GAYOT's Blog

LudoBites: Take 5

on July 27th, 2010

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27

Jul

by Sophie Gayot

It took me four days to get a reservation for LudoBites, which began its fifth incarnation last week, and even when I arrived last night I had to wait almost an hour to get seated—a party of two who had arrived at 6 p.m. (and finally left five hours later) was enjoying themselves so much that they would not free my table. But they weren’t the only ones there having a good time. Gram & Papas, the café Ludovic Lefebvre is renting for the second time, was completely packed with patrons on a Monday night. (And this in an area of downtown Los Angeles that’s desolate after dark.)

Don’t ever dream of going to LudoBites without reservations, which are only available on OpenTable.com, and good luck—people are even selling their reservations!

The ingenuity of chef Ludo is evident in every single dish that I got to taste last night—and I practically tried the entire menu. The winner, and I even got up to tell him so, was the mustard ice cream that came with the confit pork belly.

We must ask: Ludo, when will you open a full-time restaurant? But maybe you know that since you only show up from time to time it makes us appreciate your cuisine even more. After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

You can click on each photo to enlarge.

Chef Ludovic Lefebvre with Sophie Gayot

Confit pork belly – raw choucroute Thai style

Vadouvan naan bread with salted coconut butter

Cheese cupcake with chicken liver mousse, kumquats and cornichon

Grilled squid with heirloom tomato salad, black rice, yuzu red onions, umami broth and seaweed tartare

Raw Waygu beef with dried miso, sōmen noodle, peanut vinaigrette, candied watermelon and mint

Goat cheese soup being poured over bacon, lardo, tofu, green apple and frisée salad

Goat cheese soup

Poached egg with potato mousseline and chorizo condiment

Grilled octopus with oregano, grilled hazelnut polenta, pineapple aioli and piment d’espelette gelée

Wild striped bass with cauliflower, black garlic and yellow panna cotta

Steamed duck with lemon verbena, crispy skin purée, white peach, radish and balsamic

Campfire Smoked S’mores with guacamole sorbet

Caramel soufflé with blanco grapefruit and fleur de sel ice cream

LudoBites server

 

 

 

 

3 Comments »

1. 

   Hi Sophie,

   You were sitting right across from us and I saw you filming your segment! I was very envious! But we did get to meet Ludo later in the evening and he was so very nice and humble…we had everything on the menu except for a couple of items, i am STILL dreaming of the pork belly!

   Comment by Peter Pappas — July 28, 2010 @ 10:54 am

2. [...] at 5pm, it is available at night for these new kind of chefs: the “pop-up” ones, like chef Ludovic Lefebvre (who rented it for the rendition of Ludo 3.0). It is now being utilized by chef Yamada, known for [...]

   Pingback by GAYOT’s Blog Sushi at Royal T, in Culver City — August 19, 2010 @ 4:53 pm

3. [...] closes at 5pm, it is available at night for these new kind of chefs: the “pop-up” ones, like chef Ludovic Lefebvre (who rented it for the rendition of Ludo 3.0). It is now being utilized by chef Yamada, known for [...]

   Pingback by GAYOT’s Blog Sushi at Royal T, in Culver City — August 19, 2010 @ 5:09 pm

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