We were lucky to pop into Ottimo when we did. We had no idea that Ottimo was only open for lunch, but luckily “lunch” goes until 7 PM on Friday and Saturday. If we had spent just a few more minutes browsing the V Marketplace where Ottimo is located, we may have missed the best pizza and homemade mozzarella of the trip. The V Marketplace is a vine-covered brick building that fits perfectly into the Napa landscape and houses a number of art galleries, clothing boutiques, chocolate shops, and wine shops in addition to two of Michael Chiarello’s restaurants.
Ottimo is Chiarello’s casual dining restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch daily. Lunch extends to either 6 or 7 PM depending on the day, perhaps a necessity in wine country? Ottimo is described as a Mercato, an Italian marketplace where one can enjoy pizza, homemade mozzarella, pannini, salads and homemade gelato for lunch. The atmosphere welcomes one with displays of Chiarello’s cookbooks, favorite kitchen items and vintage Italian cooking necessities. High top communal tables are spaced behind the display area and are surrounded by a bar, dessert counter and the mozzeria and pizzeria area where most of the magic happens. The staff was welcoming and helpful and explained that the house mozzarella is made fresh on the hour. Smoked mozzarella is made overnight and two additional offerings are sourced locally.
The menu is anchored by the mozzeria, where you choose your mozzarella, and accompaniments from the verdure, salumi and salsa categories. Once you have made your choice, it is all plated and served with flatbread. The house made mozzarella is simply delicious, perhaps the best I can recall. It is snow-white, silky and creamy. To dine here without having it would be a bit of a tragedy. The prosciutto was of high quality and the braised artichokes and Calabrian antipasto were also fantastic.
Our generous personal size pizza arrived next and of course was topped with the mozzarella in addition to spicy Calabrian salami, pickled red onion and parsley. The crust was optimally crispy and thin and I learned that the crispness is due to it being lightly flash fried in olive oil. I would not have guessed given that there was really not a hint of greasiness to the crust. Their wine selections are from Italy and Napa (including a section from the Chiarello Family Vineyards) and they have a nice selection of European and American craft beers. The staff was knowledgeable about the lists and helpful with pairings. Dessert naturally followed as I could not pass up the opportunity to sample the cannoli to see if it rivaled those that I made as a tiny little girl with my Grandmother and Great Aunts in Pittsburgh. I’m afraid it was not quite that good, but good nonetheless. The filling was great, just sweet enough and the ends were dipped in chocolate chips on one side and crushed pistachios on the other. The pastry however, had been in the cold case all day and had thus lost its flakiness and didn’t taste completely fresh. I would venture that the cannoli for breakfast would have come close to our Pittsburgh creations, so I may need to return to find out. The sweet staff also gifted us with an extra as we closed down the place. The mascarpone based frozen treat with a crisp candy shell was a delicious, cool and creamy way to end the meal.