Bring on the Mootz @ Mozzeria

Update 2022: Mozzeria has currently closed their brick and mortar (we miss you!), but you can still visit their food truck! Check out their schedule https://mozzeria.com/menu-foodtruck/ and eat on the hoof. 

Welcome to Mozzeria! They first wowed us with their offering at last year's Street Food Festival (an amazing La Mia Oca Burrata ), and we finally made it to the resto to eat our way down their menu. Mozzeria is a smallish cool, clean and quiet place to grab a thoughtful well-made dinner. J.K. and I were waiting outside at 5:30 on a Wednesday evening when they opened so we got a table, even without a reservation. Phew!
Mozzeria has wine and an array of non-alcoholic drinks. So I opted to get a Pink Lemonade with Thyme to start the meal. It was pink and delicious, just see for yourselves.While waiting for our food to arrive, we perused the art and decor (and fellow diners).

Housemade Pink Lemonade with Thyme

Party of one? Welcome!

Money trees!

Original Art.

Old School, New School Pizza Tools.

 We were doubly lucky since Mozzeria has a $20 3-course special menu available on Wednesday nights. This includes your choice of an appetizer, a pizza and a dessert. How could Tea Time resist this deal? We didn't! We chose one $20 dinner and then opted to order a second appetizer and a pasta main dish. Somehow we also ended up with two desserts!

If you've been a faithful reader, you won't be surprised that we got the Fava Leaf Salad as one of our appetizers. It's got so much going for it, just in the name! Salad (we love it!) and Fava Leaves–my chance to introduce J.K. to these flavorful and luscious greens. This salad takes it up a notch, as you can see we had to leave two photos in our post just so you can get a look at all the goodies hiding in this creative presentation.We also got the Mozzeria Bar, which is a slab of Mozzarella in a golden, crunchy deep fried shell with Pomodoro sauce and basil. This happily paired with our healthy salad and we were in appetizer heaven. Our new motto at Tea Time is "Can't go wrong with fried cheese!"

Avacado schmear, fava greens, pink grapefruit

Goat cheese, toasted nuts, thin sliced beets!

Oooey, Gooey yummy Cheese.

Mootz with red sauce.

We chose the Pizza Margherita for our $20 dinner entree. This is foldable pizza, the kind with the wood-burning oven crisp crust and the perfectly light toppings of red sauce and cheese. It's a big size, but with a thin crust that makes it not too overwhelming on the carb front. The Pea Agnolotti  pasta dish was right up our alley as well, featuring white beans, plump two bite raviolis, crispy pancetta, basil and fresh tomatoes. Our server poured a rich broth over our pasta dish tableside.

We're going back to try the Duck Pizza, but we started with the classic Margherita for our first visit.

Pea Agnolotti-- a new to us pasta dish with broth.

As for dessert, we picked the Bombolini which are simply the best doughnuts ever. Our dessert plate came with a schmear of dark rich chocolate and little clouds of whipped cream to contrast these hot sugary delights. This was the dessert which we chose for the $20 meal (fava salad/pizza/bombolini). Then, somehow, J. K. and I ordered a second dessert. Really, we didn't mean to! But luck and chance brought us the Mozzeria Brownie. Which isn't just a brownie! This dessert dish features a plethora of ingredients to mix and match. Caramelized banana, vanilla ice cream, a slightly spicy brownie, fruity sauce, whipped cream and nuts!

Bombolini -- lemon  / cinnamon / chocolate anglaise

This dessert is just labeled "Brownie" on the menu, but it's so much more!

The staff and chefs at Mozzeria are friendly and fun. Overall each dish was presented in a thoughtful and lovely fashion, in addition to being quite tasty. Their webpage suggests you make a reservation, and while Tea Time got lucky with a table, if you want to eat there on a weekend, make sure to get your name on the list!

Our Pizzaiolo Poses With The Oven

Fold your pizza, it's the polite thing to do.

After all that food (especially the two desserts) we decided to walk most of the way home. On the way, we saw many interesting sights, including a (literally) handicapped parking meter and a fancifully decorated car.

San Francisco is an awesome place to live (and eat). You never know what you'll find around the corner. It took us a while to find Mozzeria, but they certainly lived up to our memories of the SF Street Food Festival* dish they had on offer at last year's event. Let's hope they choose to participate again! But even if they don't J.K. and I are already planning our next trip to the Mission to get some more Mozzeria!

*Hey,  if you're ready for a day of eating, let us know! We'll be there... walking up and chowing down all day at the food festival on the 17th of August. Make sure to get your passport to flavortown!


Update:

We finally made it back to Mozzeria, this time for lunch, and our long-awaited duck pizza. We started with salad, of course. Specifically their Kale Salad featuring:  squash / blue cheese / pumpkin seed / grapefruit and dressing schmears on the side. They make everything picture perfect at this resto!

Our work of art salad, delicious and beautiful!

This is a cheese-less pizza, served with hoisin sauce and greens on the side. If you add the veggies, folding your slice is a must, to keep them from falling off. We were delighted to find Mozzeria open for lunch! Their pizza is a perfect meal for an hour lunch break, since it's hot out of the oven in just a few minutes. It's an awesome deal as they're currently knocking down the price of your pizzas, some are only $10 each. So don't worry about a reservation for dinner when you can choose your seat for lunch!

Duck Pizza!

Gussied-Up Slice