Melody, The Virgil Village Bungalow That Constantly Thrummed With Duners Who Settled poison 12. Open for Nearly A Decade, Tucker Wants Melody to Be Remembered Not For ITS STATUS AS A TREDY BAR, BUT FOR ITS INCLUDING ENVIRONMENT THAT THRIVED ON THE CURIOUS OF ITS COMEALS.
“We were that cultural [and] Safe gender space where it could be who wants to be, “said Tucker,” expose people to foods that may never have and give chefs those chances of shining. “
According to Tucker, Melody began to see a decrease in the business during the Hollywood strikes in 2023. combined with the compound effects of the Forestry firms of JanuaryA tense political climate and the high cost of living of Los Angeles, the bar-restaurant “simply could not do it anymore.”
“I don't see how places survive,” Tucker said. “I've never done this before, closing a business. But I think one of the most special things for me is, how do I get out of this without losing everything?”
Before Melody, Tucker directed an Italian restaurant and bar in New York City. Melody opened with his ex -wife Paloma Rabinov in 2017, and at first, the wine bar followed a typical dinner service format with a menu inspired by California and French. But less than a year later, Melody's financial struggles took him Rabinov to change to a rotating emerging format. Different chefs began to organize for days and weeks at the same time, the Mexican-Jewish Malli even obtained a two-year residence, with a short-house menu that offered cheese, charcuterie and other bar sandwiches.
Malli Elizabeth Heitner and Nestor Silva chefs had an extended emerging residence in Melody, serving Pastrami tacos and other articles that mixed Jewish and Mexican culinary traditions.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Within the first years of opening, Tucker began to cultivate the list of Melody wines, which consists of low intervention wines from all over the world, with bottles available for retail purchase and many of less than $ 80. Tucker described that time as the “golden years” of Melody. Customers drank wine bottles in the parking lot while waiting for hours to enter, where it was a “party every night.” The objective was to offer diners something new and give the rising chefs, many of whom had not yet opened their own restaurants, a space to experiment, all complemented, of course, by a great wine.
“We weren't a restaurant. We weren't a bar,” Read Melody's Instagram publication announcing the closure. “Thanks to each of you who entered our little Bungalow … a unique experience experience that was always a better saved secret.”
Tucker hopes to preserve Melody's carefree community spirit when temporarily reopened the space on July 16 while waiting for a buyer for the Bungalow.
“Every night is essentially a 'rental party'”, a Monday Instagram publication of melody read. “Very few rules with cheap prices can encourage him to follow with me 6 nights a week.”
Melody's dining room welcomed customers to a Bungalow house.
(Eric Tucker)
Together with “Perhaps just a” other employee, Tucker will be Melody's only personnel when he reopens. He will be doing and serving pizzas like his emerging alter ego Ugly cakeThat he has made previous appearances in Melody, although some clients did not know that the emerging window was directed by Tucker himself. He said that he is prepared to operate the restaurant in this way, making food himself with few or no other employee, “if necessary”, whether it lasts for two weeks or two years.
“Melody was a really formative place to wet my feet in terms of trying a lot of different wines,” said Prince Kim, a melody customer who also works in the local wine industry. “There is no air of claim there … most of the nights of the week, I want to feel careful, but in a very relaxed and very human, raw, and Melody gives me that in every way.”
For its last days of regular service, Melody will serve ugly cake on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by hamburgers and fried chicken, little Piggy on Friday and Hancock Park butcher shop, the butcher shop standing on Saturday. While Tucker is not sure how long Melody's temporal reopening will last, he plans to leave Los Angeles later and possibly return to New York.
“It was always really gratifying to look through the room and see all the different types of people here,” Tucker said. “We weren't perfect, but it wasn't supposed to be.”
