Mozza still great

Did some shopping on La Brea today. Figured I'd go eat at Mozza while I was in the area, hoping Nancy might be at the restaurant (she was not). The wait was quite reasonable this time (10 minutes). Of course, I was dining alone and it was 2pm on Friday, but hey not bad. A couple arrived just before I was to be seated, and they got a spot next to me right away. Also sat next to another solo diner, who is head of HR at City of Hope, where my boss once worked, and happens to have attended Stanfurd. Oh, did I mis-spell that? ;p She attended the infamous Big Game, where the "The Play" happened (link to video here). I think I have met one other person who was at that game, but her story was the best I've heard. She says she and her friends were down on/near the field when it happened, thinking they (Stanford) had won the game. They had no idea "The Play" was happening. A friend came down from the stands later and told them what had happened. They couldn't believe it and thought s/he was joking, until it finally set in. What a let down! And to make things worse (for her), she and a friend were staying with another friend who attended Cal, so they had to endure a whole night of defeat.

Anyway, back to Mozza. The pizzas are still excellent; in fact, I think it was better this time around. Maybe because it wasn't as busy, so the pizzaiolos aren't as rushed. And I got one of the best seats in the house, again. It's great sitting at the bar in front of the pizza oven. You get to see the pizzaiolos do their thing and watch all the great product coming out of the oven. Plus, both times I've been there, the people at the bar are so friendly. I guess that's the beauty of sitting at a bar area. I don't know why, though, but I haven't experienced this as much elsewhere. And I definitely did not think LA would be so friendly. Maybe I don't dine at the bar enough.

I did, however, forget how bad traffic is here in LA. I went to the South Bay (Torrance) today for a haircut. Funny, it turned out my friend Alice was in the same exact area. Too bad we weren't able to meet up -- she was on her way to meet another friend for lunch. Thought we might meet up later in Beverly Hills or after that for dessert, but I guess she got tied up. Anyway, it took me about an hour to get from Torrance to Mozza (what area is that? Melrose, Fairfax, Hancock Park, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills?). Geez, L.A. has so many area names. Maybe they are subnames of districts. SF is so much easier, even though I still get a lot of the neighborhoods confused up there. So, basically, between 11:30am and 5pm, I got a whole three things accomplished: haircut, lunch, American Rag. Can you imagine the productivity boost the LA economy would achieve if there was decent transportation and less congestion?