Rant and Rave:
Los Angeles
by Martell

Rave—Meson G, 6703 Melrose Ave.—The latest project by restauranteurs Tim and Liza Goodell (owners of Aubergine and Whist) is possibly their best restaurant yet.  The trendy Hollywood location hasn't even been open a year, but already they're filling their dining room on most nights.  We went on a Saturday night at 6:30pm, while it was still relatively slow, but by the time we left, the place was pumping.

Two recent changes have led to the restaurant's popularity:  1) the Goddell's recently brought their Aubergine chef up from Newport Beach, and 2) he then completely overhauled the menu.  What previously would have been considered mediocre at best is now one of the top restaurants in LA.

The dishes are all tapas-sized, which is perfect either for a large party or for a small group of friends that don't mind sharing food.  Noteworthy dishes include the asparagus with poached egg and lardon, the gulf shrimp, and the hanger steak, all of which were fantastic.  The food is pricey, but of the dozen or so dishes that we tried, everything was very good (at least), so we felt like it was money well spent.

But amazingly, the one thing better than the food was the service.  Our waiter was a fellow named David, and even though he was attending to approximately six other groups, we never once felt neglected.  In LA, this is nothing short of a miracle.  Kudos to Meson G.