Melisse: A Typical French in Los Angeles

Melisse has made it into my culinary-favorites list as a refined restaurant I love the most in Los Angeles.  It is a romantic spot located in Santa Monica beyond the lovely giant palm trees of Beverly Hills.

Chef Josiah Citrin is a talented and yet humble chef who started his journey with the intention of taking to the next level the tasty heritage left from his French grandmother who was the architect of the family dinners he had in Santa Monica back when he was just a child.

He named the restaurant as Melisse which means Melissa in English just to emphasize how natural its kitchen is. As the restaurant celebrated its 17th birthday this year, it has almost-official 2 Michelin stars. I say “almost-official” since Michelin declared they quit preparing guides for Los Angeles and will publish its guide only for California starting in 2010. That means, we cannot talk about an updated Michelin Guide about Los Angeles.

If I take as my reference point the two stars Melisse had been awarded with in 2009, I think Melisse is on a par with a “1 Michelin star” European restaurant considering its profile standing out more with its servicing quality than with its menu. However as we’re familiar with the generous grading that the Michelin detectives throw around in the USA, I was not surprised by it.

At the restaurant which has 17 tables shared between 8 small rooms, I found a table with a view where I could watch the whole night like a movie. Before I started to examine the menu, tomato and goat cheese with pistachio served as an amuse-bouche was a welcoming treat that made a fresh start for the night. I also had the opportunity to try the marvelous unfermented grape juice as it was the harvest season.

The staple dish on the menu, caviar was accompanied by some delicious pastry. However, I would prefer to have my egg medium-boiled. Following that was an interesting caprese dish whose recipe interestingly included white chocolate as well. Right after that, corn soup with chanterelle and black truffle left a disharmonious taste on my palate.

Fried-brioche-covered foie gras was as tasteful as it was good looking thanks to the colorful variety of ingredients it featured which were yuzu, ginger, apple and common mallow.

As an alternative to shrimp, I went with risotto enhanced with some seasonal white truffle. The Italian rice “acquarello” which is aged up to 3 years is accompanied by some truffle sauce with brown butter as well as fresh truffle shreds. What struck me was that all of this mixture was served a handful and inside a realistically drawn hand. That was one of the most intriguing presentations I have seen so far. It may be that risotto did not move my palate with its taste however the chef proved with such a picture-perfect dish that presentation has a huge share in the pleasure you get from the food.