We always take an overnight pitstop in LA when we take our Hawai'i trip. (10 1/2 hours is a long time to be sitting in a plane for one day). In the past we've gone to Pizzeria Mozza, but I was able to convince the bride to give Sotto and try this time.
Here was my take on the pizza (excerpt from my blog post):
For the grand finale, we were served the Guanciale pizza topped with ricotta cheese. The first thing that really jumped out at me was the uniform rhythm of minute spots of char (leopard spots). These aren't only visually striking, but more importantly deliver an evenness of char flavor to every bite. The upskirt actually had larger spots that were much more irregular in their overall spacing (thankfully they weren't large enough to the point where you get a mouth full of "burnt"). The cornicione had a soft doughiness to it that was closer to dense than airy.
Not to be outdone by the crust, the marriage of toppings was a finely tuned counterbalance to its companion. My hesitation with ricotta is that it can release a lot of moisture into the crust underneath, leaving a soggy mess. Sotto uses a cheese that holds its shape without being thick and grainy. We both thought there was another cheese on the pie, but our server said it was just ricotta.
