Rising to the defense of Mozza's butterscotch budino

Pizzeria Mozza on Highland Avenue.

It seems that Angeleno Magazine recently rated the luxurious butterscotch budino with caramel sauce at Pizzeria Mozza only the 67th best dish in Los Angeles. Considering that the budino, served in a glass with with sea salt cookies, has become one of those mythical preparations that Mozza will have a hard time ever dropping from the menu, the ranking could be called a surprise. Perhaps that explains a satirical blog post by author Michael Krikorian — who also happens to be the main squeeze of Mozza chef Nancy Silverton — in the form of a press release announcing a lawsuit by the aggrieved dessert.

Excerpt:

Calling it "beyond insulting", lawyers for Butterscotch Budino said they would file a Federal "Defamation of Character" lawsuit against Angeleno Magazine’s “Modern Luxury Digital Edition” for listing the Pizzeria Mozza legend as the 67th best dish in Los Angeles.

Adding insult to one of America’s most beloved desserts, affectionately known as “Little Miss Salty”, was that a cousin, Chi Spacca’s Tomahawk Chop, was listed #1 of the city’s 101 “Must Try Tastes” by the online edition.

"We're happy for Tomahawk Chop’s recognition,” said Budino spokesman Duke Feldmeier. “Tom’s a good dude and he’s worked hard to be a champ. And I’ll raise a glass to Chad and Ryan and the whole staff there, too. But, to list Little Miss Salty as 67th?! That’s tantamount to saying we’re overrated. That’s sum bullshit.”

Mozza owner Nancy Silverton threatened to immediately pull Little Miss Salty off both the Pizzeria and Mozza2Go menus.

“I’m not going to have the 67th best dish, or, really, the 34th worst good dish in the city on my menu,” said Silverton, who added that replicas and even straight-out copycats of her and pastry chef Dahlia Narvaez’s budino (pudding) are served at more than 185 countries worldwide, most recently Namibia, Ceylon, Burkina Faso and Arizona....

There's more over at Krikorian's blog. Mozza's butterscotch budino is a creation of Nancy Silverton and pastry chef Dahlia Narvaez. Here's a mug shot of the plaintiff: