LATE IN 2019, a few months before the shutdowns, Josiah Citrin debuted a new two-in-one direction for his Santa Monica bastion of French-ish, American-ish haute cuisine: The main dining room became Citrin, serving a la carte crudos; pastas like his signature lobster Bolognese; and Wagyu sirloins. Mélisse contracted into a windowless modernist theater for tasting menus with an open kitchen inches away from the room’s five tables.

For this venture, Citrin recruited two talents who make Mélisse’s price of admission — currently $325 per person— worthwhile for celebratory occasions. Chef de cuisine Ian Scaramuzza has finedining credits that include In Situ, the now-closed restaurant in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art that rotated the masterwork dishes of 80 chefs like a gallery collection. I recognize a similar range of his virtuosity at Mélisse. It’s there in the parade of luxury ingredients; in its one- or two-bite wonders displayed on textured plates and mini pedestals; and in the leaps in perspective, from crab intensified with finger limes and house-made XO sauce to smoked quail arranged among ripe pluots, matsutakes and bacon gastrique.

Scaramuzza has a fitting counterpart in wine director Matthew Luczy, a showman, at turns serious and playful, who is a blur of motion making everyone in the room feel special at once. He orchestrates a brainy wine pairing of side-by-side glasses per course for comparative tasting, though he’s equally game to help you choose a spot-on bottle. He’ll uncork it as soon as he flips the Sade LP playing on the restaurant’s sterling sound system.

• 1104 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 395-0881, citrinandmelisse.com

Luxe ingredients: a Shigoku oyster with smoked vinegar and kombu crème fraîche; a deviled egg bavarois with Ossetra caviar.