It's a big day for us today on PreferDine--that's because we are featuring one of the best restaurants in Los Angeles: Melisse! This is one of the deals I am personally most excited about since Melisse is such a well known restaurant, and the chef, Josiah Citrin, is such a huge figure on the Los Angeles food scene--not least of all because he's got two Michelin stars to his name.So if you have a special occasion coming up and want to treat your better half to an unforgettable meal, this might just be the deal for you. $50 gets you $100 worth of food and drink--no small discount at a restaurant of this caliber.
To read my write-up of the restaurant and buy the deal, go to PreferDine, or check out my text below.
Melisse
1104 Wilshire Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-0881
Mélisse is kind of like the Meryl Streep of Los Angeles restaurants—it’s pretty much won every award out there at one time or another including Food & Wine’s “Best New Restaurant” in 2000, “Best Newcomer” in the collector’s edition of Gourmet’s Guide to America’s Best Restaurants, and was among Condé Nast Traveler’s “World’s Most Exciting New Restaurants,” not to mention the Zagat 2006 “Best Restaurant in Los Angeles.” That’s because Chef Josiah Citrin, one of L.A.’s brightest chef luminaries, puts uncompromising attention and care into dishes like a savory spring onion parmesan soup with Maryland jumbo lump crab cake and meyer lemon; hamachi with asparagus, cara cara orange and rosemary-passionfruit; lobster Bolognese over fresh cappelini with black truffles and basil; spring veal with asparagus, morels and natural jus; and desserts like sticky toffee pudding with mocha malt ice cream and red berry-hibiscus consommé, and cherry-lemon mille feuille with toasted almond nougatine and almond ice cream. That’s why he’s got as many Michelin stars as Streep has Oscars (that’s two, for those of you who live in a cave).
HIGHLIGHTS
- As if to cast no doubt on his culinary leanings, Citrin and his wife Diane opened Mélisse on Bastille Day in 1999.
- Citrin is a native of Santa Monica, and acquired his passion for food from his grandmothers and his mother, who ran a catering business.
- Citrin’s resume is a who’s who of Los Angeles restaurants including Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois on Main and Granita, and Joachim Splichal’s Patina and Pinot Bistro.
- Sommelier Brian Kalliel actually started at Mélisse as the Head Bartender before working his way up the ladder.
Comments