How we gather: Melanie Masarin is bringing more sparkle to your table
The Ghia founder on finding her Parisian pied-à-terre, throwing a 100-person paella party, and their newest bubbly bottle
How we gather is a series featuring people who are bringing friends together in fun and inspired ways. Guests share ideas, stories, and advice on finding friendship, creating community, and gathering more intentionally.
Hi from a hot, tiny airport in Morocco with surprisingly speedy wifi. We’re coming off two magical days at a desert camp on the edge of the Sahara, and I can’t wait to share more with you…
In the meantime, excited to welcome today’s guest,
— the LA-based CEO and founder of Ghia. Ghia is the non-alcoholic aperitif brand you’ve likely spotted at cocktail parties and on restaurant menus as of late. Anyone who’s been over for a party at ours or spent an afternoon on the boat with us knows… there’s always a bottle of Ghia aperitif in the ice bucket and few cans of Le Spritz in the cooler.
When I catch Melanie, she’s fresh off a plane to Paris, where she recently bought her own apartment. “Not going to lie — I’m feeling a little loopy,” she tells me. She’s spending the next month in France, she says, to carve out creative time in the mornings to write her cookbook. In the evenings, her focus shifts to her LA-based team, which is currently launching Ghia’s latest: Le Fizz, a sparkling, strawberry orange blossom drink. Despite Melanie’s very full days, her warmth and effervescence bubble off the screen.
Having grown up cooking and entertaining alongside her grandmother in the South of France, Melanie is a natural host whose vibe feels a little fancy, but never fussy. Though I feel she likely needs no introduction with most of you, I ask how she’d introduce herself to my readers. “I love to cook and host and find weird objects on the internet,” she says. A woman after my own heart!
How I started hosting
I grew up in a small town outside of Lyon, but my whole family is in the South of France. My grandma and all of my aunts and uncles lived in Cannes. I was my grandmother’s first grandchild and her sous chef. She was hosting constantly. Every night, people knew there would be food on the table and would pop by.
She was the queen of making the small things feel very special. We’d go to the beach at 7 am and then go to the market, then we’d make lunch and people would come over for lunch. I had so many jobs assisting her in the kitchen, but every first memory of food was with her.
Even breakfast was hosting for her. Before going to bed at night, she would set up the breakfast table and I’d help her with that. If we wanted to watch TV, I was allowed to crawl in bed, but first, we’d set everything on the table together. She’d have me turn the cups over so that they wouldn’t gather dust. Everything that could stay out overnight, like the sugar, she’d set out, and then everything fresh would be put out in the morning. She always made something extraordinary out of the mundane.
Finding my dream Paris apartment
I just bought my first apartment in Paris — I went in with all these different criteria. But when I was actually visiting them, I almost took two of them, but it just didn’t quite feel right.
Then I visited this one [that I’m in now]. It had almost none of the things that I wanted, but it had an open kitchen. A lot of apartments in Paris just have a kitchen off to the side, but seeing the open kitchen — I could see myself cooking there and just knew immediately that it was the one.
The rituals that keep me grounded
I try to be very active. A big part of my LA life is hiking to yoga to surfing to playing tennis to working out with my trainer. I try to move as much as possible. On the weekend, I usually go to the farmers market and host my friends.
I also try to cook most of my own meals — I’m trying to eat out no more than two or three times a week, which is actually not that much with my job, where obviously I have to do that quite a bit.
Things are very busy with work, but every Saturday until about 2 p.m., I don’t use my phone or computer. I have this protected time where I can draw, I can read, I can go do stuff. I really try not to open my emails and I try to schedule things for me.
What I make when I have friends over
I love a leafy green salad, so I almost always have that with a nice dressing. Nothing irks me more than wet salad, and I feel strongly that a light dressing doesn't need sweet (no honey for me!) and must be evenly coated. I usually go heavier on the appetizers — things that are easy to make ahead. Right now, I’m making a lot of gazpacho or crudo with local fish. I also love mussels and clams this time of year! I almost always make a homemade pasta. It’s a little bit of my specialty. For a main, I’ll often make a whole fish or something braised or very shareable.
To the extent that I can, I almost always have a make-ahead dessert so that I can enjoy my guests. I don’t host a lot of four-people dinners; I host a lot of 15-people dinners, so I’ve been more mindful of that lately. Recently I made a lemon tart that was really really good, or I love a fruit crumble with an almond flour topping. The first dessert I ever made was chocolate mousse, which is my dad’s favorite. Now it’s one of the things I love to make — I love to do it French style, in one big pot with a big scoop.
Generally, in LA, people don’t drink as much, so I try to have a mix of beverages — but I always have some unreleased Ghia to get people’s feedback on, and I almost always try to have a red, a white, and a natural wine. And then either tequila or mezcal.
A good gathering should feel like we tried to make it special, yet very approachable. I love food, but the food is secondary. It’s always about how people feel.
Ghia’s newest sparkling beverage
Le Fizz is a bubbly, strawberry orange blossom drink. We’ve had the formula for a while, and I’ve been so excited to bring it to life. It still has a dry finish, but it’s not bitter like our other Ghia drinks. It’s a bit more approachable for people who want to participate in Ghia without loving bitterness. It comes in a single bottle of several shareable servings. Just opening a bottle like that that sparkles — it feels like a happy feeling from the beginning.
How I threw a 100-person paella party for my birthday
My birthday’s in February, and one of the luxuries of living in LA is that you can still have a party outside in February. I asked a friend who has a great hosting house — if I do everything, can you let me borrow the house? He was like, actually yeah, would love to do that.
I wanted a big dish that everybody could eat out of, because that was what I missed during the COVID era, and it’s a lot of how we cook in the south of France — cooking outside, all together. I did not cook the paella, which I think was key to the success of the party, because it’s quite intensive to cook a paella!
I found these paella people in LA called LA Paella Catering, and they were absolutely incredible. It’s this German guy who grew up in Spain, and said he was so happy he found me because he used to only do retirement parties. I’ve since sent him so many young clients. It was this giant dish — we had 10 people around it at any given time. There was not a single grain of rice left at the end of this thing.
My friend Jessica from Sqirl made the birthday cake. She asked me what I wanted and I said I don’t care, but if you could use Ghianduja, our chocolate spread, I’d love that. There was Ghianduja between layers of the cake and it was honestly insane. It was so, so good.
Melanie’s hosting essentials
I was gifted this tray by Christofle for my Paris apartment and it’s one of my favorite objects — truly everything is better on a silver tray.
This lighter by Rebecca De Ravenel is the chicest object to light my candles with, and also makes for the best hostess gift, for the one who has everything.
I’m biased but I think our Totem glasses are the perfect glasses for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks alike (and ice cream!).
My napkins get a ton of use, so I collect napkins from Suay Sew Shop. They use donated deadstock fabrics and low impact dyes to make their gorgeous napkins, and they’re local to LA.
Oh and of course the gorgeous vintage tea towels upcycled by my mom and sister: Maison Masarin.
Some playlists we put together for your next gathering. Sexy Slow Jams is my end of summer fav, but there’s a little bit for everyone in there.
Melanie — this was so much fun, thank you! Plotting how I can throw an LA paella party of my own…
I love the feeling of having the perfect something for everyone on hand, no matter what they feel like drinking, so I can’t wait to add Le Fizz to the mix. If you’d like, you can get Ghia’s Le Fizz at drinkghia.com.
Loved this! Now I need that chic lighter tassel thingy and get invited to a paella party
@melanie Ghianduja birthday cake!!! You genius