Kali Scores Glowing Three Star Review From LA Weekly

This week, LA Weekly's Garret Snyder is back taking over the reigns for Besha Rodell, this time giving his take on Kali. The Melrose restaurant by former Patina chef Kevin Meehan and former Providence wine director Drew Langley offers a menu full of highly Instagrammable dishes, but really, the food is downright comforting and delicious:

If you were to judge it from your Instagram feed alone, Meehan's cooking would seem much more avant-garde than it actually is —” much of the food here aims for comfort rather than shock. Take a half avocado charred on the grill and served with a raw salad of shaved vegetables. Rather than offset the avocado's natural creaminess with hits of acid, Meehan doubles down on unsaturated fats, topping the lush green fruit with pistachios and a heavy drizzle of olive oil. In other dishes he opts for the softer, deeper flavor of preserved lemon (he cures them himself) rather than the brightness of fresh lemon, as with a dollop of preserved lemon curd that acts as a vegan "egg yolk" perched in the middle of a chopped beet tartare. [LAW]

The review concludes with high praise for pop-up-turn-brick-and-mortar:

It's little joys like those petit fours, or the bread service with whipped yogurt butter, or your napkin being neatly folded when you return from the restroom, that make the common restaurant refrain "casual yet upscale dining" seem like less of a contradiction. [LAW]

G-Sny awards Meehan's Kali with a lovely three stars.

---

The Elsewhere: Bill Esparza digs La Tostaderia in Grand Central Market and kevinEats enjoys Korean drunchies at Dan Sung Sa.