that is interesting and fun,” he explains. “We use modern techniques and combine them with tradition. We try to hit a factor of deliciousness and craveability – food that you want to eat again and again.”
Serving different tasting menus – ranging from a four- to a 10- and a 17-course menu as well as a five-course vegetarian tasting menu – signature dishes include the egg caviar, a delicately soft poached egg served with lemon-chive crème fraîche and Osetera caviar; and the iconic lobster bolognaise 
with fresh capellini pasta, a reduction of tomatoes, beef, veal and lobster stock finished with chopped lobster, truffle, three types of basil and finished off with a brown butter truffle froth.
There is also an entire section of the menu dedicated to tableside dishes such as a whole almond crusted Dover sole, rotisserie chicken stuffed with summer truffles, and a 35-day dry-aged côte de boeuf roti. “We’re not a classic French restaurant but we do things that are old school. I like to keep certain traditions in place – it’s important,” the chef says. However, Citrin’s tasting menus are a far cry from traditional French fare, using contemporary cooking methods and embracing the fantastic ingredients California’s larder is so renowned for. His food is market-driven, light and vegetable focused. “When you have produce like we have here, your cooking evolves,” he insists. “We’re not so reliant on sauces or proteins for instance because the vegetables are just as exciting.” 
Back at the market we continue from stall to stall picking and tasting things as the Mélisse shopping cart gradually fills up with Jerusalem artichokes, fingerling potatoes, lettuces, herbs, finger limes, strawberries, carrots, beans and more. Citrin selects heirloom, pineapple and cherry tomatoes from Nunak Farm for a salad served with burata, basil, fennel, sweet onion and aged balsamic; and mandarin cross tomatoes from Carpenter Farms in Santa Paula. “The mandarin cross is an incredibly creamy tomato; we make a soup out of it with summer zucchini and squash, which we serve with a tomato sorbet,” he says.
From Weiser Family Farms, he buys trumpet squash and lavender-coloured Rosa Bianca aubergines, which he’ll transform into a sublime dish of tromboncini squash alla melanzane for his vegetarian tasting menu (see recipe); and we sample sweet Concord grapes, individually hand-picked at Murray Family Farm in Bakersfield, which he will serve simply as part of the the petit fours.
“All the farmers are my favourites,” Citrin concludes. “It’s all about their passion for me. If people bring their passion to you it makes your work so much more exciting. That’s what it’s all about.”
See the recipe for Tromboncini squash alla melanzane here
Kerstin Kühn is a freelance food and travel writer, specialising in restaurant and chef stories. The former restaurant editor of
Caterer and Hotelkeeper, she relocated from London to Los Angeles last summer, where she lives with her husband and two cats. With a vast network of chefs from around the world, Kerstin has profiled the likes of Michel Roux, Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, the Roca brothers and Massimo Bottura. She has been a contributor to publications including
FOUR Magazine, the
Evening Standard Food and Travel Magazine,
M&C Report,
Design Week,
Frame Magazine and
City and
Canary Wharf Magazines and also writes her own blog,
La Goulue. You can follow Kerstin on Twitter @LaGoulue _
