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Archive for Chef Josiah Citrin

Big Citrin Birthday!

Jul20

Restaurant: Citrin [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: January 29, 2020

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Rebooted

_

Iconic Santa Monica Melisse has rebooted as 2 restaurants in the same space. In the front, Citrin, in a (slightly) more casual (slightly) more shared format, and a small room in the back with Melisse 2.0 — as a $300+ a head tasting menu only spot.

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For Jeffrey’s bday we covered on Citrin for an epic birthday blowout.
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The front has been opened up and now has a bar.
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The main dining room is similar, but with the finishes redone.

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The menu.
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8 of us plus about a trillion unwelcome microbial visitors.
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1982 Château Haut-Brion. VM 96. Good medium amber-edge red. Flamboyant aromas of smoked meat, leather, truffle and burnished oak. Intensely flavored and penetrating, with strong acids giving the flavors terrific cut and grip. I get an impression of strong cabernet tannins. Drink now through 2020. 94. My second bottle showed even more extravagantly expressive aromas of hot stones, tobacco, minerals and marzipan; a denser, silkier palate impression, with more obvious roasted Graves character; and an uncanny combination of sheer sweetness with structure and grip. I rated this wine even higher.
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Beggar’s Purse. A mini crepe filled with caviar and Crème fraîche. Delicious, tastes just like a crepe with caviar and Crème fraîche but in a very cool dumpling shape.
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Oyster with Crème fraîche. Bright and delicious.
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From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. 93 points.
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From my cellar: 2014 Jean-Claude Ramonet Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Blanc. BH 90. A soft trace of wood frames pretty and cool but ripe yeast, apple and pear scents that slide gracefully into the nicely detail, rich and relatively generously proportioned middle weight flavors that possess a lovely salinity that surfaces on the focused and persistent finale where a touch of bitter lemon appears. This is already sufficiently forward that it could be enjoyed now but I would be inclined to allow it at least 2 to 3 years of cellar time and 5 will probably prove to be ideal. (Drink starting 2019)
2002-Francois-Raveneau-Chablis-1er-Cru-Montee-de-Tonnerre-750ml-SommPicks_90bb5ee2-c352-4396-b2bb-f2e91376f0c7_1024x1024
2002 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 94. Healthy bright yellow. Classic brothy, crushed-stone Chablis nose, with lively hints of ripe citrus fruits and flowers. Wonderfully dense and tactile yet weightless, showing a sexy creaminess in the mid-palate for such a mineral-driven wine. An element of candied yellow fruits emerged with air, with a repeating floral note providing lift. Beautifully balanced, vibrant and long, finishing tactile and classically dry but not at all austere. A bit like the 2010 in style. (Drink between 2019-2033)
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COUNTRY ROLL, BASIL BRIOCHE. The bread at Citrin/Melisse has always been great. I didn’t eat it tonight for diet reasons. Sigh.
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Beurre de Baratte.
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EGG CAVIAR. Soft Poached Egg, Cauliflower Mousseline, Lemon Chive Créme Fraiche. Total Melisse classic and always great.
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CRUDO OF JAPANESE HAMACHI. Yuzu Compressed Apples, Vierge. The fish was perfect and the sweet and tangy marinate gorgeous.
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HOKKAIDO SCALLOP. Sunchokes, Salsify, and Root Vegetable Consumme.
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2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne Rosé. VM 97. The 2008 Dom Pérignon Rosé is magnificent. Rich and deep in the glass, the 2008 offers up an exotic mélange of aromas and flavors. Sweet red cherry, mint, orange peel and rose petal all grace this beguiling beauty. Bright acids and a little less still red Pinot (21%) than in most recent editions yields a Rosé that is delicate and light on its feet, with less of the vinous intensity that marked vintages such as 2006. There is a classic feeling of austerity in the 2018 that is mesmerizing. (Originally published in May 2021) (Drink between 2026-2048)
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WILD MUSHROOM SOUP. Whipped Black Truffle Mousse. This is basically mushroom cream soup but as such is incredibly delicious.
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HAMACHI COLLAR. Carrot Escabeche, Yuzu Mayo, Puffed Grains. Very nice.
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Lettuce wraps for the collar.
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LOBSTER BOLOGNESE. Maine Lobster, Fresh Capellini, Brown Butter Truffle Froth. Another original Melisse classic. Always fabulous with great texture and a savory lobster flavor.
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Ocean Trout. Kabocha, Winter Citrus, Persimmon. Probably poached in the classic French style the fish was superbly soft.
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SALADE MELISSE. Shaved Vegetables, Parmesan, Truffle Vinaigrette. This simple salad had great textures and a really appealing vinaigrette.
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2005 Camille Giroud Chambertin. BH 93-96. There are actually several different cuvées of this wine and at the time of my tasting, Croix had not decided what he was going to use for the final blend. The best of them featured a reserved and very backward, indeed almost brooding nose of ripe and distinctly earth red pinot fruit plus a touch of animale that merges seamlessly into textured, powerful and pure big-bodied flavors that despite the size, richness and raw muscle are harmonious and perfectly balanced. A monument in the making but I reemphasize that this review may or may not reflect the final blend. (Drink starting 2018)
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From my cellar: 1947 Moillard-Grivot Chambolle-Musigny. 90 points.
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2003 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée da Capo. VM 95-97. Deep, dark red. Multidimensional bouquet of kirsch, cassis, red plum, pipe tobacco, grilled meat, licorice pastille and roasted coffee; this has nearly all of the Chateauneuf food groups. Utterly mouthfilling in its richness, with tremendous concentration of red and dark berries, garrigue, bittersweet chocolate and aged beef. Finishes with a velvety lushness, round tannins and palate-staining persistence. A simply remarkable wine: it finished at 16.2% but the alcohol only shows in the wine’s unctuous, almost oily palate feel.
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DIRTY CHICKEN FOR TWO. Roasted Carrots, Potato Mousseline, Roasted Chicken Jus. Some of the best chicken I’ve had, perfectly juicy, with a nice crunchy texture to the skin, and the “jus” (gravy) really took it to the next level.
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Potato Mousseline.
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Roasted Carrots. Nice for roasted veggies.
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Arugula and Radish salad. I loved the bracing acidity and texture of this simple salad.
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16oz PRIME RIB EYE. Lemony Potato, Yu-Choi, Pepper Condiment. Steak!
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Morels and other mushrooms in butter. These were incredible. I think I ate two entire containers of them. So buttery. So mushroomy.
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1982 Château Mouton Rothschild. VM 99. This is one of the best bottles of 1982 Mouton-Rothschild that I have drunk. Intense and lavish on the nose, this bursts with blackberries, raspberry confit, wild mint and graphite aromas, yet there is a sense of calm and refinement, perhaps less VA than some examples. The palate is medium-bodied and beautifully balanced, with some of the finest tannins that I have noticed on this Mouton Rothschild. Slightly tertiary on the finish, it builds and builds and leaves you utterly smitten. My God, dare I say it almost reminds me of L* ***r? Tasted at La Trompette in London. (Drink between 2023-2050)
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1982 Château Cheval Blanc. VM 96. Saturated deep red, with a hint of development at the rim. Roasted nose dominated by toffee and tobacco. Wonderfully silky but without quite the exotic ripeness of the ’90. Still, this offers uncanny retention of primary fruit. Expands inexorably on the finish and goes on and on. A wonderful bottle that still improving. (The bottle in the blind flight was slightly less impressive: Good full red, with a hint of amber at the rim. Slightly medicinal aromas of red fruits, cedar and tobacco leaf; comes across as distinctly cooler than the ’90. Dense but penetrating and still a bit closed in on itself. Less sweet and generous today than the ’90, less exotic. But finishes firm and long, with a hint of dryness. I rated this bottle 93(+?).) Drink now through 2020.
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2007 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée XXL. VM 93-94. Jeffrey style (big and round!)
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Snake River Farms Beef Sirloin and Braised Cheeks. Cone Cabbage, Pommes Fondant, Horseradish Jus. A very nice steak and the jus was awesome but the cabbage (with jus) was really the champion here — amazing!
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Braised Beef Cheeks.
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Millbrook Farms Venison. Butternut Squash, Chanterelles, Black Walnut Condiment.
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Michael breathing on the chef.

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16oz PRIME RIB EYE. Lemony Potato, Yu-Choi, Pepper Condiment.
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Cheese Plate.
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Crisps.
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1989 Château d’Yquem. VM 99. The 1989 Yquem is my favourite of the triumvirate and this bottle was stellar. It explodes from the glass with scents of quince, acacia, honeysuckle, saffron and wild heather (a trait that I have observed previously). What marks this out is the stunning delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with tangerine, fig, marmalade and quince. A livewire Yquem with enormous depth and intensity, a bit more swagger than the 1988, a bit more precision-tooled than the 1990. Fabulous. Tasted blind at a private dinner in Bordeaux. (Drink between 2022-2050)
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CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE. Cocoa Nibs, Dulce de Leche.
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VALRHONA CHOCOLATE TART. Coffee, Caramel.
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ORANGE SOUFFLE. Ice Cream.
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STICKY TOFFEE. Cream Cheese Mouse, Pomegranate Sorbet.

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Various coffees.
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Passion fruit mini dessert for everyone. I nibbled this and it was so up my alley. Too bad I’m avoiding the carbs.
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Chocolate bon bons.
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Tropical fruit jellies. I nibbled one of these too and it was insanely good.
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The lineup.

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1982 Château d’Yquem. VM 95. The 1982 Yquem reached physiological ripeness on 16 September, though rain interrupted harvest that only really commenced on 2 November for just four days. My third encounter with this off-vintage blew me away and frankly, I was not prepared for the quality given the previous showings. Limpid gold in hue, this has a brilliantly-defined bouquet with shimmering scents of quince, saffron and honeysuckle, one of the most citrus that I can recall. The palate is built around its livewire acidity, taut and finely detailed with orange zest, quince and white peach. The 1982s focus and energy is irresistible. I suspect that I will never encounter a bottle as good as this. Tasted at the 1982 Bordeaux dinner at Hatched in London. (Drink between 2022-2045)

—

Overall, another epic epic night. Wow, that was a lot of food!

Service at Citrin is first class. Wine service is very good. As good as it gets in LA. There is no bottle limit too, although corkage is a bit steep.

Food was quite good. Similar to Melisse, but formatted differently. We sort of did the “fixed” menu plus a LOT of add ons and share plates here. Worked out well with the add ons. Just the normal fixed menu would be a bit light for us gluttons and a dinner like this.

Great evening. Don’t miss my coverage of the more modernist (and Asian influenced) New Melisse.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Reborn as Citrin
  2. Carmel Birthday!
  3. 71Above Birthday
  4. Birdie G Birthday
  5. Mary’s Birthday at Mama Lion
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: birthday, Chef Josiah Citrin, Citrin, covid, French Cuisine, Wine

New Year’s To Go

Jan29

Restaurant: Melisse [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (Citrin), 14]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: December 31, 2020

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Awesome takeout

_

To end the dreadful 2020 and “celebrate” the start of yet another pandemic year I ordered from one of my favorites, Melisse.

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This is the 3rd time during the pandemic I’ve done Melisse takeout and they always do a good job. Tonight’s meal was a New Year’s special plus I supplemented with some extra truffle dishes.

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This is the special menu, including prep instructions.
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From my cellar: 2002 Bruno Paillard Champagne Nec Plus Ultra. JG 97. The newest vintage of Bruno Paillard’s N.P.U. is utterly brilliant and a glorious example of the magical vintage of 2002. The bouquet soars from the glass in a very refined blend of apple, white peach, stony minerality, hazelnut, fresh-baked bread and a lovely touch of orange peel in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and displays marvelous mid-palate depth, with racy acids, very elegant mousse, laser-like focus and a very, very long, complex and simply stunning finish. This wine is young, precise and so beautifully balanced that it is already a joy to dink, though it is clearly built for the long haul and its true apogee is at least a decade down the road! Stunning wine. (Drink between 2017-2075)

agavin: lovely again
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Left to right: Oyster in Champagne Jelly, Salmon Tartare and Caviar Profiterole, and Chef’s Surprise Bonbon.
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Gelee de Caviar a la Creme de Chou-fleur “Joel Robuchon”.
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You can better see the layered quality here. Note the fancy takeout plastic!
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Artichoke & Black Truffle Soup “Guy Savoy”. This one I heated and “bowled”.1A4A3400
Now here with the caviar egg kit I had a bunch of work today, although they did organize it perfectly.
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Egg Caviar. Just like at the restaurant. This is always one of my favorites.

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You can see the layers of creme fraiche here. They provided a good amount of caviar.
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Lobster Bolognese with Truffle Cream Sauce. Another Melisse classic and always delicious. I left it in the delivery container and poured the sauce over. I was pretty sure that any attempt on my part to transfer a pile of pasta would be disastrous.
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Salmon Sorrel “Troisgros” — Plating (and heating) by moi. The salmon was perfectly medium rare and the buttery good sauce had that interesting sorrel “zing.”
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Lobster Thermidor.
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Duo of Beef, Charred Grilled SRF Wagyu Beef & Braised Short Rib Mushroom & Black Truffle Lasagna, Celeriac au Jus, Red Wine Herb Sauce. Plated by me. This was a lot of meat and very filling.1A4A3446
Gold Chocolate Sphere 2021 with Vanilla Sauce. In the takeout container, but I assembled and sauced it.

While this wasn’t quite a giant blow-out Melisse dinner of old with oodles of wine, it still managed to be some pretty excellent “fancy” takeout. The food quality actually translates at around 80%. Taste more like 95% but the temperature factor is a little off from the time and my efforts. And I was very full. However, stopping during the meal to go heat and plate every course is quite a bit of work.

Let’s hope we can get back (safely) into restaurants in 2021!

For more LA dining reviews click here,

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By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Champagne, Chef Josiah Citrin, Melisse, New Year, Truffle

Reborn as Citrin

Mar13

Restaurant: Citrin [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: January 29, 2020

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Rebooted

_

Iconic Santa Monica Melisse has rebooted as 2 restaurants in the same space. In the front, Citrin, in a (slightly) more casual (slightly) more shared format, and a small room in the back with Melisse — as a $300ish a head tasting menu only spot.

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For my Mom’s 75th bday 8 of us headed to Citrin to celebrate.
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The front has been opened up and now has a bar.
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The main dining room is similar, but with the finishes redone.
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Our table of 8.
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Special DineLA menu.
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The menu.
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Plain pasta for my son — at least they can do it!
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From my cellar: 2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 97. There is a distinctly phenolic character to the secondary-tinged yet super-fresh nose reflects notes of bread, yeast, pear, baked apple, spice and a hint of citrus. The bold and full-bodied flavors possess superb complexity while being underpinned by a notably fine but dense mousse, all wrapped in a gorgeously persistent finish. This is a seriously impressive effort and one of the best of the Krug Brut vintage series released in many years. Note that while this should continue to age effortlessly, it could certainly be enjoyed now. (Drink starting 2017)
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Basil Brioche. Beurre de Baratte. These Melisse used to have. They were great then, they are great now. But you have to order (and pay for) them separately now.
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Japanese Hamachi. Citrus, Radish, Cilantro — nice and bright.
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Wild Japanese Yellowtail. Grapefruit, Radish, Cilantro.
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From my cellar: 2009 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 91-94. A ripe yet airy and quite cool nose of indisputable class reflects notes of citrus, stone and white flowers that serve as a graceful preface for the intensely mineral-driven, tension-filled and chiseled flavors that possess sneaky power and outstanding length. There is notably more acidity here than in the Genevrières and better persistence as well. (Drink starting 2016)
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Honeynut Squash. Goat Cheese, Pinenut, Lemon-Thyme.
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Seared Maine Scallops. Celeriac, Coconut, Lime. Pretty much as you would expect looking at it.
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Loup de Mer “En Ecailles”. Potato, Fennel, Parsley-Miso Broth. They love Ecailles. Creeps me out a bit, actually.
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From my cellar: 1947 Moillard-Grivot Chambolle-Musigny. agavin 95. Awesome.
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Truffle Risotto. Aged Acquerello Rice, Mascarpone, Black White Truffles.
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With the truffles. Super creamy “simple” risotto. Really, really good. Not a huge portion though.
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Diamond Ranch Quail. Pear, Salsify, Walnut, Beet, Calvados. My mother didn’t love this, thought it was dry.
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Lobster Bolognese. Capellini Pasta, Brown Butter Truffle Froth. This was a Melisse classic for decades.
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Vermillion Rock Cod “En Ecailles”. Cauliflower, Meyer Lemon, Pichuberry. More creepy scales.
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Snake River Farms Wagyu Coulotte. Carrot, Leek, Shallot, Cayenne.
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With the jus. Nice beefy beef.
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Miso Glazed Rapini. Turnip, Chanterelle, Yuzu, Toasted Barley.
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The dessert menu.
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Tea.
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Chocolate, Yuzu, Passionfruit.
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Grand Marnier Souffle. Winter Citrus, Vanilla Ice Cream.
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Mocha Ice Cream — tasted almost like a sorbet.
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Passionfruit Sorbetto.

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Overall, another epic epic night. Above is the birthday girl and my son.

Service at Citrin is first class. Wine service is very good. As good as it gets in LA. There is no bottle limit too, although corkage is a bit steep at $50 for the first 2 bottles then $70 after that.

Food was quite good. Similar to Melisse, but formatted differently. Half the table — including me — had the DineLA menu so that was like a mini old Melisse menu. I’m not sure yet what it’s like with the ala carte. Supposedly these are sharing dishes, but they don’t LOOK or sound like sharing dishes. The plating is too delicate. Look at the Lobster pasta above. It’s tiny (and delicious). Maybe you could share it with 2 people. So I don’t think the kitchen has yet “committed” in their heart of hearts to the real idea of the modern sharing format.

Great evening, and I’ll be back many more times I sure — and to the more “elite” Melisse.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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  2. Coche vs d’Auvenay at Melisse
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: birthday, Chef Josiah Citrin, Citrin, French Cuisine, Josiah Citrin, Santa Monica

Coche vs d’Auvenay at Melisse

Mar13

Restaurant: Melisse [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: February 20, 2019

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Great finish

_

With Foodie Club champ Fred in town the core gang of Erick, myself, Fred got together with Liz for a final meal at Melisse, one of LA’s too remaining Michelin type restaurants — closing any day now sadly and reinventing itself. Liz “twisted our arms” to step up to the rather heroic standard of Coche and d’Auvenay 1re crus. woah!
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Not only is the food at Melisse great but I always enjoyed the super close Santa Monica location.

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Tonight we got the “10” menu plus the truffle pasta + the special preorder chicken.
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2005 Jacques Selosse Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Millésimé. 94 points. Jumping right out of the glass with notes of top quality vanilla bean, chalk, white flowers, citrus, honey, and many other things. It’s super tense, high-toned, explosive, with razor-sharp acidity and perfect mousse. EXcellent length. A superb combination of richness, excellent tension and mineral salinity. There is a certain sweetness of fruit too. I really love this.

agavin: we bought this lovely champagne off the list to save on a corkage — although it was pricey enough that I’m not sure it was a save, even if great.
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Melisse always has great bread.
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Erick brought: 2003 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. 96 Points. Fred’s notes: Coche vs d’Auvenay night. Tasted single blind. This was beautiful from the beginning. Very light in color and wonderfully floral. No hint of heaviness or heat. I thought it could have been the 04. The fruit is ripe but not heavy. This was unchanged in its beauty for the entire 4 hours. The floral perfume is just intoxicating. Remarkable for the vintage and tied with the 95 Coche MP and the 00 Coche Caillerets for my WOTN.

agavin: This and the 95 (below) were my favorites.
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Fred brought: 2004 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Meursault 1er Cru Gouttes d’Or. BH 93. Like the 2005 version (see herein) this is relatively strongly reduced though in this case it’s possible to see some maturing notes underneath the reductive funk. There is a good deal of petrol character on the impressively dense and intense flavors that possess a seductively textured mid-palate before culminating in a citrusy and ever-so-slightly dry finish that doesn’t really affect the persistence as much as it slightly compromises the overall sense of balance. While this could certainly be drunk now for my taste I would advise holding it for a few more years first. Note too that I would strongly advise decanting this first as help alleviate the reduction.

Fred’s Notes: Very rich and honeyed. There is some lemon acidity but this is more advanced than it should have been. Followed it through for 4 hours in the hopes it would improve but it did not. Drinkable but not what it should have been. Possibly heat damaged.

agavin: Fred, always the mensch, opened his backup
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Liz, generous as always brought: 1995 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 94. A killer nose of absolutely stunning complexity and incredible elegance, especially for the vintage is followed by precise, pure and delineated middle weight flavors that offer plenty of sappy and generous Meursault character and a crisp, intense and utterly mineral-driven finish. This is impressively harmonious, strikingly long and while there is a trace of finishing warmth, this remains a marvelous effort. I have tasted this wine many times over the years and the last few bottles are starting to lose a bit of freshness and thus I would be drinking up over the next few years. To be sure, there is no rush but unless you like very well-aged aromas and flavors, there is no reason to wait any longer.

Fred’s notes: Coche vs d’Auvenay night. Tasted single blind it had so much reduction and richness I was sure it was a d’Auvenay. It then when through a grumpy phase where it was not giving up much. After 2 hours it really blossomed and the richness was replaced by floral perfume and a wonderful ethereal quality. This needed time to unfurl and when it did it became one of my favorites of the night.

agavin: loved it. a little closed at first, but opened to be gorgeous after some time.

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Fred’s backup: 2000 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Caillerets. BH 93. This has now peaked and is drinking beautifully with a fully mature nose of honeysuckle, peach, apricot and very subtle spice notes that can also be found on the enveloping flavors that possess a wonderfully seductive mouth feel and ample dry extract that both completely buffers the still firm acid spine and coats the palate on the long, lingering and strikingly perfumed if ever-so-slightly warm finish. One character that Coche seems to consistently be able to achieve is how his wines are at once generous yet retain a fine sense of focus and precision and this wine certainly displays this. Lovely stuff that is perfect now. Tasted thrice with consistent notes.

Fred’s notes: Coche vs d’Auvenay night. This was wicked good right out of the gate. Much lighter weight than the others and in consummate balance between fruit, acid, and the Coche profile. A long finish. Some thought it was better than the 95 Coche MP and 03 d’Auvenay Folatieres. For me it was too close to call with each wine showing a little something different.

agavin: very good, and really singing.
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From my cellar: 2002 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Caillerets. BH 93. There is a hint of mineral reduction on the otherwise wonderfully fresh, complex and cool nose of mostly acacia blossom and pear scents. I very much like the detail and sense of underlying tension to the mineral-driven middle weight flavors that possess a lightly saline character on the balanced, long and strikingly harmonious finish. While this is sufficiently close to its peak that it could certainly be enjoyed now with much pleasure, I would suggest holding it for another 2 to 4 years first if you want to try the ’02 Caillerets at its apogee.

Fred’s notes: Similar to the note below from Burgundy Al this was muted. With time a faint hint of cork emerged not enough to be obvious on the nose but enough to render it flat

agavin: very flat. I really couldn’t smell/taste the cork, but it was certainly flat, and much much lamer than the other two Caillerets. Sad. Very sad. Opened my backup (the 11).

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Backup from my cellar: 2011 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Caillerets. 94 points. Pale, bright yellow. Peach and spicy oak on the nose. Sweet, fleshy and rather opulent, with a fine-grained texture and superb concentration. Very ripe but refined wine. Coche told me these vines suffered in the late June heat spike, but I don’t find the wine obviously marked by heat. Aged in 30% new oak.

Fred’s notes: Some lime and sweet tart notes to start. That profile starts to blow off to reveal a remarkable wine of elegance and acidity. Very young and give these another 10 years.

agavin: very tart, sweet tarts ground in, but lovely. Young!

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An opening cocktail?  Or juice. Hard to tell.
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Some kind of very bright punchy fruit flavor.
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Hawaiian Kanpachi. Sorrel panna cotta, hass avocado, radish and yuzu. Very nice bright starter. A unique take on the “tuna and avocado” thing. Loved the panna cotta and the yuzu.
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Potato Leek Soup. Crisp Oyster, Preserved red onion. Fine and creamy, if not the most exciting dish of the night.
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Egg Caviar. Soft poached egg, smoked lemon creme fraiche, golden ostera caviar. I’ve had this nearly every time I’ve been to Melisse. Still love it. Hard to eat neatly though.

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Wagyu Beef Tartare. Charred leek, sunflower, capers and black garlic. Really great tartare with interesting crispy and leafy texture and great flavor.

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Toast and chicharrones for the tartare. Chicharrones are perfect for me, less carbs, more fat and flavor!
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Dungeness Crab and Geoduck Clam. Sisho and kefir lime infused custard, nori dashi. Very light Chawanmushi-style dish with extremely Japanese flavors. There has been strong Japanese influence at Melisse for some time.
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Stonington Maine Diver Scallop. Diver Tim Robbins, FV Nilly Willy, Blue Hill Me. Young leeks, Brussels sprouts, fermented black beans, pomelo and mussel jus. A fine dish, but I don’t adore scallops in this kind of prep. I prefer them raw with yuzu!
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Wild mushroom risotto. Aged acquerello rice, shaved perigord truffles.
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Here with the truffles. Fabulous dish. Expensive supplement (maybe $85) but fabulous.
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Black Bass “En Ecailles”. Salsify, fava beans, morel mushrooms, parsely and green garlic. Tasty white fish, but the scales give me the willies as always. Trypophobia!
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21 Day Aged Liberty Duck. Salsify, bloomsdale spinach and procini. Very aged — tasty meat though.
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We ordered special the Poulet Roti. It comes table-side like this.
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Poulet Roti. Potato Mousseline, sunchocke, chanterelle, black truffle. Really nice chicken. Maybe not as great as the chicken baked with straw I had here once or twice, but great.
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And bonus legs.
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And they served this chicken and truffle salad. Best “chicken salad” I’ve ever had by an order of magnitude.
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Camembert. Perigord truffles. We screwed up and forgot to tell them we wanted the cheese cart and not a fixed “cheese course” like this. It was fine, but nowhere near as good as the cart — and you can barely find the cart anywhere nowadays.
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Red Velvet. Cream cheese tres leches, red beet and rose geranium.
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With the sauce. Beautiful and tasty. Reminds me I have to make red velvet gelato again — been two years!
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Lisa Cherimoya. Cara cara, passion fruit, lemongrass and coconut. For me, this was like a perfect dessert. I love this kind of bright creamy passionfruit / coconut kind of thing.
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Petit fours. The usual, cannelles, chocolates, pate de fruits, macarons.
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Mint tea. Unusual, but nice.
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Erick.
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Fred (He and Sebastian keep in the best shape of any Foodie Club guys).
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Liz.
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And me.
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The full wine lineup.

Overall, another epic epic night.

Service at Melisse is first class. As is the food. Plenty of it, delicious, if rich. The price tag is a bit high and it’s not that surprising that they are transforming into something more casual and modern. Our dinner was about $800 a person! The set menu itself isn’t so bad, maybe $210, but add the truffle supplement, the chicken, the hefty corkage, the champagne and all the tax and tip and it really gets up there!

The somm is a friend and really on it. One of the best in town. Our wines were great, but our luck wasn’t as we had to open two backup with only 4 people and these aren’t exactly bargain basement vino. The 02 d’auvenay and 95 MP were the wines of the night — but everything (not flawed) was quite lovely. Paired perfectly with the food and we skipped the red meat (replaced it with the chicken) to highlight the white burg more.

The no flash thing (like many fine dining places) makes photography hard, but I was set with two tripods and my new 35mm 1.8 macro lens. A big improvement in quality but fussing with the tripod constantly makes it a lot more work.

Very fun evening.

For more LA dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

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I brought some gelato for a bit of a parking lot tailgate (didn’t bring it into the restaurant).

Another new flavor, but continuing my Sicilian theme — Pistachio Almond Lemon Gelato — base made with a 50/50 blend of Pistachios from Bronte Sicily and Noto Almonds, plus Sicilian candied lemon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #Pistachio #Almond #lemon #sicily

Related posts:

  1. Major Coche to the Dome-O
  2. Melisse – 2007 Montrachet!
  3. Melisse Madness
  4. Mega Melisse
  5. Burghounds at Melisse
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chef Josiah Citrin, Chicken, Coche Dury, d'Auvenay, Foodie Club, French Cuisine, Gelato, Melisse, Truffles, White Burgundy

Charcoal – First Foray

Sep16

Restaurant: Charcoal Venice

Location: 425 Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292. (310) 751-6794

Date: July 21, 2018

Cuisine: New American Grill

Rating: Interesting so far

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We were out on a family bike ride and decided to stop at Josiah Citrin’s (owner/chef of Melisse) newish more casual eatery for brunch.

It’s located on Washington Blvd about 2 blocks in from the ocean.

The space is contemporary and attractive.

Maybe about 3000 square feet.

Grilled Cucumber Gazpacho. Persian Cucumber, Calabrian Chili. I’m not sure what else was in this, other than certainly a lot of olive oil — but it was delicious. Roasted vegetable flavors, very roasted, lots of vinegar tang.

Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits. Pepper Honey. Being moved by a 9 year-old, hence the motion blur. Nice and cheesy. Excellent biscuits.

Hanger Steak Salad. Chopped Salad, Tomato, Havarti, Bacon, Grilled Onion, Kalamata Olives, and Jo-Jo’s Vinaigrette.

Fries. My 9 year-old didn’t like the spicy ketchup, I did.

Charcoal Benedict. Grilled Ham, Tomato Compote, Poached Egg, Charcoal-Infused Jet Black Hollandaise. Never had black hollandaise sauce before. The color made my mind think it should taste like squid ink. I can’t actually say that I tasted the charcoal at all, although clearly you can see it. Tasty classic Benedict either way.

Three Egg Omelette. Wilted Spinach, Avocado, Aged Cheddar, Grilled Spring Onion and Tomato.

Kitchen and interesting menu seemed promising, and several friends like it for dinner, so I’ll have to give that a try one of these days.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
  2. Eating NY – Baker & Co
  3. Brunch at Tavern – again
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Charcoal, Charcoal Venice, Chef Josiah Citrin, Grill, Josiah Citrin, steakhouse, Washington Blvd

Melisse – 2007 Montrachet!

Mar22

Restaurant: Melisse [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: March 19, 2015

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Awesome again

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And so we arrive at Part 3 of the epic three night 2007 White Burgundy Dinner series (Part 1 can be found here and part 2 here). This series of dinners, hosted by Burg-meister Don Cornwell, explores in great detail the best wines of a particular vintage, in this case 2007.

Tonight features “Mostly Montrachet” that is, the wines of the great “Le Montrachet” Grand Cru, often considered the best white wine in the world.

This particular dinner is at Melisse, one of LA’s few 2 star Michelin restaurants and also one of my favorites (you can find links to three epic Carte Blanche meals at Melisse in the brackets at the top of the post). Let’s just say that Melisse generally has every area of fine dining covered: great food, great wine service, great everything service, etc.

2007 is a classic white Burgundy vintage made from an upside-down growing season in which April was literally the warmest month. The year began with a very early flowering thanks to record heat in April, and a cool and fairly dismal summer followed. Most of the best growers picked their chardonnay in warm, dry weather during the first half of September – quite early, but not as early as the mid-May flowering would have predicted. The wines from the better makers show noteworthy transparency to terroir. Those who harvested relatively late often brought in thoroughly ripe fruit with healthy acidity levels and no obvious signs of overripeness. The skins of the chardonnay grapes in ’07 were mostly in good shape, in spite of wet, cool weather in June and July.

The 2007s are characterized by fresh citrus and white stone fruit aromas, plenty of minerality and floral lift, and good levels of acidity. Many are like fleshier versions of the 2004s, which sounds like a near-perfect formula for white Burgundy to this taster. Although I think of the typical style of 2007 as being pure, focused, minerally and racy, in fact there’s a creaminess without heaviness or other exoticism to many of the wines that buffers their acidity and gives them great early appeal. So please forgive my tendency to refer to the former style as the classic 2007 character. This is true in theory, but in the mouth there are many lovely 2007s with noteworthy generosity of texture. Incidentally, a number of producers told me that the wines were very awkward in the early going, and benefited tremendously from a longer élevage.


Our testing  was setup in the elegant private room just to the right of the entrance.


Tonight’s special menu.


Less glasses tonight than on the first two dinners in the series, as we have fewer wines and fewer drinkers.

Flight 0: Amuses


1996 Philipponnat Clos de Goisses. Burghound 97. One of the greatest examples of the ’96 vintage, this wine has it all with elegance, intensity, subtlety and grace, not to mention buckets of unrealized potential that will enable this beauty to improve for at least another decade and perhaps longer. I can only imagine just how good this would be from magnum format! The nose is discreet, reserved and pure with lemon, green apple and layers upon layers of fruit framed by just the right amount of yeast influence that continues onto the exceptionally dry and tight flavors that are crisp and refined as well as superbly intense yet through it all there is this underlying sense of harmony, as though all of the elements are working in concert. The greatest wines, at least those cut from classical cloth, persuade through the subtlest means and so it is with the ’96 Goisses, which is indeed a great wine by any measure. While it is drinkable now, for my taste preferences a lot of potential would be left in the glass and I wouldn’t start in earnest on this for another 5+ years.

agavin: Really a great mature champagne with years of life in it.


Liberty Duck Breast, Marche Cherry, Caper Chip. Awesome smoky little chip with an Asian sort of vibe.


Santa Barbara Ridgeback Prawn Ravioli. The shrimp is the ravioli and the ravioli is the shrimp. Tasted like a great har gow.


Beef Bearnaise. Taking a card from the Jose Andres deck, the sauce was actually inside the little hush puppy-like thing.


The bread. I’m particularly partial to the green basil bread and the bacon bread (far left).


Hamachi with radish. I’m not sure what was in that creamy blob, but the overall combo was fabulous.

Flight 1: Montrachet


A word about tonight’s format. Every bottle was served blind, except we were aware of what flight it was and what was in the flight, just not of which wine was which. The reveal was held until the end of the entire evening so that we could vote on favorite wines without bias.

2007 Drouhin Montrachet Marquis de la Guiche

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: In contrast to the relative expressiveness of the majority of the prior wines, here the nose is decidedly restrained, offering up only grudging notes of pain grillé that frame pure aromas of white flower and fresh pear with subtle spice notes that continue onto the balanced, long and gorgeously refined big-bodied flavors that exude a distinct stoniness while building towards a powerful, mouth coating and palate staining finish that delivers striking persistence. A distinguished effort that will age for years because of the excellent underlying material and impeccable balance. 93-96

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Very ripe aromas of apricot and smoky oak. Big, rich and sweet, with sexy hints of smoke, nutmeg and brown sugar. Tactile and chewy but without any excess weight. This big boy seems accessible already but offers enticing high notes for such a ripe wine. The smoky oak element recurs on the back end. This will need time to show its inherent soil complexity. 94

agavin: a bit deeper yellow. rich oak, grew quiet nice with time, lovely nose, long acid finish.

2007 Prieur Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: This too evidences a subtle application of wood but does not intrude on the transparency of the array of very floral, peach, pear and menthol aromas that serve as a sweeping introduction to the huge, rich and extremely powerful tautly muscled flavors that possess copious amounts of dry extract that completely drench the palate on the incredibly long finish. This is a massive Montrachet with flat out painful intensity and for those who enjoy dramatic whites, this fits the bill. A ‘wow’ wine and then some but for the patient. 94- 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: (still on its lees in barrel) Pale, bright yellow. Compelling aromas of peach, fresh apricot and iodiney minerality. Silky on entry, then dense, powerful and large- scaled in the middle. This is really stuffed with fruit. There’s a juiciness here but this tactile wine is almost too easy today. Plenty of alcohol too, at 13.8%. 91-93

agavin: med yellow, sulfur on the nose to start, strong green apple, mellowed after some time in the glass

2007 Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres

Allen Meadows, Burghound Database, Feb 2, 2012: Mild reduction initially reduces the expressiveness of the otherwise fresh and impressively complex lemon, stone and acacia blossom-infused nose that leads to equally complex and beautifully delineated middle weight flavors that ooze a fine minerality before culminating in an overtly austere but explosive, linear and compact finish of superb length. While this could of course be drunk now, for my taste it is still much too young. However, if you’re going to try one out of curiosity I would strongly advise decanting it for at least 30 minutes first as the flavors take their timing opening up. Tasted twice recently with one bottle being a bit more forward than the one described above. 94

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Good pale yellow. Knockout orange and mineral nose projects an impression of force that continues onto the palate. A wonderfully silky wine of outstanding intensity and lift. This has the fine-grained texture of a grand cru, not to mention the combination of suavity and power that characterizes the best examples of Perrieres. The palate-staining finish features a whiplash of flavor. The candid Coche was quick to say that the crop level here was a healthy 52 hectoliters per hectare, but it tastes like half that. I should note that the finished wine is much more classic and vibrant than a more glyceral barrel sample I tried last year, and Coche has also upped his opinion of this beauty. 95

agavin: light straw in color, lots of sulfur reduction, green apple palette, long long acid finish.

2007 Henri Boillot Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: This is also strikingly pure, refined and fantastically elegant and while the kaleidoscopic nose is more restrained and primary still, the density of the fruit with its associated depth is quite simply sublime. Notes of white truffle, citrus, rose petal, anise, brioche and clove merge into concentrated, powerful, delineated and stony flavors that are big but not necessarily massive and culminate in a finish that is even more persistent than that of the Chevalier if not necessarily finer. Still, what this gives up in delicacy it more than makes up for in size, weight and power. A classically proportioned Monty. 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2008: Very closed nose hints at lime, botanical herbs, clove and minerals. Chewy, tactile and uncompromisingly dry, with a powerful dusty minerality carrying through on the long, stony finish. Extremely young and unevolved today. 92-94

agavin: middle yellow, rich open nose, acidic and green apple taste


Stonington Maine Diver Scallop Grilled Leeks, Cardoons, Crème de Brandade.

Flight 2: Montrachet


The next flight, even more Monty.

2007 Bouchard Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Database, April 9, 2010: (with thanks to Dr. Michael Chen). A stunningly complex range of fruit, citrus, floral and spice aromas complement to perfection the very rich, full and strikingly concentrated broad-scaled flavors that are supported by plenty of dry extract that buffers a firm core of ripe acidity on the beautifully intense and flat out incredibly lingering finish. What really impresses me about the ’07 though is that despite the impressive heft, the finish remains laser-like in its focus. A ‘wow’ wine in every sense except for one, which is that this is not an imposing or massive vintage for this wine. Otherwise, this is sensational, especially in terms of its impeccable balance. Note that at this early juncture, there is essentially no difference between the magnum and 750 ml formats save for the impression that the magnum is, not surprisingly, even more backward. 97

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: While not more elegant than the Cabotte, this is quite a bit more complex with a stunning range of fruit, citrus, floral and spice aromas that complement to perfection the very rich, full and strikingly concentrated broad-scaled flavors that are supported by plenty of dry extract that buffers a firm core of ripe acidity on the beautifully intense and flat out incredibly lingering finish. What really impresses me about the ’07 though is that despite the impressive heft, the finish remains laser-like in its focus. A ‘wow’ wine in every sense except for one, which is that this is not an imposing or massive vintage for this wine. Otherwise, this is sensational, especially in terms of its impeccable balance. 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar: not reviewed

agavin: pale yellow, sulfur on the nose, a bit of potty even to the taste, thin finish

2007 Louis Latour Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: A deft touch of wood serves as a background presence for the reserved but fresh and bright floral, citrus, brioche and spice aromas that are strikingly complex and broad and complement the full-bodied flavors that are deep, dense and massive with exceptionally powerful drive and intensity on the gorgeously long and palate staining finish. This is an impressive wine blessed with great underlying material, perfect balance and superb harmony plus it’s built for the long haul. Note however that the expressiveness of the nose aside, the flavors are like a block of stone and thus I would suggest not opening a bottle for the next few years as it would likely be a complete waste. 95

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar: not reviewed

agavin: medium deep yellow, rich nose, nice citrus finish, grew better and better over time

2007 Le Moine Montrachet Cuvee C

Allen Meadows, Burghound: not reviewed

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: From the Chassagne side: Reticent nose dominated by nutty oak. The palate shows an almost candied ripeness to the citrus liqueur, iodine and wet stone flavors. Wonderfully sweet and densely packed wine of noteworthy solidity. Mounts impressively and broadens out on the vibrant, very long finish. 93-95

agavin: a bit deeper yellow. rich lovely nose. powerful and drinking well now

2007 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne

Allen Meadows, Burghound Database April 23, 2012: (with thanks to Herwig Janssen and Hal Borthwick). This is completely different from its ’08 counterpart with a wonderfully layered and relatively expressive nose that features ripe but cool green fruit, apple, rose petal and ample mineral influence that continues onto the imposingly concentrated and powerful flavors that terminate in a lemon-infused and intensely stony finish. This is strikingly persistent and while there is some austerity present it is much less so compared to the ’08. I quite like this and it’s a vintage that will certainly age well but be enjoyable young. 95

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: The most austere nose of these 2007s: apple, pear, crushed stone and oyster shell minerality. Saturates the palate with a flavor of liquid stone, without leaving any impression of weight. Very dry and penetrating wine with powerful underlying structure and great energy on the extremely long finish. Even more closed today than the Caillerets, but then this wine from marne blanche soil typically ages like a red. It will be interesting to compare this wine with the 2006 bottling a decade hence. The earlier wine is more glyceral, but this 2007 may possess even more energy. 95+

agavin: pale yellow, sulfur and sweet tarts on the nose, sweet tarts on the palette


2007 Ramey Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard. Vinous 94. Greenish yellow. Vibrant aromas of lime, lemongrass, powdered stone and anise. At once supple and energetic in the mouth, with impressive precision to the peach, citrus and smoky mineral flavors. Tightly wound and taut but not austere, showing a distinct spiciness on the back half. Lively citrus and mineral flavors carry through a rising, spicy finish. These grapes are sourced from four different blocks, all of them planted to the Wente clone, according to Ramey.

agavin: medium yellow, reductive nose, rich oak, guessed it wasn’t a Burgundy


Out comes a whole giant slab of turbot!


Atlantic Turbot Porcini Mushroom, Celeriac, Black Barley.


Roasted Celery Broth is poured on top. A fabulous bit of moist fish.

Flight 3: Coche-Dury


And the final set of blockbusters.

Leflaive Batard-Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: This is also on the ripe side for a 2007 with an ultra elegant nose that is pure, airy and cool, indeed this is unusually elegant for the appellation with its white flower, citrus, pear, menthol, white pepper and light spice hints that are in perfect keeping with the rich, full and broad- shouldered flavors that possess the usual volume and power of a classic Bâtard but do not lose any of the precision or detail on the expansive, mouth coating and hugely long and very dry finish. Like a number of examples in 2007, this is an elegant yet forceful Bâtard. 95

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Pale, green-tinged yellow. Knockout nose combines musky pineapple, lime and powdered stone; seems less exotic than the 2008. Wonderfully silky on entry, then explosively ripe and sweet in the middle, with powerful, palate-staining flavors of lime and flowers. Very rich and impeccably balanced, with its sweetness perfectly countered by firm buffering acidity. A great showing for this extremely long grand cru. 95

Don Cornwell, Wally’s Leflaive Dinner, Mar. 16, 2010: (tasted from two different bottles over four hours) Light yellow-green color; some light S02 here [Meadows noticed this too and quietly asked me about it as well. We both agreed this was slightly reductive]; citrus and sweet basil aromas; surprisingly forward and supple for a Batard, doesn’t have the power I expected; very good acidity and a long finish. My separate notes at dinner were almost verbatim identical. Meadows says he thinks the 2007’s will be open for business early but will live for a long time. 94(+?)

agavin: deep yellow, rich complex nose. slight vinegar sharpness to taste, very tart, short finish?

2007 Jadot Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: An almost invisible hint of wood frames stunningly refined if restrained, elegant and ripe floral, green fruit and spice notes with a most interesting touch of violets that can also be found on the rich, full-bodied and delicious flavors that possess ample underlying tension with plenty of finishing punch and vibrancy on the hugely long finish. This is a powerful but not massive Montrachet with buckets of dry extract and the class is obvious as is the impeccable balance of the linear and palate staining backend. 93-96

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar: not reviewed

agavin: medium yellow. sulfur at first, then really nice nose, then fell off? Reduction at first on palette, then opened way up. Quite nice.

2007 Le Mone Montrachet Cuvee P

Allen Meadows, Burghound: not reviewed

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: (There’s another barrel from the Puligny side but this one was only about a third of its way through its malolactic fermentation, which did not start until August of 2008. This sample showed a higher pitch, a captivating aroma of orange blossom and great finesse of texture, but was still youthfully imploded at the end of May.) not rated

agavin: Medium yellow. Thin, menthol, reductive nose. Rich palette and long finish. Opened into one of my favorites.

2007 Ramonet Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 36, Oct 2009: In contrast to the incredibly backward Bâtard, the Montrachet is somewhat more open and accessible with a soaring nose of floral, citrus, orange peel, spice and a suitably discreet touch of oak yet as impressively broad as it is, it is completely evident that there is plenty in reserve. This is also true of the almost painfully intense and focused medium plus weight flavors that possess ample amounts of extract that buffer the very firm acid spine on the hugely long finish. While it should not be a surprise, given that not only is this Montrachet but a Ramonet Montrachet at that, don’t open any of these anytime soon. The ’07 version is not ever going to be one of the power vintages for this storied wine but I suspect that it will take its rightful place among the greats but only in time and that time isn’t soon. Patience absolutely required. 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Pale, bright, green-tinged color. Subdued yet wonderfully nuanced aromas of powdered stone, white flowers, gingerbread, spices, sage and mint, complemented by sexy oak. Large-scaled, tactile and deep but with no impression of excess weight. Thick and broad from start to long, rocky finish. With extended time in the recorked bottle, this outstanding big boy turned steelier and drier, showing a penetrating grapefruit pith quality and remaining remarkably fresh. This outstanding Montrachet will almost certainly merit an even higher score seven or eight years down the road. 95+

agavin: paler yellow. Closed nose, rich flavor with a lot of acid.

2007 Sauzet Montrachet

Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 35, July 2009: This is ever-so-slightly riper and less restrained aromatically than the Chevalier with a densely fruited nose offering lightly spiced pear, white peach, lemon-lime and a hint of honeysuckle plus a touch of clove and anise that merge seamlessly into concentrated, powerful and weighty flavors that are not massive but they are focused, well-muscled and impressively scaled all the same and culminate in a superbly complex and deep finish that reminds me a lot of the 2002 version as it seems to come in wave after palate drenching wave. This is not as elegant and pure as the Chevalier but it somehow manages to deliver yet another dimension. In sum, an absolute knockout. Amazingly, this rivals the ’93 as the best Montrachet Sauzet has ever made, and anyone who has tasted a well-stored bottle knows that is high praise. 97

Steven Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Sept. 2009: Pale lemon-yellow. Reticent nose hints at lemon, clove and iodine. Large-scaled, fat and rich, but plush more than complex today in spite of its steely underpinning. This builds slowly and inexorably, filling the mouth and continuing to expand on the back end. A seriously concentrated Montrachet with the structure of a red wine. At 41 hectoliters per hectare, this wine featured the lowest crop level among the Sauzet 2007s. Really floods the palate with flavor. 95+

agavin: medium to pale, apple, apple, and more green apple. Tiny hints of advancedness?


Chef Josiah Citrin brings out the savory pièce de résistance.


Inside this dish, reminiscent of King Joffrey’s wedding pie:


Three hens nestled in hay. They were slow cooked to keep all the moisture inside.


Roasted Jidori Chicken, Smoked Carrots, Brasied Swiss Chard, Potato Mousseline.

This was probably the best chicken dish I’ve ever had. The meat absolutely perfectly cooked and juicy, the mashed potatoes amazing, and the jus pulled it all together. The carrots had this amazing “spiced” (as in pumpkin and spice) flavor.


Just my glasses.


Brian Kalliel, Melisse’s Sommelier, sucks his thumb while waiting for our endless debating and voting over the wine. It took forever before we revealed the blind wines. I, myself, was pacing about at the end of the room.


The whole array of bottles.

Dessert


1989 Freiherr Langwerth von Simmern Hattenheimer Mannberg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese.


1994 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Beerenauslese. MFW 100. Quince, lemon, petrol and honey. Impeccably balanced palate thanks to resonating acidity – it is sweet, intense and incredibly long. Brilliant stuff.


Check out the color of the 89 (left) vs the 94 (right).


Apple Tart Fine. Caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. Pretty much a perfect version of this dessert.


Petite fours. pate de fruits, cannelles, macarons, cookies, chocolates.

food: As usual the food at Melisse is just stunning. I generally prefer a more mega tasting menu with more flavors and the requirements of matching White Burgundy limited the options, but still there were some stunning dishes here, in particular the turbot and chicken. And the chicken. I’m normally not even a chicken fan! The amuses were great too with a complex Franco-Japanese vibe.

service: perfect.

agavin on the wines: Like the other two 2007 nights, all these wines showed a strong vintage character, namely that super tart green apple sweet tart acidity. But the Montrachets were in general drinking fabulously. Almost any of these wines would be fabulous additions to more normal lineups. There were no premoxed wines, with only 1-2 showing very slight touches of advanced notes on the nose. Nothing was corked. Quite a number were highly reduced with a lot of sulfur on the nose, even degrading to “porta potty.” But this blows off with years in the bottle or hours in the glass.

The guessing of the more experienced Chard hounds was unusually inaccurate tonight. A lot of the typically “inferior” (for great wines) Montrachets were drinking the best tonight. These included the Louis Latour, the Jadot, and the Prieur. My best guess is that the more forward styles served to round out the wines and balance that searing acidity. I cannot understate the amount of tartness in these wines (or any typical 2007s). By the last flight my tongue was just buzzing with it and I had total palette fatigue. I had to use the sweet wines and the cannelles to try and wash it away.

Overall quality was quite high, but there was some serious doubt in the group as to how long to hold this vintage. Some felt that the acidity will remain and eventually overwhelm the fruit, leading to tight thin wines. Personally, I’d propose waiting a small number of additional years and pairing up with acid friendly food.

Don on the wines, plus official rankings:

RANK

 

Total

Rating

1

2007 Latour Montrachet

36

96

2

2007 Prieur Montrachet

27

95

3

2007 Jadot Montrachet

23

96|97

4

2007 Le Moine Montrachet Cuvee P

20

95

5

2007 Le Mone Montrachet Cuvee C

14

94

6

2007 Coche Meursault Perrieres

8

95++

7 tie

2007 Ramey Hyde Chardonnay

7

92

7 tie

2007 Ramonet Montrachet

7

94++

9

2007 Drouhin De Laguiche Montrachet

4

96

10

2007 Bouchard Montrachet

3

96

11

2007 Leflaive Batard Montrachet

1

95

12 tie

2007 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne

0

95

12 tie

2007 Boillot Montrachet

0

93|92A

12 tie

2007 Sauzet Montrachet

0

92A?

The five names at the top of the “leader board” have never been there before.  Make no mistake, the Latour, Prieur and Jadot were absolutely awesome wines.  The Le Moine wines also showed quite well.  So at the risk of catching some more flack from Mounir again, I’m sending him a copy of this results email again so that he can see how well his two Montrachet cuvees did.  (There wasn’t the faintest hint of oxidation this time.)

Don thought that the really youthful wines of the night that needed more time to show how great they really are were the Coche-Dury Meursault Perrieres (yes, we also tasted a bottle of this wine on night one) and the Ramonet Montrachet.

David Ramey’s 2007 Hyde vineyard Chardonnay did double-duty as a ringer this year and it did very well even with the much stiffer competition among the Montrachets.  (Don didn’t think last night’s bottle  showed as well as the bottle we had with the Batards on night two, but it was still a well-liked wine with one first place vote.)   Mr. Ramey has clearly established, on both nights two and three (as well as in past vintages which operated with different voting rules), that his Hyde Vineyard bottling definitely belongs in the conversation when assessing the world’s best chardonnays.

There were no oxidized wines last night and the group overall didn’t think we had any advanced wines (although myself and two others thought that the Boillot Montrachet and Sauzet Montrachet were advanced and the Boillot Montrachet was almost borderline oxidized.)

From the premature oxidation perspective, looking at this on a historical basis, the 2007 vintage performed very well.  From an overall perspective, the 2007s were, by the narrowest of margins, the best-ever performing vintage from a premox perspective that we have had to date (in the years of this testing series).

Other big tasting dinners from this dinner series:

2007 White Burgundy part 1

2007 White Burgundy part 2

2006 White Burgundy

2004 Red Burgundy

2005 White Burgundy part 1

2005 White Burgundy part 2

2005 White Burgundy part 3

Related posts:

  1. Mostly Montrachet at Melisse
  2. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 2
  3. Melisse Madness
  4. Valentino – 2007 White Burgundy part 1
  5. Burghounds at Melisse
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: 2007 White Burgundy, Chef Josiah Citrin, Dessert, Josiah Citrin, Melisse, Montrachet, White Burgundy, Wine

Burghounds at Melisse

Apr05

Restaurant: Melisse [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 1104 Wilshire Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 395-0881

Date: March 21, 2013

Cuisine: California French

Rating: Awesome in all ways

 

Melisse is a real standout in LA for many reasons. It’s almost the last of the European style haut cuisine restaurants and it maintains an ever evolving cuisine at the highest level. Food, presentation, and service here are all top notch. Tonight, I returned (for what must be the 20th time) with a bunch of Burgundy loving friends. Melisse provided the food and we provided the wines. Joining us were two reps from London wine merchant Justerini & Brooks and they brought along a number of excellent bottles.


We settled on the “10” a good sized tasting menu, but not quite as crazy as the carte blanche (my usual favorite).


The first amuse is a Melisse staple. Grapes two ways. Out of the spoon are half grapes coated in goat cheese and pistachio. On the spoon sphereized grapes dusted with pistachio. The first has a nice contrast of the sharp cheese and the fruit, the second is an explosion of grapeness.


And the bread arrives. I went for a piece of bacon, and a  basil brioche.


Domaine Bachelet-Monnot Puligny-Montrachet “Les Refèrts” 1er 1er Cru White.

Burghound 88. Very mild reduction that didn’t blow off even after 24 hours does not completely hide the otherwise fresh and pretty citrus and floral aromas that give way to precise, racy and intense middle weight flavors that possess a very firm, indeed one could safely call this assertive, acid framework on the dry, persistent and solidly complex finish. Like the Folatières, some will find this to be overly austere as the finish is bone dry.

IWC 91+. Bright yellow. Exotic aromas of apricot and grilled nuts. Quite powerful and concentrated, with sweet fruit countered by strong acidity. In a rather muscular style for this cuvee Alexandre told me these vines were picked very slowly and that the 13.4% natural alcohol was high for 2008. The yield here, he says, was just 30 hectoliters per hectare.


Kumanto Oyster, avocado. I don’t remember all the details of this amuse, but it was lovely.


No trip to Melisse would be complete without the classic, “Egg Caviar, Lemon Creme Fraiche, American Osetra Caviar.” It’s a classic for a reason. The Creme Fraiche is so good, and there is raw egg yolk at the bottom. Amazing combo, particularly with the little toast stick.


The aftermath.


2009 Pierre Boisson Meursault

Almond, caramel, Nice long finish. True and excellent meursault.


Poisson Cru. Crysanthemum, Pistachio, Breakfast Radish and Black Mustard.

Very much fusing Japanese influences with the french, this was a nice sashimi meets pesto dish.


Sweet Pea Soup. English Peas and Whipped Porcini.


With the soup itself poured in. A typical lovely vegetable creme soup Melisse style.


1999 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Meursault Les Chaumes des Perrières

Nice mature white burg with plenty of fruit and firm, racy acidity. A very enjoyable wine, and paired excellently (as suggested by master Sommelier Brian Kalliel) with:


White Asparagus Cocotte. Morel Mushrooms, Savagnin Sauce.

It’s white asparagus season, and these were done up to perfection with my favorite mushroom and a nice oxidized butter reduction. All sauce was mopped up afterward.


1978 Robert Ampeau & Fils Blagny 1er Cru La Pièce-sous-le-Bois

From my cellar. Dark red with a brown hue. Scents of prunes and raisins with strong cherry scents underneath. Medium bodied with nice intensity and mouth feel. Interesting, but delicious, taste of brown sugar with a nice consistent aftertaste.

This was slightly cloudy, not bitter at all, but not quite as good as the 1978 Ampeau Volnay I opened a couple weeks before.


Truffle Pasta. Fresh Tagliatelle, Perigord Truffle.


Have a little truffle. Always too small a portion (of the pasta)!


Domaine Henri Jayer Echézeaux Grand Cru Red

Burghound 93. Knock out aromas of kirsch, blackberry extract and ripe earth lead to big, robust, quite structured, deep and sappy flavors of incredible depth and complexity and as grand as those characteristics are, it is the simply mindbending length that really sets this apart from the average Jayer Ech. A wine that should last for 25 years if well stored.

The 1990 Henri Jayer Echezeaux had a lot going on in its nose. It was heavy and thick, beefy, brothy and foresty, with that citrus pitch and spice. It was like a forest sledgehammer, so thick and sweet, displaying that purple signature style. The palate was rich with endless acidity that was still somehow reined in. The palate was so rich, so saucy, so concentrated, so spectacular. It also had that cedary, foresty edge to its flavors. If the 1991 was a girlfriend, the 1990 was a bodyguard.

1990 Louis Jadot Musigny

Parker 93. The Musigny (75 cases produced) is a textbook example of this vineyard. The color is deep ruby. The nose consists primarily of sweet black-cherries and new oak. In the mouth, there is a soft, velvety texture, medium to full body, low acidity, and gentle tannins in the long finish.

My favorite wine of the night.


Dry Aged Sonoma Duck. Forono Beets, Mustard, Orange Scented Duck Jus.

This duck was aged for 28 days (I think) and had a wonderful “aged” complexity.


1988 Domaine Maume Charmes-Chambertin

From my cellar. John Gilman 91 points.

This was drinking nicely, but wasn’t quite as bright and balanced as the other three grand cru reds. If I’d had it without such stellar competition, I’d have thought better of it :-).


Windrose Farms Lamb. Violet Artichoke, Young Garlic, Camelina Seeds.

Aged for 5-6 weeks! Delightfully gamey.


1988 Emmanuel Rouget Echezeaux

Burghound 94. Intense and penetrating nose of spices and high-toned pinot fruit with remarkably youthful, rich flavors that completely buffer the still substantial tannins. The extract is sweet and seamless and renders the tannins almost invisible. This is extremely impressive Echézeaux.

Another knockout.


Fourme d’Ambert. Pear Tart, Wild Watercress, Peppered Honey.

I’m always good with blue.


1995 Weingut Robert Weil Kiedricher Gräfenberg Riesling Auslese

Wine Spectator 89. One of the sweeter auslese of ’95, its melon, peach and botrytis flavors are wrapped around a core of racy acidity. Concentrated and long. Drink now through 2000. 350 cases made.

Golden color, honeyed fruits with a touch of petrol. great body that expands on the finish. Loads of honey and mango.


Molten Chocolate Tart, peppermint Sorbet.

Not your average “molten chocolate cake”!


Sangria. Moro Blood Orange, Pineapple and Mugwort.

Light and refreshing.

Macarons, cookies, and canelles.


Orange slices and pate de fruits.


The full lineup.

Melisse has two Michelin stars, and it deserves every ounce of them. The service is amazing too. The setting is not as fully formal as some French three-stars, or the service quite so orchestrated (that level is more amusement than actually pleasant), and there are no zany carts for teas and sugars, but the food and creativity demonstrate Melisse’s deserved position as one of America’s top kitchens. I ‘ve gone several times a year for a decade and it keeps getting better and better!

For another Melisse meal, click here.

Or for other Foodie Club meals, click here.


Small table, lots of glasses!

Related posts:

  1. More Michelin at Melisse
  2. Melisse – How much would a Woodcock…
  3. Mostly Montrachet at Melisse
  4. Food as Art: Melisse
  5. Peace in the Middle East? – Mezze
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Allen Meadows, Burgundy, Chef Josiah Citrin, Justerini & Brooks, Los Angeles, Melisse, Michelin, Puligny-Montrachet
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