I’ve got no interest in this place at all. I dined at Vespertine once and enjoyed the meal, but didn’t really feel the need to go back. They seem be a takeout joint these days and I’ve gone 1/2 on those meals. This place does not appeal to me in the slightest though.
1 Like
I’d try Vespertine if it reopened and someone else was paying, though I’d try to talk them into going somewhere less pretentious.
1 Like
Peony: Tonight’s meal is more elevated than our last visit. I feel the flavor has improved, as well as the creative activity. I admire the use of sunflower seeds as risotto and the frozen tonka bean mousse. The interior decoration and the friendly waitstaff definitely added to the whole experience. We were told in a previous visit that the chef will change the tasting menu every two weekends. That is really admirable. I hope they can keep on improving the favor and maintain the creativity as this kind of food is definitely very interesting and exciting.
Warrior: The food at Meteora is not delicious. Nor was the food at Vespertine. The food is interesting. There is no other food in LA like this. If the dishes were presented in a blind tasting, I’d know who prepared them. 6.8 Warrior Points.
Sunflower-seed “risotto” was invented by Jeremy Fox when he was at Ubuntu.
3 Likes
this is offtopic, but to what degree are his current restaurants linked in terms of dishes/style/soul to ubuntu? most of the time when i’ve heard people talk about ubuntu it is in a revelatory tone rarely bestowed on any retaurant, but not really the case with rustic canyon or birdie g… (i’m sad i missed out on ubuntu and el bulli before my time)
If you can make it to El Celler de Can Roca, many say it’s the spiritual successor to El Bulli. I never went to El Bulli, so I can not personally attest to that, but I can say that it is the best restaurant at which I have dined. I have been to a number of 3 stars, and El Celler de Can Roca is in a league of its own, I would even say it’s the only restaurant (at which I have dined) worthy of a “4th star”.
4 Likes
The sunflower seed “risotto” is rhe only rhing I remember of my one meal at Ubuntu.
1 Like
Warrior: Terrific. Has improved over the 5 or 6 meals we’ve eaten there. Definitely would make my list of top 20 LA restaurants. 6.9 Warrior Points.
2 Likes
Looks like tasting menu only with a range of add-ons now? Looks like they’ve refined the concept a bit too and you don’t have dishes with so many separate components to try to combine yourself.
My understanding is tasting menu only on Friday and Saturday nights, a la carte only on other nights.
1 Like
would never have taken Meteora for using caviar let alone Chinese caviar 
1 Like
Which of the supplemental dishes were favs? Going tonight
Update: Thought this was a pretty amazing menu/experience for the 95$ price point. We added the caviar dish, very tasty. Wanted to get the prawns but thought 28$ per prawn was a bit steep.
Cocktails were very tasty as well. Service was on point.
2 Likes
Anyone know if the the place named for Linkin Park’s second album?
Or just that the chef’s mind resides in an extra-terrestrial place?
2 Likes
Also a rock formation topped by a monastery.
1 Like
“omakase” 
2 Likes
That’s a pretty good deal if each course doesn’t taste like leather and odd flavor pairings.
Also, its available on their “250 million year old selenite crystal table” lol
2 Likes
Returned for a friend’s birthday dinner and had a nice weeknight meal. The “tasting menu” is really more of a prix menu and is only 4 courses during weeknights which wasn’t really clear ahead of time. Worked out well though because the supplemental courses were some of the strongest of the night. I love scarlet prawns and this was an A+ execution coconut flatbread was good, although could have been smaller for a better ratio. Tempura head was amazing wrapped in herbs. If the flatbread was something like a parker house roll that would soak up the prawn butter it would have been S-tier IMO. Other folks liked the burnt murasaki yam a lot.
Proteins were cooked well, flavors were good, and things have been edited down some since the opening. It’s still a similar style and concept, but feels more polished now. They have more appropriate stemware for wine and the cocktails are balanced better now. @$75 for 4 courses on a weeknight and $95 for 5 courses on a weekend, things are more than reasonably priced. His dishes and flavors can be unconventional, but it’s worth giving Meteora another shot if you’re adventurous. As a frame of reference, I really like Destroyer and I think this meal was closer to that vs what we had at opening.
CRUDO OF WILD PACIFIC MOON FISH
red maradol papaya, smoked oil, tomato seeds, asin tibuok
“RISOTTO” OF JOB’S TEARS
caramelized lettuce, aged sheep’s milk cheese, macambo beans, serrano chili
DEEP SEA SCARLET PRAWN ($35)
served over hot stones served with a tempura of the prawn bodies, smoked prawn shell-infused butter, spicy green peppercorn paste, coconut flatbread for wrapping
PACIFIC STRIPED BASS
nightshade, hoja santa, smoked tomato tea
IBERIAN PORK
coal-roasted sweet onion, blackberries, brown butter, spruce
PRIME BEEF RIBEYE (+$35 for dry aged Holstein)
runner beans, smoked rhubarb sambal, tamarind
Chocolate Cremeux with whipped cream and a baked cake, this wasn’t listed in their online menu so forgive the inexact description.
9 Likes