Red Medicine

Chef Jordan Kahn of Red Medicine is a genius, plain and simple. Having graduated from culinary school at age 16, joined his first pastry team at Thomas Keller's The French Laundry at age 17 -- and later the opening pastry team for the launch of Keller's Per Se in New York -- as well as working with additional culinary greats Grant Achatz (Alinea, Chicago), Michael Mina (Michael Mina, San Francisco), and Ed Witt (Varietal, New York) all by the age of 23, it's safe to say the word "prodigy" is as synonymous with Kahn as his surname itself. This base in high end pastry has lent both an air of sophistication and endlessly creative visual elegance to Kahn's approach in the kitchen, and his plates are essentially art masquerading as food (and vice versa). A known proponent of foraging, Kahn's menu features meadowsweet, elderberry, mushrooms, and balsam fir plucked from the Santa Monica Mountains, and dishes are constructed in such a way that you feel as if you are eating an interpretation of the very land that created these beautiful ingredients itself. For a true chef's chef, Red Medicine is open daily until 2 AM, making it a mecca for fellow local restaurant teams, who come spilling in for late night bites once their own kitchens close. From its original Vietnamese influences -- though the restaurant's manifesto maintains that they are not "attempting to create a fusion, nor replicate classics" -- the food at Red Medicine is as inspiring as it is stunning, and it saddens me deeply to know the restaurant will be closing its doors at the end of October. I'd always meant to hit the restaurant for a meal in the wee hours of the morning myself (my upcoming month's calendar has a final night circled for dinner at Red Medicine!), and I'll certainly be awaiting Jordan Kahn's next venture with baited breath and wanting taste buds, whatever it may be.

Dress: Folter Clothing Evolution Sugar Skull Dress
Shoes: Pinup Couture Cutiepie Mary Jane Pumps
Lips: MAC Pro Longwear Lipcolour in Lasting Lust

The brilliant Jordan Kahn, hard at work behind the scenes.

One of the restaurant's stunning signature cocktails.

DUCK LIVER with meadowsweet and blackberries.

BIODYNAMIC LEEKS with yuzu and buttermilk

PHEASANT in the style of Alain Chapel (breast seared and loin poached in browned butter, with braised lettuce, baby radish, English pea and tarragon purée, black trumpet mushrooms, and crispy phyllo dough).

IMPERIAL WAGUY BEEF BRISKET, braised for 36 hours with palm sugar and fish sauce.