Nancy Silverton's Osteria Mozza Opens on Lānaʻi

In 2018, I met my sister in Los Angeles for her birthday. I wanted to treat her to something special but, most of all, I wanted to give her the gift of simply getting away for the weekend.

The most memorable meal of that trip was at Osteria Mozza. We sat at the mozzarella bar in the center of the dining room, where we watched cooks construct salads and plate their signature hand-pulled mozzarella with periwinkle-colored freshly pressed olive oils, glistening ribbons of prosciutto and grilled house-made bread. My sister had never tasted burrata, or a perfectly tempered Barbera d’Alba or pasta prepared with the level of technique Osteria Mozza is known for. I will never forget the look of joy that spread across her face throughout that meal.

On Nov. 1, 2025, acclaimed chef Nancy Silverton opened her first Osteria Mozza in Hawaiʻi at the beachfront Four Seasons Resort Lānaʻi. The restaurant features the traditional Italian dishes Silverton is known for, with the addition of breakfast, introducing freshly baked pastries, sourdough waffles and the spicy Southern Italian dish Eggs in Purgatory.

Osteria Mozza Lānaʻi features an open-air dining room with lanaʻi seating overlooking the ocean. Courtesy of Four Seasons Resort Lānaʻi.

Silverton, co-owner of the Mozza Restaurant Group, now operates five Osteria Mozzas: her Michelin-starred flagship in Los Angeles, as well as locations in Los Cabos, Mexico, Singapore, Washington D.C. and Lānaʻi. The group also includes Pizzeria Mozza, chi SPACCA and Mozza2Go. In 2014, she received a James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef and was named one of the Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink by Fortune and Food & Wine. Silverton co-founded La Brea Bakery in 1989, helping spark the artisan bread movement in the U.S. She has also authored 11 cookbooks and was featured in Netflix’s Chef’s Table and the MasterClass G.O.A.T. series.

Nancy Silverton behind the bar at Osteria Mozza Lānaʻi. Photo by Laura La Monica, courtesy of Four Seasons Resort Lānaʻi.

Chef Eli Anderson leads the kitchen on Lānaʻi, executing Silverton’s menu to the highest standard possible on a remote island in the Pacific. Nancy’s Caesar remains a highlight — deconstructed and served as grilled bread slathered with anchovy aioli, perfectly soft-boiled eggs and cured anchovy slices alongside baby romaine leaves dressed with lemon and olive oil. Another standout is the tasting of Mozzarella di Bufala, served with a thick slab of olive oil-grilled bread, Cantabrian anchovies, semi-dried tomato and cruschi peppers, a specialty product from Basilicata, Italy. I also love Nancy’s chopped salad, with bite-sized pieces of iceberg lettuce, radicchio, red onion, provolone, salami, pepperoncini, cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans and oregano vinaigrette.

Nancy's Caesar. Photo by Sarah Burchard.

The showstoppers, however, will always be the pizza and pasta courses. The kitchen prepares at least six shapes of handmade pasta daily using local eggs from free-range chickens fed a natural, sustainable diet. Fluffy pizzas with charred crusts bake in a custom oven adorned with Italian ceramic mosaic tile. I’m partial to the Meat Lovers pizza, topped with mozzarella, bacon, pepperoni, guanciale and fennel sausage, but you could order any pizza here and be happy.

Meat Lovers pizza. Photo by Sarah Burchard.

The oven is fueled with local kiawe, or mesquite, wood introduced to Hawaiʻi in the 1820s. Kiawe is invasive and is used by chefs statewide in efforts to control, and ideally reduce, its spread. In another act of sustainability, land and resource management company Pūlama Lānaʻi collects the biochar and ash produced by the oven for landscaping use across the island.

Tagliatelle with oxtail ragu. Photo by Sarah Burchard.

Did my experience on Lānaʻi match the magic of my first Osteria Mozza meal? It may be impossible to top that dinner with the sister I rarely get to see, in a place I had long wanted to visit, with a staff performing at the highest level. You can’t always recreate a perfect convergence like that. I’m just grateful I no longer have to fly five and a half hours to get my Meat Lovers pizza.