Meteora — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Meteora - Stunning and perfect for a special occasion. The food is both ancient and imaginative at once and is a lovely addition to LA by Chef Jordan Kahn.

ARRIVING / AMBIANCE (sights, scents, sounds): The windswept-looking, willow branched door stopped us in our tracks and heralded what was to come - a dining experience going back to the "basics" of food from thousands of years ago.

Interior: wooden accents with plants and warmly lit lamps hung richly throughout the interior. It felt like being in a candlelit cave housing a small forest, with pillars wrapped in flexible branches to the ceiling. The bathrooms are unisex, with the sinks nearby and candlelit.

The scent of the restaurant has a light incense smell, and we noted at one point during the meal one of the servers taking a newly smoking jar/rock around the restaurant (or perhaps out to the door) to keep up that fragrance.

The soundtrack of the restaurant also added to our evening: sometimes ambient, sometimes electronic, and always a pulsing rhythm; I read that this was curated or composed by the the chef himself and never repeats throughout an evening.

DRINKS/MENU/ ORDERING (NOV 2022): We ordered cocktails to start, the COSMOSUS (smokey, with kiwi and pineapple juice) and the EROSUS (gingery, with sugar cane, and lime juice), noting the herby and floral garnishes on top adding to the scent of each sip.

A 5-course menu per person, with your choice of meat (fish, pork, beef), plus an additional side with supplements as desired. We ordered the SEA BREAM and the HAZELNUT-FED PORK as our options and also added the CARROT-FED TARTARE OF BEEF.

FOOD (NOV 2022) 1st course: SCALLOP: served with puffed rice and a poured macadamia milk with jicama and dragronfruit pieces; the light milkiness of the poured milk paired so well with the sharp acidity in the sauce, which made eating each scallop piece refreshing and new. 2nd course: BURNT YAM: one of the highlights for us. Burnt yam with roasted guava and grilled hazelnuts and lime, with a sauce poured on top of yeast butter emulsion and smoked trout roe. The roe was small yet packed a textural and smokey flavor punch, popping satisfyingly with every bite, against the crunchy hazelnuts and smooth and earthy yam. SUPPLEMENT: CARROT-FED TARTARE OF BEEF: served in thick shavings and grilled avocado, yellowfoot mushrooms, and a generous heaping vinaigrette of crunchy seeds. Not like any tartare we've had before and the fragrant and thick seed vinaigrette was so sesame-scented it was a joy just eating it by itself! 3rd course: PRAWNS: we heard other tables have this course and were very excited once this one came; two lush prawns per hot stone, per person. A smoked prawn shell butter is poured on top which makes a very attractive sizzle, and each prawn gets its own soft lettuce with unripe peppercorn paste and herbs to be wrapped in and devoured. The peppercorn paste is so great, almost yuzu-like in citrusy finish, and a nice spicy heat after the sweet prawn. 4th course (fish): SEA BREAM: smoked chiles praline was poured on top of this almost meaty white fish, with shatteringly crispy kale on top and gooseberries and radish as well. Not shy about the heat! 4th course (pork): HAZELNUT-FED PORK: covered in huckleberry and dotted with a few grilled strawberries, and atop black trumpet mushrooms. Loved the deep sweetness of the strawberries with the almost crunchy-fresh firmness of the pork. 5th course: FOREST BERRIES: served with a frozen disk of berry atop a tonka bean mousse and candycap mushrooms (caramelly and earthy! such a special ingredient). We made sure to have everything in each bite, so earthy yet zingy and light.

SERVICE: Excellent. Every course was served with fresh utensils (all wooden, save for the protein course) and water replenished and table swept in between. Everyone was kind and efficient.

SUMMARY: Several times during the evening we thought, how did Chef Jordan Kahn think of this pairing? It's so perfect! Wonderful and looking forward to...

Jordan Kahn is, in my opinion, the most innovative chef/restauranteur in Los Angeles today. My husband and I went to Meteora for his birthday. While I never had the opportunity to eat at Vespertine pre-Covid, I did order their takeout experiences multiple times during the pandemic and I was always impressed by the quality of food, presentation and wide variety of experiences. I thought the overall experience at Meteora was exceptional. Several reviews I read before going were critical of the friendliness of the staff, but we found everyone with whom we interacted from the hostess to our waiter to the other servers who came to the table to be professional and friendly. The restaurant has an Ancestral theme and its décor evokes tropical Tulum vibes. I will say that not all tables are created equal – most are well-spaced and offer privacy but some are close together. We were initially seated in the front dining room near the hostess stand and requested to be moved to the courtyard, which the hostess accommodated immediately. The menu is split into 4 different sections – 2 of them are primarily vegetable-oriented (although some include meat/fish), and the other 2 are seafood and meat. The waiter recommended 2-3 dishes per person. We ordered 4 dishes, one from each section, and it was more than enough food. We likely could have been good with 3 items for the 2 of us. We had the following – Leaves & Stones; Bigfin Squid; Carmelized Lobster Rice; Organic California Lamb. Where Jordan Kahn distinguishes himself is with the phenomenal combination of multiple aromas and flavors of the food he presents. Every one of the dishes was exceptional. The Leaves & Stones is a deconstruction of multiple ingredients to make your own lettuce wraps but that description doesn’t do it justice – it’s like a symphony of different flavors and textures. The Bigfin Squid is in the vein of a ceviche w/ some kick to it. Loved the lobster rice – couldn’t get enough of it. The lamb unbelievably tender. One of the things that I respect very much is that while the food is presented beautifully, it’s really about the flavors – Jordan Kahn is not cooking to make Instagrammable moments for his guests. Meteora is definitely Michelin-star worthy, but at the moment I would say 1 Star. The few things that keep it from being truly exceptional (my opinion): • The restaurant has a policy that the food comes out as it’s prepared. I understand this for more casual restaurants, but when each dish is like a work of art, it deserves its own moment. Our 2nd course came out within a few minutes of the first course being served. The 4th course came out within a few minutes of the 3rd course being served. An exceptional restaurant like this should do make the guest experience more important than the convenience of the kitchen • While service was attentive, it was not premiere level. At a restaurant like Meteora you should never have to refill your own wine glass or ask for anything that is not anticipated by the staff • The wine list needs work and is at 2 extremes. There are a handful of options for wines by the bottle/glass that are included with the cocktail menu and most of these are priced about 4x retail – the price of a glass is what you could buy a bottle for. Then they have a “Library List” and on this the cheapest wine is $300 and ranges up to several thousand. Interestingly this list is comprised almost entirely of aged wines from Spain and Italy, but...

As a seasoned globe-trotter, an avid jungle explorer, and a culinary connoisseur with a penchant for one-of-a-kind experiences, I was thrilled to embark on a gastronomic adventure at Meteora. The restaurant's unique décor, nestled amidst the embrace of nature, set the stage for an unforgettable dining experience. My expectations for service, tempered by online reviews, were met with a professional albeit indifferent demeanor from the staff. However, the symphony of flavors that awaited my palate proved to be a disastrous cacophony.

In fairness, I must acknowledge the restaurant's ambition in blending obscure and unique condiments, flavors, and textures from various corners of the globe, weaving them into an intricate tapestry of culinary creations. I wholeheartedly applaud this innovative approach, as I am a staunch advocate for such experimental endeavors. Alas, the execution of this noble pursuit fell woefully short of its intended mark.

Meteora's dishes materialized as a pretentious hodgepodge of flavors, liquids, and solids, locked in an unholy alliance that resulted in a lingering aftertaste akin to a poorly concocted chemistry experiment gone awry. The scallops, enveloped in a dubious concoction of nut milk and spice, failed to harmonize into a cohesive culinary masterpiece. The risotto, fashioned from an obscure ancient grain, proved to be a mediocre endeavor, lacking the vibrancy and depth that one would expect from such a revered ingredient. The bass, while admittedly palatable, was engulfed in an unwarranted fiery inferno, leaving my taste buds scorched and bewildered. The waiters, resembling gastronomic robots, delivered their scripted explanations of the dishes with a detached air, their eyes vacant and devoid of passion.

The chef, seemingly enamored with the notion of a "burnt" flavor as the key to Michelin stardom, failed to grasp the delicate balance required to elevate this technique from culinary catastrophe to culinary triumph. His misguided attempt to infuse the fish with a hint of charred wheat resulted in an overpowering assault on the senses, effectively silencing the delicate flavor of the fish and clashing with the already overpowering spice.

Dessert, the final act in this culinary tragedy, failed to redeem the dining experience. The burnt chocolate cake, a culinary enigma masquerading as a decadent treat, proved to be a dismal finale. My fervent hope that a soothing cup of tea, my area of expertise, would salvage the remnants of this gastronomic shipwreck was dashed upon the rocks of disappointment. The pine needle tea, an intriguing concept in theory, proved to be an assault on the taste buds, leaving my palate reeling in disbelief.

In conclusion, my dining experience at Meteora can be aptly summarized as a culinary Chernobyl, a nuclear wasteland of misguided culinary ambition where taste buds go to die. I urge fellow food enthusiasts to steer clear of this culinary abyss, lest they too succumb to the horrors that await...