Restaurant: Meteora [1, 2]

Location: 6703 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 402-4311

Date: Oct 11, 2023

Cuisine: Primal Elfin

Rating: Late Red Medicine reborn

Meteora is the latest restaurant by Jordan Kahn. I’ve been following him for years, from Old Red Medicine, to Late Red Medicine, to Vespertine (on site), to Vespertine (at home), to Destroyer. He’s one “out of the box” chef for sure! Meteora opened as a new high end ala carte concept. Erick and I went during the soft opening. But now, about a year later, they have retained the same flavors but pivoted to a tasting menu format.

It’s located in the old Auburn space (which was a great restaurant, BTW, and I was sad to see it close). I’ve actually eaten in at least 6 restaurants in this space: Citrus, Alex, something else, Hatfields, Auburn, and now Meteora. It’s a gorgeous space but must be somewhat cursed (probably too large).

Jordan clearly has a substantial investor pipeline because the build out is not only so “him” but is quite extensive. Really, the bones of the Auburn space are largely unchanged but they have grafted on a ton of primal, forested, elfin, Michael and Roger Dean details. It’s very dark, and really weird ambient music blares. It’s also scented like a forest. You just have to experience it.

The bar area and its whacky decor. It’s darker and moodier than these photos make it look, I brightened them up so things were visible.

The bar is like a weird Sleestak cave. Or something designed by Catalan genius Antoni Gaudí.

The cocktail tables, like most everything, are totally form over function. They are tiny, made of rock, and not even level. Barely usable at all!

The cocktail menu. Weird stuff. There is barely any wine yet. We brought ours. They originally allowed corkage, but now only allow two bottles for $75.  Grrr.  Arg.  The net result was that we just opened one bottle for 4 people and spent far less money with them. Very irritating. The list is interesting, small, and kinda expensive. They have a lot of low alcohol, high sugar, expensive cocktails.

Here is the tiny wine list.

Oh — and no flash — grrr.  And even worse, no “big cameras” — had to use the shitty phone.

Sweet Kombucha. Tasty, but sugary.

We opted tonight for the longer format omakase menu. These days they have no ala carte, which was actually a pretty neat format at opening. Instead it’s either a 4 course tasting menu or this much longer one. Portion size is a bit bigger with the 4 course, but obviously the total was mroe than sufficient with the omakase.

Our single bottle.

Arava melon, melon seed milk, habanero. This actually tasted very “Thai”? Spicy, sweet, rich, bright and acidic. I drank the broth. Pretty awesome.

SUN GOLD TOMATOES. smoked almond cream, boiled peanuts, grilled shelling beans, squash compote, gooseberries. I don’t even like tomatoes and I liked this dish.

Santa barbara sea urchin, caramelized plantain. Extremely pleasant. The unique array of textures continued.

CRUDO OF WILD PACIFIC MOON FISH. red maradol papaya, smoked oil, tomato seeds, asin tibuok. Really nice too. Again the juice, despite my tomato aversion, was delicious.

Rice crackers.


Deep sea crab, roasted chicken fat. Super delicious.

Striped bass, sorrel. Probably the most “typical” dish. But very pleasant.




BURNT MURASAKI YAM. smoked trout roe, sauce of grass-fed butter and yeast, cucumber, grilled hazelnuts. This is their signature dish and didn’t dissapoint. Super char flavor and than rich butter sauce.

DRY-AGED BEEF TARTARE. emulsion of smoked bone marrow, pickled yellowfoot mushrooms, vinaigrette of toasted seeds and dried chiles, grilled cinnamon bark. Very interesting tartare.

Grilled cinnamon bark as scoops.

Acorn-fed pork, blackberry. Nice piece of pork.

PRIME BEEF RIBEYE. runner beans, smoked rhubarb sambal, tamarind

Squash blossom filled with warm tonka bean custard. Like a sweet version of the classic Italian appetizer.

Stonefruit sorbet, apricot seed. One of these was also a yam ice cream I think. I didn’t love that as much — not a yam fan.

Golden raspberry.

Persimmon. Not astringent. Quite nice.



Hearth roasted pineapple, mezcal caramel. These would help make the most ultimate tacos al pastor.

Overall, we were a bit wary at first as they banned flash AND our bigger cameras. The flash I understand, but the big camera thing seems silly, as we were allowed to use the mobile phones. AND they only allowed 2 bottles corkage, even though corkage is $75 and they had $85 (and a few cheaper) bottles on the list. Makes no sense. However, the GM was incredibly nice and friendly and he totally won us over. Service was really good and massivly professional in a way that is pretty much never seen in LA. Food continued to be incredibly intresting and the flavors quite radical, but generally lovely. This newer format results in dishes that look (and sometimes taste) a bit less “out there.” They aren’t as buried in foliage. I kinda miss that, but the flavors are still smoky, foresty, complex, and unique.

We closed out the place, so I got to take a picture after it was empty.

Meteora will be polarizing for sure. I found it largely successful, at times brilliant. The experience is one-of-a-kind. The dishes are beautiful, unique, and mostly delicious. They are weird and a bit hard to eat, and you certainly wouldn’t want to come here alone — or really with 2 people — it pretty much requires exactly 3-4. I will repeat some of the features of the food:

1. concealed ingredients
2. flowers, leaves and foliage on top
3. high fat “sauces”
4. complex and unusual pairings, tending to include sweet, savory, and “herbal”
5. very varied textures
6. bright colors mixed with earth tones
7. awkward methods of eating that don’t allow all the ingredients in the mouth at once
8. black bowls and awkward flatware

And add some odd details about the service experience:

1. Decor is really cool, but very form over function. For example our mushroom shaped table was very uncomfortable. There was no where to put one’s legs.
2. It’s so dark that a phone light is absolutely required to read the menu or see the food.
3. The odd shaped table barely fit one dish.
4. Odd (but appropriate) ambient music was quite loud. At the same time the servers were instructed to whisper.
5. The whole restaurant is scented (like a forest)
6. Staff were all super nice and very excited to be there.
7. Plates, wine glasses, flatware etc were all gorgeous but marginally functional. The flatware was hyper flat and food fell off it. The wineglasses had no steams, were heavy, not of crystal, and had a hyper annoying turned in lip that made them difficult to actually drink from.
8. Dietary restrictions seem like they would be impossible to navigate. The dishes have so many ingredients and are so integrated.
9. Not good for anyone who likes to know exactly what they are eating.
10. Beverage options for those not bringing wine or loving really exotic cocktails are fairly limited.

For me, as most of this doesn’t bother me too much, this is the best incarnation yet of the “Jordan Khan” style. The food was delicious and had more “protein” than Vespertine. He’s a very talented “chef” (artist?) as is able to push the boundaries of what you expect food to be like while mostly still keeping it delicious. I found Meteora tasted better than Vespertine 1.0 and was closer in style and spirit to “Late Red Medicine” but more advanced. It’s in this primal forest elfin style that doesn’t really have a clear definition. Hard to explain, but there is a consistency to all the elements food, decor, music, scent, style, and even the hard-to-use flatware.

I hope they change up the menu frequently, which knowing Jordan is likely. If they do it’ll be interesting to keep trying.

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