Meteora’s New Lounge Is A Gateway Into The World Of Jordan Kahn

“I wanted this to consciousness for illustration what was present earlier was a temple that hadn’t been inhabited for respective hundreds of years, and nan plants and nan animals took over,” cook Jordan Kahn says of Meteora, nan transporting, almost otherworldly Los Angeles edifice he opened past year.

The abstraction is dressed up pinch greenery and earthy materials. The cooking eschews modern technology. Can thing beryllium primitive and avant-garde astatine nan aforesaid time? Meteora will make you see nan question.

Meteora is simply a tasting-menu edifice that attracts chefs from different tasting-menu restaurants. (I precocious ran into a Michelin-starred cook erstwhile he was eating astatine Meteora, and he casually declared that Kahn’s Melrose Avenue edifice deserves 2 Michelin stars, which is nan astir stars immoderate Los Angeles spot has.) But Kahn besides wanted to create a much relaxed a la carte option, a portal into nan world of Meteora, truthful he precocious debuted Meteora’s lounge. He likes really nan abstraction nan lounge inhabits feels for illustration a karst. But a cave tin person nan comforts of a surviving room if you spot nan world a definite way.

Maybe nan champion measurement to get into nan nutrient astatine Meteora’s lounge is to see nan oysters and nan medieval flamethrower.

“This is called a flambadou,” Kahn says arsenic he grabs his telephone and plays a video of Meteora’s oyster-preparation process. “It’s a medieval cooking device. It’s an robust cone that’s hollow connected some ends pinch a rod attached to it, and you support it successful nan coals and it gets glowing hot, good complete 1,000 degrees. You propulsion dry-aged beef fat inside, and it instantly combusts and flame-throws beef fat astatine nan oyster. It’s fundamentally a flamethrower wherever nan substance is beef fat. And what’s important astir that is that erstwhile you combust something, it changes nan chemistry drastically. The spirit of that beef fat tastes very different than if we were to conscionable make basking beef fat.”

You sensation an aggravated beefiness, and your palate besides feels nan fume and nan fire. Kahn wants his lounge to beryllium a spot guests subordinate pinch warmth successful each consciousness of nan word.

“I almost consciousness for illustration it lends itself to, if it’s getting acheronian extracurricular and you’re seeking shelter and you spot a small cave hidden successful nan rocks and there’s an orangish glow coming retired of it,” Kahn says. “It’s like, ‘I’m going to spell there. There’s a fire.’ It’s a warming, safe place.”

But astatine Meteora’s lounge, sheltering successful a cave intends you tin eat a miniature herb pastry earlier enjoying a grilled avocado pinch caviar and shaved lardo. (“The herb pastry was really my wife’s idea,” Kahn says. She was like, ‘Can you do thing cute?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t really do tiny very well.’ So I thought it was my champion effort to make her thing cute.” And conscionable truthful you understand nan grade of activity Meteora puts into its food: The tomatoes are trim into different sizes and placed successful a descending order. There mightiness beryllium 8 kinds of tomatoes connected 1 small pie. Some are raw. Some are marinated. Some are smoked and dried.) You tin linger pinch cocktails arsenic you take your ain escapade by topping a grilled boniato saccharine murphy flatbread pinch caramelized plantain food aliases grilled bony marrow. You tin dainty this acquisition arsenic a nosy measurement to person meal aliases arsenic a vibey nightlife alternative.

“Just being little rigid is really important,” says Kahn, who knows that tasting menus tin beryllium intimidating for galore people. “It’s astir allowing nan abstraction to respire and for group to travel successful and dainty it successful a measurement that they consciousness for illustration they tin link with, because I can’t create a singular thought arsenic to why group deliberation they should travel here. It’s really astir creating an openness. We conscionable want group to consciousness comfortable.”

Kahn has cautiously considered specifications for illustration really guests beryllium astatine Meteora. His eating room has tables that are 2 inches beneath modular eating height. For nan lounge, he dropped nan tables down different 3/4 of an inch.

“You tin beryllium location and person drinks and not consciousness for illustration you’re drinking astatine a eating table,” he says. “It changes nan measurement that you feel. You whitethorn not moreover beryllium conscious of nan truth that you consciousness differently.”

Another important detail: Meteora doesn’t usage refined sugar, which leads to “more productivity and much presence” successful nan kitchen. When Kahn tapped Dave Purcell to travel up pinch cocktails for nan lounge (a challenging task, fixed that Kahn doesn’t portion alcohol), they discussed really to create concoctions that would fresh nan Meteora ethos. For example, they’re making concentrated sugarcane juice that’s arsenic saccharine arsenic elemental syrup.

“So erstwhile you get your margarita here, you’re going to person a very beardown grassy sugarcane flavor,” Kahn says. “All of our cocktails that we make are rooted successful very different principles. And each nan spirits that we usage for nan cocktails travel from their original root wherever they were created and were made successful benignant of ancestral methods utilizing heirloom cultivars.”

Similarly, for his flatbread, Kahn only useful pinch heirloom grains that are crushed in-house. And putting successful boniato saccharine murphy made consciousness because Kahn is of Cuban descent and besides because he liked nan thought of enriching nan breadstuff without immoderate sugar, eggs aliases butter.

For Kahn (who mentions really inspired he was by nan past repast he had astatine Noma, erstwhile he ate Rene Redzepi’s vegetable-season paper and felt for illustration “we went to fucking Jupiter”), it’s easier to deliberation astir Meteora erstwhile he doesn’t look astatine it “from a edifice lens.”

“A edifice is conscionable nan mean for what we do,” he says. “So if you dainty it for illustration a restaurant, it will ever consciousness for illustration one. But if you someway tin alteration america to attack it differently, we build temples. … You person artists who beryllium passim different periods of time, and location are different structures successful spot for which they tin use their art. For René Redzepi, he chose to prosecute cooking because of his family and what his passions were. But that man was calved an artist, truthful it was ever going to move retired this way, whether he knew it aliases not.”

It’s 1 point to navigator pinch volition for illustration galore chefs do. It’s different point to create a singular experience. What you will recognize erstwhile you’re astatine Meteora, whether you’re successful nan eating room aliases lounge, is that nary edifice for illustration this has ever existed. But you don’t person to overthink it. Remember, being little rigid enhances nan acquisition for everyone, truthful you’re free to picture Meteora arsenic Tulum-esque aliases a jungle-chic live-fire edifice aliases a Melrose Avenue drinking den pinch nosy cocktails aliases a spot pinch bully barroom snacks erstwhile you don’t want a pizza astatine Mozza crossed nan street. You tin state that nan eating room is worthy of Michelin stars. You tin person a tasting paper successful nan lounge. Or you tin travel here, rip and dip flatbread and past leave.

“As I mentioned, a restaurant’s conscionable nan medium,” Kahn says. “So if it wasn’t going to beryllium a restaurant, it would’ve been a movie aliases an medium aliases an opera aliases a canvas. The logic why I find restaurants to beryllium nan astir fascinating mediums is because they're centered astir cycles of life.”

A restaurant, successful its champion form, does much than service you nan nutrient that helps you enactment alive. It besides makes you consciousness much alive.

And Kahn’s caller lounge is simply a measurement for newcomers to easiness their measurement into nan Meteora experience.

“It’s 100 percent a gateway,” he says. “Over 60 percent of group that are first-timers successful nan lounge booked nan dining-room acquisition very soon after.”

Seeing this is substance for Kahn. He believes that guests travel to nan lounge and quickly understand that this is conscionable portion of nan Meteora story. Then they want to cognize nan remainder of nan story.