When you arrive at a restaurant and realize they've only been open for twelve weeks, you feel like quite the insider — especially when the food is this AMAZING.
Opting for an early meal (as I was still on east coast time,) when I arrived at the dot of opening, Chef Kevin Meehan was still finishing up payroll. Whatever the restaurant version of "new car smell" is, Kali has it... but it also is operating like a well-oiled veteran of a machine.
I grabbed a seat at the bar (always a fan of being able to watch a kitchen work!) directly across from a meat fridge holding, among other things, a whole pig's head. This was going to be good.
Of course I had to do the tasting menu, and wine pairings, of course of course! Sommelier Drew Langley has cultivated a heavily-California wine list with a lot of gems. My aperitif was the 2013 Smith-Madrone Riesling, with a nose of petrol and honeysuckle. It had good acid with key lime on the finish. I toasted to Mr. Pig Head.
The next wine was the 2013 Palmina Malvasia Bianca — a side project of Steve Clifton, producing only Italian varietals — super aromatic, with wildflowers, melon, sweet basil. SweeTart candy on the dry finish, lots of minerality.
Tonight's amuse bouche was a sous vide egg yolk with rosemary. Wow. Great consistency, flavor, light and almost fluffy, one nugget of salt, mmmm. Perfect bite. Or, "shot," I guess. 
Next up was the Yellowtail and uni — and Chef Kevin was not stingy with the uni!!! A delicate dish, bright, with a tomato coulis and radish accompaniment, it paired very well with the Malvasia. Beautiful and elegant.
Next wine up: the 2014 Lompoc Wine Co. Pinot Noir — killer nose, spot-on varietal berries and a sweet merde-y funk with smoked meats. (Served chilled, yay.) Tannins kind of sneak up on you, rounded out with a plummy grape-juice high tone.
This was paired with a wheatberry "Risotto" with black garlic and cheese "wafer" on top (?!) The saltiness of the cheese adds good flavor, and the wheatberry consistency is a nice riff on risotto (little pops in your mouth as you chew) and I love the playful burnt wafer thingie. Pairing-wise, the fruit of the Pinot comes along for the ride, though its structure gets a little lost.
Next pour was the 2013 Roark Syrah, really a Southern Rhône blend. Red berry compote, white pepper, bit of green stemminess. Very juicy! Tart and tangy with blue and black fruits.
It went with the meat course, of which my notes say verbatim, "Tenderloin TENDER!!! Onion jam is my JAM. Caramelized onions amazing. Listen, all the flavors are familiar and you know why they go together, but this feels new." Couldn't have (re-) said it better.
To sip with dessert, Somm Drew poured the Caraccioli MV Brut Rosé — fruit for this is bought from Talbott, quite a pedigree. Medium-pale onion skin color. Strawberry-lime, very very very tart, but YUMMERS. But for dessert? I wondered...
And the dessert: meringue topped with CANDIED EGG YOLK. As the kids say, "I die." Deceptively simple looking... gelato light as air... bit of salt and fat from the yolk... creamy, unctuous, rich and light at the same time. And Drew is right; the Brut bubbly pairs outrageously well. Might be one of my fave resto desserts ever. Not too sweet, pleasant, and a little sexy.
And a final sweet bite was a white chocolate truffle and "yesterdays wine" jelly. Mmmm.
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| Chef Kevin, trying to get some work done as I obviously snapped a candid. |
Chef Kevin and Somm Drew met as co-workers at L'Orangerie in 2001 and have been friends ever since. The idea of collaborating on a restaurant had been brewing since then, and we are very lucky indeed to experience the fruits of their labor. When I mentioned to Kevin that I thought the whole meal was a relative bargain, and would the price go up as popularity rose, he firmly replied no — Kali was meant to be a place its patrons enjoyed regularly. A neighborhood joint, not only a "special-occasion" restaurant.
Well, I, for one, will absolutely make it MY Los Angeles "neighborhood joint," and will be back soon!
Bon appétit!
