Kali’s New Menu Recalls the ‘Mad Men’ Era With Steaks and Martinis

When it opened in 2016, Kali was the culmination of chef Kevin Meehan’s fine dining career, working at Cafe Pinot in Downtown LA, L’Orangerie in West Hollywood, and Patina in Bunker Hill, where he helped the team earn a Michelin star. Kali itself earned a Michelin star in 2019 for upscale modern California cuisine fueled by locally grown produce, some of it from the restaurant’s own neighborhood gardens. Now, almost nine years later, Kali has completely ditched the tasting menu in favor of a Mad Men-era, mid-century steakhouse menu, starting Friday, July 18. Some classic entrees will be served alongside the chops, like chicken Milanese, rigatoni, and salmon au poivre for those who want something other than grilled beef.

The return to a la carte isn’t without precedent. Kali didn’t become a tasting menu restaurant until about two years in, and when it had already collected rave reviews from Garrett Snyder in LA Weekly, and the late Jonathan Gold in the Los Angeles Times. Meehan and partner Drew Langley eventually adjusted a la carte options to a tasting menu as Gold had recommended in his review, which helped it earn the coveted Michelin nod. But Meehan ushered in a full reset this year, temporarily closing the restaurant on January 20, to facilitate a remodel. The closure also allowed Meehan and his staff to focus on the January 29 opening of Koast, a polished seafood restaurant just a mile down Melrose Avenue.

With the writers’ and actors’ strikes, January wildfires, and the economy in flux, Meehan acknowledged that the demand for tasting menus at Kali had fallen over the past few years. Inspired by what he liked to eat on off days — simple, well-cooked food that didn’t require much thought — Meehan renewed the lease for 15 years with the idea of bringing a familiar, easy steakhouse with an energetic bar to this part of town. “I want to take away the pretentiousness of fine dining, which I did for nine-and-a-half years and excelled at. We needed to pivot, and this is something I enjoy eating every day,” says Meehan. “The menu will have the same quality ingredients, but it won’t be esoteric.”

The menu certainly offers dishes that Don Draper and Peggy Olson would recognize, like Parker House rolls, wedge salad, and jumbo shrimp cocktail washed down with strong martinis. Kali’s mushroom risotto remains on the menu, while a mushroom Wellington layered with spinach and portabella mushrooms would look unfamiliar to Manhattan advertising executives in 1963. Meehan has always had a way with steak, using top-tier purveyors like Flannery. Cut options include rib-eye, New York strip, hangar, bone-in rib-eye, and a porterhouse served with Kali steak sauce, bearnaise, horseradish cream, brandied pepper, and chimichurri. After tasting through steaks from every major LA-area vendor, he landed on Creekstone Farms for its choice-plus meat, which allowed him to price the 16-ounce rib-eye at $75 versus $95 for something prime-grade. Kali has multiple dry-aging fridges on the premises to develop the flavor of the steaks.

To accompany the steaks, there are six different potato preparations, including fries, pomme puree, and roasted fingerlings. Other sides include Brentwood corn, macaroni and cheese, and roasted mushrooms. The bar will also bring back Kali’s burger using a dry-aged blend from Flannery beef, topped with black garlic, caramelized onions, and cheddar for a reasonable price. During Dodgers games, the bar will also feature a Japanese wagyu hot dog wrapped in pastry and topped with togarashi.

The move to a mid-century steakhouse menu also comes with what Meehan says is the “coldest martini we can craft,” while the sleek, minimalist environs give way to more lush velvet-lined booths and dim lighting. Given its Hollywood-adjacent location, it’s no mystery that Kali recalls the timeless celebrity haunts of Musso & Frank and Dan Tana’s, hoping to capture their elegance and decades-long success. And while the Michelin Guide might not see this throwback vision as something star-worthy, Meehan’s is more than comfortable just feeding more folks with the kind of familiar and satisfying fare that has always worked. “I don’t think we’ll get a Michelin star next year because it’s not that kind of restaurant anymore. This pivot is crucial for my restaurant to endure and to take care of a huge team. I just want to make it easy for everyone,” says Meehan.

Kali reopens July 18 and will be open from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday, with reservations on OpenTable. It’s located on 5722 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90038.