LOS ANGELES: The Last Days of Roger Federer: and other endings by Geoff Dyer is what came to mind when I came across the story of Mélisse, Josiah Citrin and Ian Scaramuzza. It is about endings, about choosing the best moment to step back and let the future take over. We very rarely know when it is the time to stop, when it is time to move on, when it is time for a big change. More often than not, and that has been the case in sports, in top-level careers, in art and even in restaurants, many don’t judge the moment to stop.
But Josiah Citrin managed to avoid that with his once two-Michelin-starred restaurant Mélisse in Santa Monica. Since last year, he has put Scottish chef prodigy Ian Scaramuzza at the helm of a project that changed completely. The restaurant was an institution on the US West coast culinary scene but it needed a refresh and that has come in the form of a new opening in June 2021. The restaurant has 5 tables, an open kitchen and got back its two Michelin stars from the Michelin guide in 2021 after the guide returned to Los Angeles after a long absence.
They say it is not always easy to enter the shadow of a master so we caught up with Ian to find out why he jumped on board this project.
What was your intention when you decided to take on this challenge at Mélisse?
For me, jumping into the Mélisse project was a really big opportunity because the restaurant was essentially starting from scratch. The restaurant has been open for 20 years but it underwent a big refurbishment and the idea was to take it to a new direction and because of COVID it didn’t really have had the chance to reopen properly. So from a culinary point of view, I kind of walked into a close to blank canvas, like a new restaurant, and for me it was a great opportunity to be able to leave my own mark, put my stamp on the food and in a way, help reinvent the identity of the restaurant, that used to be a big classic restaurant but now is rebuilt into more of a backstage dining room with an open kitchen and only five tables for fourteen guests.
How would you describe that identity?
It’s hard to describe. After working for so many chefs and learning so much in amazing restaurants over the years, Mélisse actually became the first real opportunity to explore my own style, my point of view, my cuisine. That was a big part of the reason why I came into this new chapter of the project because it almost felt like a new restaurant.
For someone that hasn’t been to the restaurant or tried your food: Can you describe your style and your type of cuisine?
I think that we get asked this question a lot and the best way to describe it would be Californian Cuisine. When I say Californian Cuisine I mean food made with great local produce but that also is very influenced by our privilege to be able to get amazing, fresh produce from for example Japan every day. But my base is very French. I trained for ten solid years with great chefs in French kitchens. I worked at a two Michelin-starred restaurant in Scotland, another two-starred in London, both French restaurants. So I use a lot of classic bases and mix that with Asian ingredients, coming from Japan, China, Korea. That’s my little twist on this union between French, Asian and American culinary culture.
One of our signature dishes right now is a good example of all this mix of influences and cultures. I do a Hokkaido Scallop Carpaccio but I do it with a sherry vinegar dressing, a side of scallop “chicharrón” and a truffle gribiche. So French influenced but with a mix of local and Japanese ingredients.
I do that carpaccio and the dressing in the middle is sherry vinegar and truffle, very French based. We use dashi, a reduction of sherry vinegar, garlic and a lot of truffles. And next to the side of crackers made out of scallop I serve another very French sauce, a gribiche, which is sort of a mayonnaise. It’s a really interesting dish, has been on the menu for quite a while now and our guests really love it. I think it is a great way to explain my point of view and what our style is.
It’s very interesting that given the history of Mélisse, you can also say that there already was a French base and influence but with the L.A twist of Asian produce and flavors here and there.
Yeah. I think that that’s what I mean when people say Californian Cuisine. We’re so close to so many places, and at the same time have such amazing local produce, that the union is just natural. With Japan, for instance, we get our produce twice a week, directly from Toyosu Market, and the first stop is Los Angeles. Then it goes to the rest of the country and New York. It feels almost as fresh as when we get produce from California. It’s all a pretty special side of things. We are a part of a Whatsapp group and we get pictures of the produce, like fish or sea urchin, and then we go to auction.
Other than the geographical link, what would you say is the link between American and Japanese cuisine?
I think honestly the link is a shared appreciation and enthusiasm for a great level of produce. With all the differences that these two culinary cultures might have, they both appreciate and respect the great produce that they get to have and grow. If you look into some California produce, for example, you can see how passionate they are about their vegetables and fruits.
And can you give me some examples (from both regions) that you use for your dishes?
If we go down to the very basics, I could mention katsuobushi. We bring it from Japan, as well as kombu, to make our bases, dashis and seasonings. I think that having these ingredients straight from Japan is a great advantage. Our dish rice and crab is a great example for this. Rice from Japan and the best crab you can find in Santa Barbara.
What is the perfect Mélisse experience?
I think the Mélisse experience is really high quality, really high level of cooking. Our idea is to be like that but also in a really casual setting because it’s an open plan restaurant, we play vinyls, we have no tableclothsx. So our guests can come and have the highest level of dining experience but without the fuss. It’s not like walking into a three Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris where you can feel uneasy or not welcomed. We want people to feel comfortable, to enjoy it. There’s only six members of staff in our room, and only fourteen guests. We have the chefs there and that makes it a little bit more relaxed but without compromising the quality or the level of the food. We just want people to come, have amazing food, enjoy and not feel stuffy or as if they shouldn’t be there.
And the reality is that to offer an amazing experience with attention to detail, things don’t have to feel stuffy. Can you take me through a moment of that experience? What am I eating, what am I listening to?
Ok, so for instance we have a dish on the menu with crab and rice. It’s Koshihikari Rice and we use snow crab from Hokkaido and box crab from Santa Barbara. So you get to have a crab and rice dish that has XO sauce, finger lime and a crab sauvignon while listening to Kanye West. A humble rice dish, prepared with the best possible ingredients you can find, done with great technique and served in a relaxed-casual atmosphere where you can be listening or Oasis. Obviously Josiah (Josiah Citrin: chef-owner of Mélisse and other restaurants) is a big music fan and also a vinyl fan and he can come up with more of a classics list like The Rolling Stones, mixed with more modern songs out of my playlist. It’s a fun experience. You can find yourself listening to Bohemian Rhapsody and having the Hokkaido Scallop Carpaccio and it kind of throws people off because the atmosphere is so relaxed but the food, the service and the wines are so top quality.
After decades of glory, one of Josiah’s intentions with changing things up in Melissé was to bring down the walls between the dining room and the kitchen. Something that he did with the remodel that took place just before you entered this new chapter of the restaurant. What would you say is the importance of bringing down those walls between the guests and the kitchen? What does it add to the experience?
I think that bringing down the walls and bringing down the whole atmosphere ultimately ends up adding value to the restaurant and the whole experience. It’s like going to a show and everyone’s front row because we only have five tables. Everyone sees everything, they see the chefs plating, serving, and sausing. It’s not just about sitting down and getting dishes from another room. There’s no bias and nothing to hide. That is something that all of our guests enjoy a lot and it makes them feel as a greater part of the experience.
Please tell me about the drinking side of Melissé.
It is very “wine centric” so we do a welcome cocktail that comes from the bar in the kitchen. Mathew, our sommelier, is in charge of our wine pairings. We usually have around 10 wines per pairing so it ends up rounding about one bottle to a bottle and a half per person. What he does is pairing two wines with each course. Not always, but a lot of times he offers wines from France and California and also a white wine and a red wine for the same dish.
It’s very interesting and something that makes our wine pairing very unique and different from the classic ones. We still use very very high end wines but what Mathew does is pairing red and white with each serving. Another thing that we do differently is that we don’t pour Champagne until a third of the way through the menu. At that point we do two different Champagnes and it comes with our Uni Cromesquis, a dish we make by combining Uni from Japan and Santa Barbara. The second one is our caviar dish, the Golden Ossetra Caviar deviled egg.
Why does Mathew choose to always pair dishes with white and red wine?
He’s challenging things. When you go to a restaurant you usually get white wine with fish and red wine with red meat. I think that with his choices he’s challenging himself and also our guests. He’s showing them that you can also enjoy other combinations. It’s not necessarily by always serving a white and a red, but I think it’s just his way of changing the program and it seems to be paying off as he won the Michelin Sommelier Award last year for his work. He’s very intelligent and does these pairings in a way that throws off and surprises our guests when he pours a red and a withe wine with our amuse bouche for example.
Would you say that Melissé is one of those restaurants where wines are a key part of the experience? A wine restaurant so to say.
I think that Melissé, even at the older days of the restaurant, have always been very well known for having an amazing wine cellar and I think that the experience at the new Melissé is definitely highly recommended to have it with the wine pairing. I obviously think that the menu is a great experience by itself but combining both things is just better.
When I take a moment to think about the complete package that the new Melissé is offering, it feels like in general you are all trying to do a new thing, to make things differently and with a more modern point of view.
We like to take people by surprise. Of course Melissé has a reputation after its two decades of success but this new chapter comes with a new story and we want to tell the story of the present. We want to show evolution, and little by little we’re doing it. Even when old guests come back expecting something very specific they remember from the old Melissé, they come into this new chapter and the result is always positive.
For example when I first sat down with Josiah to figure out the new Melissé, I already had a lot of ideas and a menu written. That menu included a chicken wing that we had on the menu not long ago. It was stuffed with truffle mousse and ham and had a beautiful beer glaze. There are not many restaurants at this level that are serving a chicken wing but why not? If you came to Melissé before, you were probably going to get foie gras and creamy sauces, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think that now our focus is on telling the story of the present and showing the evolution because now there’s a new point of view.
What is the future for Melissé?
We want a constant evolution and I think that with that, we can get to become a three Michelin-starred restaurant at some point. We want to see how far we can push the new Melissé and I’m not the kind of chef that gets complacent or stands still. We can be a world class restaurant and I think that there’s nothing wrong with having that ambition.
Last, what is the flavour of Ian Scaramuzza?
There’s depth, umami, acid and definition. With definition I mean that I push to elevate the flavors and for every dish to have very defined, clear flavours of what we’re serving.
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