Meteoric rise
Meteoric rise
Sal’s Place, Vespertine prequel, Elysian Heights, Fort Worth, Galerie Half, Ghia, Anajak's Thai Taco Tuesday, the best omakase, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Between Vespertines
Next week, the doors to the waffle-shaped, extraterrestrial restaurant known as Vespertine will reopen in Culver City after a four-year hiatus. What has its chef and mad scientist, Jordan Kahn, been up to during the break? Meteora.
Opened in Hancock Park in 2022, the chef’s sophomore tasting menu restaurant feels like Tulum inside. Stepping through the oversized bird’s nest framing the entrance, I was transported into a rainforest-like realm by way of an ethereal soundtrack, a Kahn trademark. (At Vespertine 2.0, Icelandic band Sigur Rós is reportedly orchestrating the “sonic ecosystem.”)
Meteora’s dimly lit, copal-clouded interior is adorned with concrete benches and rattan chairs under lofty ceilings and wells of skylight. There’s also a gigantic selenite table anchoring the private dining room within the kitchen. While the decor exudes a primitive allure, the food couldn’t be more avant-garde. Biodynamic, heirloom, and wild ingredients are transformed by live-fire cooking (both wood and coal), meticulously plated in a modernist style.
Memorable dishes included flame-seared oysters served with beef fat in a medieval cooking device called a flambadou, deep-sea scarlet prawns seared over hot stones, burnt Murasaki yam with smoked trout roe, and slices of Stonington scallop dressed with mezcal-glazed pineapple. The drinks menu is equally impressive, boasting complex cocktails and mocktails like a margarita made with grilled papaya juice, aged tequila, Haitian rum, sea buckthorn, and allspice.
Dining at Meteora transcends the ordinary. As for what kind of sensual, gastronomic journey Kahn has in store for us next? Watch this space(ship). –Victoire Loup
→ Meteora (Hancock Park) • 6703 Melrose Ave • Wed-Sun 530-11p • Reserve.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: An interview with Vespertine chef Jordan Kahn on the restaurant’s imminent reopening: ‘like the sound of rain or trees, the sound of the forest, but not literally those sounds’ • Latest LA dining trend: resurrected restaurants • Do upscale dives belong in the modern bar landscape?
REAL ESTATE • Sold
Elysian fields — and hills
In honor of opening day at Dodger Stadium, today, we appraise the real estate offerings in the Chavez Ravine-adjacent Elysian Heights area of Echo Park. This hilly, tiny micro-neighborhood isn’t generally a place for blockbuster deals — the most expensive property to trade here in the past year was this good-looking redwood-clad midcentury house (above), built in 1950 and sold for $2.8M in April 2023.
But this year, people are playing ball in the Elysian Heights market, including at these three houses that have sold in 2024 — with two of them going for more than six figures over initial ask, and one after dropping nearly $200K in price.
→ 2236 Lemoyne St (Elysian Heights) • 2BR/1.1BA, 1462 SF • house built 1928 with Downtown skyline views • Listed: 1/31/24 for $1.65M, sold: 2/27/24 • Sold price: $1.83M • Listing brokers: Joel Vendette, Bennion Deville Homes and Melanie Tielmann, Compass.
→ 2105 Echo Park Ave (Elysian Heights) • 4BR/5BA, 2565 SF • two-story Dutch colonial home • Listed: 8/31/23 for $1.639M, sold: 3/6/24 • Sold price: $1.465M • Listing broker: Henry Plascencia, Compass.
→ 2117 Vestal Ave (Elysian Heights) • 2BR/1BA, 1326 SF • 1926 bungalow offered for sale for first time in 50 years • Listed: 1/5/24 for $1M, sold: 1/10/24 • Sold price: $1.255M • Listing broker: Sasha Wingate, Compass.
LA WORK AND PLAY LINKS: The Broad announces massive addition designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro • Planned Hollywood Blvd renovation good news for pedestrians, outdoor dining, tourists • Dodger Stadium gondola faces more roadblocks: lawsuits! • Latest on the black market for golf tee times: lawsuits!
GETAWAYS • Fort Worth, TX
Go east to go west
Sometimes Fort Worth, Texas, gets blended together with Dallas in the non-Texan consciousness. But Fort Worth is on a growth spurt lately, propelled in part by the crossover popularity of all things American West and country music, as well as an influx of new residents. The city’s more interesting neighborhoods have the feel of Austin 15 years ago: smatterings of small businesses and cafes, with nothing too focus-grouped or blisteringly cool — just a vibe that portends momentum.
As such, the city finally has a hotel worthy of those aspirations. Bowie House, recently opened by Auberge Resorts Collection, sits within walking distance of the Modern Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and the Kimbell, among other attractions. Throw in some rodeo and a stockyard visit, and you’ve got yourself a long weekend, just a three-hour flight from LA.
The hotel is a perfect realization of what Auberge is trying to do with the brand — deliver luxe hospitality with a local feel. The bar and lobby area render the American West in crisp HD, without contrivances or pastiche. The brand’s creative director, Kemper Hyers, created an elevated, convivial space that frames the interesting convergences of the city: I spotted a full regalia cowboy with a silver six-shooter and spurs stroll by, and in the evening a certain Mad Man held court in salmon-colored khakis, fresh off a nearby filming.
Service was polished, and rooms had lovely handspun touches that defy the razor-blade-assembly-line feel of some other luxury hotel brands. America can still be interesting. And Bowie House is a plush, inspired landing pad to explore a city that increasingly merits your attention. –Colin Nagy
→ Bowie House (Fort Worth, TX) • 3700 Camp Bowie Blvd.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Inside the Gott’s Roadside empire, now dishing 12M burgers each year • World’s 50 Best announces Asia list for 2024; Tokyo’s Sézanne is tops • Welcome to the golden age of do-it-yourself hotel room service.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Object
Rare vintage
High-end Hollywood design gallery Galerie Half is staged with the most exquisite vintage furniture in the city: a 1940s Finnish floor lamp, ornate mirrors from 17th century Italy, a massive velvet Swedish sofa, mid-century glazed stoneware from Denmark. If becoming a client of founder Cameron Smith isn’t currently in the cards, you can still marvel at his finds at the Melrose Avenue showroom — or at home, with his first book, recently published by Flammarion. The 336-page tome showcases a stylized selection of Galerie Half interiors and pieces. It would also sit fittingly as a gift on the coffee tables of your most elegant friends. –Emily Wilson
→ Shop: Galerie Half: Selected Works / Spaces (Galerie Half), $125.
WORK • Thursday Routine
Team spritzes
MELANIE MASARIN • founder • Ghia
Neighborhood you live in: Hollywood Hills
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Thursdays can be quite busy in the office with everyone showing up at the Ghia House around 9. Throughout the day, people can be found working from our garden, our bright dining room, or one of the office rooms. We're big fans of Sqirl, Sweetgreen, and Kismet Rotisserie for lunch. We can hear our head of sales’ enthusiastic voice transcending the walls upstairs. My assistant Carlos is usually playing some French indie music for us, and we all like to gather for an afternoon spritz around 4, and work together from the living room.
What’s on the agenda for today?
You caught me during a visit to Aspen to do some snowboarding before the season ends. I’ll be catching up on emails between runs and chatting with my team.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I finally went to Anajak's Thai Taco Tuesday and can't wait to go back. I’ve also been loving Ètra and Queen St., not just because they carry Ghia.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I love a day on the East Side at the Simon Norton Museum and the Huntington Botanical Garden.
Any weekend getaways?
I'm a big fan of Ojai. It's close enough to LA to justify the drive and the vibe is so different that it feels like a whole other world. Dinner at Rory's Place and a croissant from The Dutchess are a must. I’m also planning a weekend in Palm Springs with some friends in a few weeks — I’ll stay at the new Life House Palm Springs, go on long hikes, and hopefully get to visit a few midcentury homes.
What was your last great vacation?
I took a trip to Tokyo this past November and had the best time. Some highlights were a ramen-making class with Baba Ramen, and lots of shopping for kitchen supplies in Kappabashi. I wrote about my trip on my Substack.
CULTURE & LEISURE • New Beginnings
Cardinals vs Dodgers, Dodger Stadium (Chavez Ravine), Sat @ 610p, section 24FD, $624 per
NCAA Tournament West Regional, Crypto.com Arena (Downtown), Sat @ TBA, section 111, $648 per
Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope Tour, The Wiltern (Wilshire), Thurs @ 7p, loge, $81 per
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Chasing summer
In March 2023, the Provincetown institution Sal’s Place quietly took over a storied West Hollywood haunt, in an attempt to winter in Los Angeles. The restaurant made fast friends, and cultivated a devoted clientele with its seasonal Italian food and warm service. But three months later, the team packed their pasta pots and flew back to Cape Cod for the summer.
Blessedly, Sal’s has returned for another winter in LA, this time sticking around until late June (and reopening again in October).
On a recent Wednesday at 6p, we were the first guests to arrive, which earned us the best table in the house: the corner booth with a view of the entire restaurant, including a direct line to the pass. As dinner unfolded, we witnessed the finest hospitality I’ve seen in recent memory. Drink orders were taken promptly, check-ins timed correctly. The martinis were ice-cold, the Caesar faultless. Our shared order of vongole arrived in two individual portions, appropriately saucy, garlicky, and herb-flecked. Our steak, a peppercorn-crusted filet mignon, came split, too. When it was time to settle up, we paid in cash because Sal’s doesn’t accept cards.
Sal’s peeled off a few layers of Il Piccolini decor to make the place more modern, a touch beachy. There are zip-up curtains instead of walls, allowing a consistent breeze to flow through the space. Brown paper is laid atop white tablecloths while wicker light fixtures hang overhead. At Sal’s Place, summer is forever. –Emily Wilson
→ Sal's Place (West Hollywood) • 350 N Robertson Blvd • Tues-Sat 5-10p • Call (508) 487-1279 for reservations.
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RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Omakase
Morihiro (Atwater), helmed by rice-obsessed chef who makes his own ceramics, $250-$400 per