On the upper level of Westsfield Century City is Obikà Mozzarella Bar – a casual Italian restaurant concept based on serving the best mozzarella made from the milk of the domestic water buffalo.
It is a unique restaurant featuring traditional Italian recipes and high-quality Italian handmade products that are prepared “in sight.”
Chef Simone Santopietro arrived in Los Angeles from Italy in September 2010 to help open the first Obika at Century City a couple of weeks later. A second L.A. location opened at the Beverly Center in November of that year.
Santopietro said there were many things he loved about Obikà.
“I love the daily motivation of delivering only good authentic Italian food and recipes but a complete Italian experience to our very demanding customers,” Santopietro said. “There is a lot of research we put behind every single ingredient we bring in our kitchen and their sources, Italian or local; it is a contemporary way of presenting a real, traditional Italian food experience.”
What can you expect on the menu?
The Schiaffoni di gragnano alla sorrentina (fresh tomato sauce, basil, and mozzarella di bufala) is Obika’s signature dish, sourced from the culinary tradition of Italy’s southern Campania region. It is a special bronze-cut pasta in large format that marries perfectly with the tomato sauce and the mozzarella.
Meanwhile, the homemade ricotta and spinach ravioli with butter, sage and Parmigiano Reggiano is a very traditional Italian dish.
It embraces the Northern Italian tradition of rolling egg pasta until very thin, and filling small squares with ricotta and spinach filling.
Santopietro the manual techniques they use in making ravioli is the same as every Italian grandmother.
“We toss them with a light sauce, a little butter and fresh sage, Parmigiano Reggiano grated on the plate,” he said. “The best compliment we get at the restaurant for this dish is that it takes them back to their Italian Sundays at home, with mothers making fresh homemade pasta for their family. Some of them say ours is even better that their grandmas!”
Santopietro said the restaurant imports products from every Italian region; to guarantee authenticity and quality, they deal mostly with DOP (Denominazione Origine Protetta – controlled designation of origin) products, where their Certificate of Origin dictates that it has been produced following specific rules of production, ingredients/materials, and areas.
“For example, Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma, or Consorzio del Prosciutto di San Daniele in the Northern Italian Trentino region, or Consorzio del Parmigiano Reggiano in Reggio Emilia,” Santopietro said. “Much smaller realities or villages produce outstanding products like anchovies from Sciacca (Sicily) or capers from the remote island of Pantelleria, south of Sicily. Our pasta is produced by Gentile, one of the oldest producers in the Campania town of Gragnano, using the same bronze molds for generations.”
Santopietro said he believes that Obika’s pizzas are the best pizza in Los Angeles for three major reasons.
“We let the dough rise very naturally for 48 hours,” he said. “We mix our imported Petra flour with local stone-ground whole wheat flour. This gives our pizza a unique flavor and perfect consistency. In the toppings we use ingredients following the same philosophy guiding the Obika concept: good, authentic, artisanal products — from the basic pizza combination of mozzarella, always Bufala, and tomato, to very special toppings like truffle from Piemonte or ‘nduja spicy sausage from Calabria.”
He said the pizza is cooked in an imported Italian oven lined on the inside with special stone that maintains high heat releasing uniformly, cooking the pizza in approximately 90 to 100 seconds.
“The Obika cuisine is a true Italian contemporary food experience delivered every day with the same enthusiasm and commitment for delicious food as in our motherland Italy,” he said.
Obikà Mozzarella Bar
Sunday-Thursday: 11:30 am to 10 pm
Friday-Saturday: 11:30 am to 11 pm
Westfield Century City Shopping Center
10250 Santa Monica Boulevard, Upper level
310.556.2452
obika.com
