Red Medicine
Foraged Mushrooms / brown butter, balsam fir
Duck Liver / meadowsweet, blackberry
Hen Rillette / preserved elderberry, chicken skin, stambler’s rye
Chicken Dumplings / caramelized sugar, pork fat, lemongrass, confitures
Dungeness Crab / sea bean porridge, egg yolk
Green Strawberry / shortbread, sorrel curd, oak moss, sweet clover
Black Carrot / geranium, jasmine, syrup of flower petals
Dreamed up Jordan Kahn and without a doubt my favorite restaurant in Southern California it was with great sadness that I received word that Red Medicine would be closing on October 31st, the only consolation being that I’d already been planning to visit the City of Angels during the weekend prior – a ‘farewell’ reservation secured for myself and a friend at 9:00pm following an earlier meal at The Church Key. Surely bolstering business with the sudden news of impending shutter it was just prior to our designated time that we arrived at the restaurant doors and with the space filled to capacity it was without delay that we were led to our seats, the windowside table bathed in streetlight where a familiar young woman provided excellent service throughout the night. Opting to experience new things despite the temptation to indulge in old favorites it was in five savories plus two desserts that our remaining appetite was invested and beginning with a tender mushroom terrarium as aromatic as the woods from which they were found the meal was outstanding from the start, a follow-up of creamy duck liver equally lovely with bitters and berries offering compelling contrast. Treated next to an ample portion of potted hen served alongside thick toasted rye it was onto ‘bar snacks’ of crispy glazed chicken that we moved and with several accoutrements plus lettuce wraps my only regret was not tasting these signature items several years ago. Rounding out savories in a vegetal stew chalk-a-block full of fresh crab as a lightly poached egg melded flavors of sea and earth it was without question that the meal ended in dessert, the fruit roll-up consistency carrots a stunning juxtaposition of textures and flavors with a lightly perfumed finish while the soft shortbread of “Green Strawberry” packed a seriously sour punch that quickly dissipated into mellow sweetness, a temporary ‘final’ testament to the skills of its chef.
RECOMMENDED: Any and all desserts, plus anything Jordan does with grains, mushrooms, crab, or fowl.
AVOID: N/A.
TIP: Ever a polarizing space given the team’s uncompromising standards and antics those unfamiliar with Red Medicine would be well served to investigate the restaurant’s well-documented history while patiently waiting to see where Chef Kahn will land next, that space likely to become a ‘destination’ for myself and many others the moment an announcement is made.
http://redmedicinela.com/
