Mr. Ethier knows where to find the best throat-meat tacos in Los Angeles, the juiciest Salvadoran papusas and the city's tastiest Romanian chicken stew. He waxes poetic about the pinto beans in his native Arizona, where they're often pureed with cream and lard. "Here they want you to taste the bean, not the lard, which is... different."
In June, Mr. Ethier began snapping pictures of the dishes at some of his favorite restaurants and posting them on a blog he calls "Dining With 'Dre."
Last Thursday, he posted his third entry: a review of celebrity chef Mario Batali's Pizzeria Mozza. Its 10 paragraphs, based on 15 visits over a period of several weeks, praised the pizza's thin crust ("carbs are out people!") showcased several cheesy specimens topped with fried squash blossoms and Fresno chilies, and offered advice on snagging a table. His hint: Show up between lunch and dinner. "Just don't everyone use it all at once or we'll create the same problem as lunch and dinner," he wrote.
The next day he hit his 20th home run of the season and drove in a career-high five runs in a 7-0 victory over Arizona.