Skip to main content

Why Every Cheese-Lover Needs to Visit a Mozzarella Bar

mozarella bar
Tim Atkins
Cheese, like bacon and bourbon, is a necessity in life. It really doesn’t matter how it’s prepared — melted on something; shredded as a topper for, well, anything; or, during desperate circumstances, in singles form — at the end of the day, all cheese is good cheese (unless you’re not into the smelly stuff, then, like, 75 percent of all cheese is good cheese).

Fresh cheese, though, that’s on a whole different level. If you’ve ever had freshly made cheese, you know. Take mozzarella for example. Fresh mozzarella is ever-so-slightly hard on the outside. Immediately after a bite, the cool exterior practically melts in your mouth with a ghost of the heat that was used to just recently make the mozz. (Want your cheese warmer? Le Petit Paris in Los Angeles has flaming cheese.)

That’s why, when we heard about a mozzarella bar in New York City, we couldn’t help but go. Obica is located in the Flatiron area and is a mozzarella mecca. (If you’re not by the Flatiron, they have another location on Madison Avenue, as well as spots in Los Angeles, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Italy.)

Obica Mozzarella Bar
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Obica makes a variety of mozzarellas in-house. You can literally watch them make heaven with their hands. Choose from bufala (buffalo) classica, a naturally-smoked bufala affumicata; ricota di bufala; burrata; buratta with black truffle (al tartufo); or, if you really are jonesing for fresh mozzarella, you can go for the treccia di bufala, a 1.1 lb braid of cheese that is intended to serve three to four people (or one very determined cheese fiend).

If you’ve made it to Obica, and you’re ready for the cheesiest experience of your life, you need to start with the Mozzarella Bar Experience. If you’ve never had fresh mozzarella, this will be a game changer. For $38, you get a selection that, if you’re only there with one other person, is enough for an entire meal. It’d be best to go with a group of four, though, because there’s way too much else that you need to eat.

For the Experience, you can choose from mozzarella classica or a mix of affumicata and burrata. With that, you’re given a selection of salumi, as well as focaccia bread, basil pesto, caponata, and datterini tomatoes.

If that seems like a lot, you can choose to have thesee cheeses, meats, and other small plates on their own (or be a complete hedonist and add them along). Do you now see why it’s good to bring three friends?

Next up: pizza. Think of it like making your own pizza, but better because you don’t have to make it. Go with the tartufo pizza, which comes with shaved black truffles, roasted ham, mozzarella, and ricotta di bufala.

From there, soup and salad are great options, but we’re here for cheese (to be fair, most of the options contain cheese, but at this point you’re going to want to press on ahead before your stomach realizes it’s full).

Obica Zucchine Alla Scapece
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Onward to pasta. You’re in New York, at an Italian restaurant that makes its own mozzarella. You can’t really go wrong. The pappardelle con ragu di antatra is a base of egg noodles topped with duck ragu. If beef is more your thing, the spinach lasagna features an equally delicious ragu. (If you’re hungry now, try making tortellini arso or lasagna bolognese at home.)

At this point, you may feel like your stomach is about to burst. Don’t worry, you’ve got two more courses left. For the secondi, the branzino is a nice choice; the dish comes with green beans, tomatoes and black eyed peas. Or there’s the tagliata, which will deliver eight ounces of sliced grass-fed angus beef with baby potatoes and tomatoes.

Only one more course now: dessert. You can do it. Think of how accomplished you will feel. You’re going to want to try the panna cotta or the tiramisu. Or both. You can’t go wrong with either.

By the end of a meal at Obica, you will not only have had amazing Italian food, but you’ll have had some of the best fresh mozzarella of your life. Your mind, body, and spirit will thank you.

Images courtesy of Tim Atkins/Obica.

Topics
Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
A chef gives us the secret key ingredient to make perfect fried chicken (and the one step most people get wrong!)
The secret to perfect fried chicken is simpler than you think
Fried chicken

Beautifully executed fried chicken is, perhaps, one of the few perfect things we get to have as human beings. Its warm, crispy, decadently crunchy crust with a hot and steamy, sinfully juicy, rich, and savory center is enough to make most grown men weep with pure joy. This classic dish is arguably one of the most important staples of American cuisine, and the pressure to get it right can be intense. The good news is, no one knows how to make fried chicken better than Chef Trevor Stockton, of The Restaurant at RT Lodge, and he graciously agreed to be our guide with a few of his best tips.

Chef Stockton shared with us the secret to perfect fried chicken, and the answer is a simple one. "The most important thing, other than using a quality chicken, is using quality buttermilk," he said, adding that he uses Cruze Farm Dairy buttermilk, which is churned and not homogenized. "If you can get your hands on real churned buttermilk, it will give you nice tender chicken because it still has all of its original qualities. We season our chicken very simply and then cover it with the Cruze Farm buttermilk for a minimum of 24 hours."

Read more
This is the perfect 4 course apres ski dinner menu
Yeah, you'll pass out afterward, don't worry
Friends eating around table

The term après-ski, made popular in the Alps during the 1950s, brings with it a certain air of sophistication and expectation. Gorgeously furnished, rusticly chic mountain lodges, complete with roaring fires and expensive cocktails, come to mind. The faintest sound of Sinatra crooning from well-placed hidden sound systems, clinking glassware, and lilting laughter coming from tables full of old friends and older money seems to be the very soundtrack of the term après-ski.
Of course, with this ambiance comes beautiful cuisine. What is après-ski without perfect dishes? Dishes that must be elegant yet satisfyingly hearty to the youthful yet exhausted skier or snowboarder. Dishes that - if prepared by yourself and not the personal chef - must be simple enough to make with a glass of wine in one hand and friends gathered in the kitchen.
This is the perfect après-ski menu for just such an occasion. These four courses are balanced, comforting, and elegant, perfect after a day on the mountain.

Poutine recipe
Is it indulgent? Yes. Do you deserve it? Also, yes.

Read more
How to make beer at home: A guide for beginners
Learn the basics of home brewing here
Home brewing bottles

At the very least, a hobby should be enjoyable -- something fun you like to do when you have free time. But, hobbies are usually even more gratifying when they’re productive. From cooking to quilting, candle making to gardening, if your hobby yields a product you can use, the activity can be especially motivating. Making your own beer at home, or delving into the world of home brewing, is a surprisingly approachable hobby and one you can get really good at with a little practice and tinkering.
If you learn to make your own beer at home, you can tailor your brews to your exact personal tastes, whether you're a fan of a hoppy IPA, a light lager, or a dark stout. Home brewing can also potentially save you money -- and last-minute runs to the liquor store if you realize you’re out of beer and want to enjoy one while watching the game. It can also allow you to be part chef, part scientist, and draw upon creative yet mathematical tendencies, and many people find that though it may seem daunting at first, learning to make beer at home is a fun hobby they end up sticking with and perfecting for years. Ready to roll up your sleeves and start fermenting? Keep reading to learn how to make beer at home.

Basics of making beer at home
Home brewing is sort of like cooking in that there is a basic recipe to follow, yet it can be tailored and modified to yield different types of beer. However, unlike cooking -- which is typically just a few hours from start to finish -- making beer takes about a month from the initial steps until you can enjoy the final product. That said, they do say good things are worth the wait.
The simplest way to venture into home brewing is to buy a beer brewing kit, which will contain all the equipment, instructions, and ingredients needed to make beer at home. There are also countertop home brewing appliances if you want to get fancier with your brewing. However, you can also pick up the specialized equipment and ingredients you need at an online home brewing retailer.

Read more