Girl Meets Pizza: Obica Mozzarella Bar [century city]

Obica Mozzarella Bar, Pizza e Cucina

10250 Santa Monica Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90067

On a Yelp search for pizza close to Westwood, Obica generally does not pop up as a top hit. Maybe on a very specialized search in the 5 mile radius from my apartment it finally popped up. I wanted to come because mozzarella bars have to have at least decent pizza, at least topped with high quality cheese!

The restaurant is located inside the Westfield Century City "mall," upstairs near Bloomingdales. We came late on a Thursday night, around 8:30 so the mall was about to close. There was no one really inside, but everyone was seated in a little outdoor tent that was heated and lit with string lights. I ordered the "pomodoro biologico e mozzarella" or the "pomodoro" which was the closest thing to a margherita. It basically was a margherita, but I think because they didnt use SM tomatoes they didn't want to call it that. Also the pizze menu boasted that their dough rises slowly for 2 days and is "worth the wait" so my expectations were rising. We started out with a taster plate of cheese, as anyone must, and it was very delicious especially with the accompanying spinach and tomatoes.

When the pizzas were brought out to our table, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The pizza did not look like a typical neapolitan as I was expecting, but the crust/dough looked very reminiscent of Italian-restaurant or CPK style pizza. My expectations were immediately lowered to that standard. However, I still had high hopes for the cheese. The pizza was sliced into 4 quarters, which is always a good sign and in my opinion is how all pizzas should be sliced for optimum folding. One bite and I was sold. The dough, although on first impression looked lackluster, was very very good. It was sturdy and crisp on the outside yet still soft and chewy. The sturdiness of it, though an odd quality for pizza, I thought was especially important and successful considering how many people bash on pizzas for being "too soggy" or having all the toppings fall off in one bite. The cheese was impeccable, as expected after we had already tasted some of the bufala to begin with. The sauce was not the typical neapolitan pizza sauce, but probably because they didn't use SM tomatoes which are a little bit sweeter. Andrew's prosciutto pizza was also pretty good, but I would probably still rather get the regular pomodoro again and really enjoy the delicacy of the cheese.

All in all the pizza was delicious and I would definitely come back (even by myself). Its location in the Westfield mall makes it a perfect destination to get delicious food after a bit of shopping. I don't think it gets too busy here (see photos below) but there is definitely ample seating if they ever do.