Collins College of Hospitality ManagementAnyone who has ever tried to make reservations at Pizzeria Mozza, knows it takes time. Unless you want to stand by the door when the restaurant opens at noon, it’s likely you’ll be waiting a few weeks, especially if you want that coveted 7 p.m. dinner date. Too bad if you craved the crispy rustic crust, handmade sausage and mozzarella that challenges your concept of rich creamy deliciousness – every seat is usually taken.
Well those cravings can now be met, reservation-free since July. This summer, with Collins College lumnus Chad Colby ’05 at the helm, Los Angeles’s pizza Mecca expanded to include Mozza2Go. As chef de cuisine, the Cal Poly Pomona grad helped lead the expansion of the Osteria Mozza/Pizzeria Mozza complex and now runs the daily operations of the pizza-to-go eatery.
“I’m very passionate about food and where it comes from,” Colby said. “I think it’s really important as a chef to be educated and know where your food comes from. I make decisions about food that thousands of people eat. I think it’s really important to know what you’re buying.”
When Colby isn’t picking tomatoes straight from the backyard of coowner Nancy Silverton’s father, he is purchasing produce from venues like the Santa Monica Farmers Market or farm direct. Now that Mozza2Go’s doors are open, Colby is eying a small balcony overlooking the tripod of restaurants to build a greenhouse as his next project. The balcony greenhouse may or may not happen, but customers should be pleased to know that the wheels are churning by a chef who has their best interests in mind.
The Mozza2Go expansion also includes Scuola di Pizza, which is Italian for pizza school. Scuola di Pizza is slated to open in 2010, and when it does it will become the most exclusive feature of the Mozza group in Los Angeles.
“The concept is really the jewel of why I came here,” Colby said. “We have this big beautiful concept kitchen where chefs Mario, Nancy and Mark Ladner will be talking and cooking for private parties. We also plan to bring in winemakers whose wine will be paired with the meals.”
Colby got his culinary break in 2005 from fellow alumnus Mark Peel, chef/owner of the renowned Campanile in Los Angeles. Freshly returned from a scholarship trip to Italy courtesy of the Banfi Foundation, Colby was hired by Peel with little to no experience aside from what he picked up at The Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch.
“That trip really primed me to pursue a career in food,” Colby recalled. “Mark just cared that I had been to Italy. A lot of my career and food philosophy are a result of Mark. I had a lot of epiphanies at Campanile and learned a lot of technique there.”
Peel started him off slow, doing prep work for minimum wage two days a week while he was still in school. Two and a half years later, Colby had worked every position before deciding to move on. “I felt I had exhausted every position,” he said.
Between jobs, Colby went back to Italy and spent three months working for free at a number of restaurants. His wanderlust landed him a stage at one of Italy’s best seafood restaurants, L’Oste Scuro, and he spent time in Piedmont during the wine harvest and truffle season. “It was a great experience, better than expected,” he said, adding that he believes his trip to Italy was a much better return on investment than had he gone to culinary school.
When he returned to Los Angeles he worked for Suzanne Goin, a James Beard award-winning chef – splitting his time between Goin’s Lucques and AOC.
When given the opportunity to be on the opening team for Osteria Mozza, a team venture of Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich, Colby took the opportunity. Within six months he was promoted to sous chef, and he’s been climbing the Mozza ladder ever since.
Chad Colby is dedicated to
using fresh local produce. He
works with local farmers on
a test garden, where they are
experimenting with 600
tomato plants, featuring 40
varietals. The garden is in
the backyard of Chef Nancy
Silverton’s father.
