)
Okay, back to the food. The plentiful passed hors d’oeuvres included paninis, big slices of margherita pizza, gazpacho “shots” in both yellow and red varieties, eggplant puffs, and all kinds of desserts. The chocolate almond cake was out of this world!
Photo by Noelle Kristine.
But the pièce de résistance was the mozzarella bar itself. Each guest received a plate with a couple of chunks of the freshly made cheese, and on the side were three sauces with which to enhance the experience. There was an olive tapenade, a pesto, and the best one, a sun-dried tomato sauce.
While holding court on the patio, I made time to take a gander at their new menu, which looks very different from the one I remember from a couple of years ago. The party whetted my appetite, so I’ll try to get in a full review of Obicà for you, before the end of the year.
