For Kimberly's birthday, we decided to try to new and improved Melisse Restaurant in Santa Monica.
It now has two Michelin stars, and is magnificent.
A shot of the prep station behind Wade. There were only four two-tops and one four-top for the
first service, for a total of 12 people.
They started us with this welcome drink, a gin gimlet with yuzu egg foam on top. Really quite tasty!
Some amuse bouche (from lower left): wagyu-wrapped enoki and daikon, "croque madame" bite, tuna tart
with caviar, and a "caesar" salad bite. The croque madame take-off was one of the best bites of the
night.
An uni course with Santa Barbara uni on top, and a Hokkaido uni inside.
Orange tomato soup with a strawberry sorbet, for a hot-and-cold taste sensation.
Chef-owner Josiah Citrin flitted in and out between this kitchen and the one for the larger "Citrin"
restaurant next door.
N25 Schrenckii caviar over potato, Fat Uncle almonds, finger limes, and goat ricotta.
Absolutely divine.
Santa Barbara spot prawn with lemon and Persian cucumber, purslane, and cucumber-shito beurre blanc.
Atlantic black bass with Sumidaya rice, English peas, and an amazing jus.
Wild King Salmon with red wine veloute, lemon verbena, brown butter and whey.
Wolfe Ranch Quail breast with eggplant, sansho pepper, yellow oyster mushrooms, and black garlic.
The quail dark meat is then turned into a ragout over cavatelli pasta with percorino and pistachio.
The final savory course is Don Watson Napa Valley lamb with summer squash and chanterelle mushrooms.
A candid shot of the kitchen starting to assemble the first dessert.
Finley Farms carrot "cake" on the bottom sphere, sunflower seed praline, miso, Dulcey chocolate,
coffee-cardamom, and kefir.
The chef moves around too fast to get a great picture of him. Here he is picking the next record to
put on the turntable.
Munak Ranch melon, elderflower, and lemon basil. Both desserts were quite good, but we both thought
they should have been served in the opposite order.
The highlight of dessert was these final bites (from bottom left): truffle brie, salted caramel
chocolate, matcha and raspberry pavlova, Valencia Pride mango, Artic Queen nectarine. The dishes
set closer to us are Persian mulberries with a yogurt sauce.
Kimberly blowing out her birthday candle.
Thank goodness they give us the full menu, so I can remember what was what for the web site.
