This Company Flies Fresh Mozzarella in From Italy for Denver's Top Restaurants

If you've eaten fresh mozzarella di bufala at a restaurant in the metro area, it's likely that it was made in Italy just days before and flown in by La Mozzarella, or La Mozz, a Denver- and Chicago-based distributor of Italians meats and cheeses.

"It is all of the things that you look for as a chef," says Russell Stippich, executive chef at Bar Dough in LoHi, one of the city's best Italian restaurants. It sources its mozzarella di bufala, ricotta di bufala and prosciutto from La Mozz. "Guests can tell the difference. We have several people a week mention how amazing the cheese on the pizza is. It's awesome to get to talk to them about where it's from and why it's so special."

La Mozz started in Chicago in 2002, when Lara Postiglione and her husband, Rosario, moved to the U.S. after living in Italy. She recalls being a "starving student" there when someone gave her a small slice of mozzarella di bufala. "It ruined me!" she jokes. "Just that little piece changed my life."

But she couldn't find the same quality in Chicago. "The product I was used to just wasn't available to me," she says. "You only have to eat one to understand. It's a special product, and the Italians are so proud of it."
Mozzarella di bufala is not the same as the typical balls of cheese available at Safeway or King Soopers. The designation is location-specific; it's made from the milk of buffalo in the Campania or Lazio regions of Italy. "It must come exclusively from the milk of water buffaloes, and has specific temperature and time limitations from the time the milk is taken from the animals (less than 48 hours), in order to ensure freshness of this quality product," La Mozz explains on its website.

When the Postigliones' son moved to Denver for college, they decided to launch the business in the Mile High City as well. "We definitely saw the need for our products in the up-and-coming restaurant scene here," says Postiglione.

La Mozz flies cheese in from Italy one or two times per week and has clearance to pick up the product from Denver International Airport. From there, it's delivered directly to restaurants. "We get it on their plate right away," says Postiglione. Today, La Mozz supplies 280 restaurants in fifteen states.

"It's perfectly crafted to the highest standards — consistent, flavorful and traceable. Knowing how it's made and who made it is so important to us here at Bar Dough," says Stippich. "They truly are perfect porcelain balls of mozzarella."
"It is notoriously difficult to source fresh cheese like burrata and mozzarella from Italy due to its relatively short shelf life," shares Cody Cheetham, executive chef of Tavernetta in Union Station. "La Mozzarella brings these products in directly every week, allowing us to use it on our menu consistently."

In addition to using the mozzarella for its crostini, "We have actually been using their burrata since the first year Tavernetta was open," Cheetham adds. "It's one of our signature dishes." The restaurant goes through hundreds of burrata balls each week.

When Leven Deli, at 123 West 12th Avenue, started ordering mozzarella balls from La Mozz for its Focaccia & Mozzarella sandwich, it got in one case a week. Today it needs about seven cases each week to keep up with demand. "That's eighty pounds of cheese for one sandwich," says Postiglione.

In April, Little Arthur's Hoagies, which hosts Philly-style sandwich pop-ups, served La Mozz's burrata with a simple arugula salad. "The burrata we source from the best, La Mozz. They are directly linked to some of the best dairy farms that exist in Italy," owner AJ Shreffler shared on Instagram. "That means no middle man when we order these extremely special cheeses. ... Amazing stuff. High quality stuff. Exotic as hell."

La Mozzarella sources to restaurants only. For more information, visit lamozz.com. For a full product list, email [email protected].