No. 4: Mélisse

Food: 28

Decor: 26

Service: 27

Cost: $150

The “ne plus ultra” of French–New American cuisine, Josiah Citrin’s Santa Monica “gem” is like a “trip to heaven and back” for “serious food-ies” with its “top-notch” prix fixe menus and “brilliant wine pairings”, “delivered with genuine hospitality” in an “intimate”, “hushed” setting; sure, some find it “crazily overpriced”, and it leaves a few cold (“death by a thousand small, strange courses”), but most say if you’re going to “splurge”, this “transcendent dining experience” is “worth every $100.”