Saturday, December 31, 2011

Mozzeria

New Year's Eve, 2011. 

We forgot to make dinner reservations anywhere, and 2012 is breathing down our necks.  Tummies grumbling, we check OpenTable for something.  Anything.  Please, oh, please.

Hmm.  This is interesting.  It seems there is a table available for a new restaurant called Mozzeria... I've never heard of it before, have you... no?... well it's Italian...okay, why not, let's do it!

We head to the Mission and circle the block trying to find a spot near the restaurant, and as the streets are filled with cars parked by sparkly, sequined revelers filing into the bars nearby, I suppose it was lucky to find a spot three blocks away. 

As we are running late, I try to call and hold the table.  The phone rings and rings and rings.  Odd, but I figure the place is hoping so they just can't be hassled to stop and answer. 

We walk in, and there upon occurs the most interesting and funny experience I can remember for some time.

We stand there waiting for someone to greet us for several minutes.  It is oddly quiet.  People are eating, but no one is really speaking.  And no one is coming up to us.  We look at each other and are thinking about leaving, when a hostess comes up.  She is holding a pad of paper and points to "name on reservation?" and then hands over the paper and pen.

Then it dawns on me.  She is deaf, and so is nearly everyone else in the restaurant.  In fact, we learn that the chef (Chef Bryan Baker) and owners (Melody and Russel Stein) are all deaf and are very passionate about having a hearing-impaired friendly restaurant with great cuisine.  Love it!

We sit, we sip prosecco, and enjoy the quiet.  We order several options off of the prix fixe menu, including beet salad, some sort of crostini with onions, pizza Margherita, and gnocci in white sauce. 

Baked in a wood oven, the pizza was phenomenal.  Sadly, it was the only thing.  In fact, the pizza is so great it is worth returning for, and with some menu tweaks, I'm sure everyone would be happy to support a restaurant that is diverse in both its culture and cuisine.

Mozzeria | 3228 16th Street (at Guerrero), San Francisco, CA | www.mozzeria.com