Welcome to Close Friends: Unfiltered and irreverent restaurant reviews, copied and pasted straight from my DMs. Edited lightly for grammar and clarity.
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Chef Marcus Jernmark’s tasting menu ($150) at one-Michelin-starred Lielle in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, October 15, 2026.
TLDR.
Muri, Nuala, black & red currant, sloe, chamomile, fig leaf, and pine ($23).
Vilbrygg, SKOG 01, Lightly sparkling white lacto ferment of spruce, yarrow, and birch ($23).
Fine dining restaurants shouldn’t make their own sourdough loaves unless they are superior to local bread makers. This loaf was no better than Bub’s. The butter was pretty!
Miso mushroom shooter. Mine was foamless because I’m dairy-free! Fine. Whatever.
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Japanese Snapper “Ikejime” | fermented plum, eggplant, marigold vinegar
What in the ceviche with marigolds is this?! Very fine. Very yawn.
They finally remembered to give me olive oil since dairy free.
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Sea Bream “BBQ” | mussels, fennel marmalade, bouillabaisse…
Fish, cooked well but boring! Summer squash! What in the cost savings?!
This course made me think that they spent a lot of $$ to get a good critic’s review and Michelin star…now they are trying to save money.
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A gift of “magic” water (flat and sparkling waters, plus chartreuse).
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Sea Urchin Spaghetti all’Assassina ($64) | aromatic tomato, espelette pepper, Caledonian prawn
This is what a $65 uni pasta supplement looks like. Wooooooof. Good noods, but not great noods.
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Roasted Beets | pine mushroom, yuzu pepper
I didn’t get the steak because I am pescatarian. So they made me beets. Good beets. Great texture. They should’ve given me more food tho.
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A 25 min lull between 3rd and 4th courses.
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Dessert
Tres leches with salted milk ice cream, anise hyssop mousse, dried milk skin, cured citrus (left) and lemon sorbet.
Boozy cardamom buns.
Warm almond financiers.
Regular dessert was pretty great! Those glistening buns! My dessert was a lemon sorbet with an almond financier. Nice effort!
Apple gelee finisher!
And that’s how I spent over $250 on dinner.