Osteria Mozza

This is one of the hottest restaurants in LA right now. It's Nancy Silverton (formerly of Campanile/La Brea Bakery) with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich (of Babbo in NYC and featured in "Heat" by Bill Buford). Reservations take a month to get. I went this week with 3 friends and we all universally loved it. The restaurant is really beautiful. It's got the blue-green/brown thing going that everyone is doing now. The bar counter is a beautiful white veined marble and the main room is large and noisy. We ate in a second room that is smaller and much more quiet. The service was at a level that I don't usually encounter in LA but I believe is more common in other cities. We have a lot of 'waiter/something-else' types here.
When we got to the restaurant, I asked the bartender to make me up something Italian-y. She served me a drink made with an amaro (an Italian herbal liqueur), vanilla, citrus and some other stuff, and it was delicious and refreshing.
At the table, we had a hard time deciding what to order. The menu is divided into starters, mozzarella bar, pastas and main courses. The waiter suggested we share 3 appetizers and 2 pastas and then each get a main. The apps were a grilled figs with pancetta, a sheep's milk ricotta with toasted hazelnuts, and a burata with bacon. Each was a wonderful combo of flavours, and often with a surprising taste in the mix. The bacon was some of the best I've ever had and the cheeses were unbelievably fresh.
Pastas were orrechiette with sausage and chard, and agnolotti with butter and sage sauce. This is the first time that I've understood what the big deal is with butter sage sauce. The pastas all had a wonderful chewy texture.
I had duck for the main course. They press the duck so the skin is extra crispy and serve it with a pear 'moutarde' which has the sweetness of pear with a little kick. Amazing with the duck.
Dessert was the 'bombolino' which are little donuts, although I preferred the crispelles which were served with the most delicious strawberry sauce.
The wine suggested by the sommelier was absolutely delicious and paired wonderfully with everyone's food.
We all went home with happy palates and tummies.