On The First Day Of Christmas, LudoBites Came To Me

by Holly

So where in the world has Ludo Lefebvre been since his last LudoBites installment which closed this past August 2009? Well, if you’ve been following closely via the now “preferred method of communication” between bloggers, chefs and the overall food community, you’d know that he took a well deserved vacation.

However, don’t think that Ludo forgot about us foodies who (with sad panda faces) had to wave goodbye to the last bite we’d take of his uber famous “foie gras black croque monsieur.” Almost immediately, Ludo put the pedal to the metal prepping for his next, highly awaited installment of Ludo Bites taking place this holiday season, soon to be referred to as LudoBites 3.0. Brick and mortar for his latest pop-up installment was chosen to be at Culver City’s quirky cosplay cafe, Royal/T.

But really, it doesn’t even matter “where” Ludo chooses for “brick and mortar” because this is a guy who’s proven he can just about operate anywhere. From the teeny tiny BreadBar on 3rd Street, and now at the even more diminutive sized kitchen at Royal/T in Culver City, Ludo has proven once again that he can crank out an impressive array of gourmet dishes in even the most stripped down and seemingly most cramped of quarters. Hell, if you were to tell me that the next LudoBites installment was in a roving Hummer with a Coleman campfire stove and makeshift jerry rigged kitchen in the back, I’d believe it. And to answer the question about “when” Ludo might finally settle down at a permanent location? Well that, I really don’t know. But what I DO know is it’s clear that Ludo Bites’ has been able to achieve the same (or even greater level) of fandom with a roving, pop-up restaurant, and none can argue that doing it this way has been more fun.

Wherever LudoBites goes, Ludo Bites has delivered. And on the Opening Night of the latest installment of Ludo Bites at Royal/T, Ludo and team sure delivered 10-fold.

Just like it was the first day of Christmas, I had the distinct pleasure of scoring a spot to Ludo’s big opening night on Wednesday, December 2nd, and given my last experience (and the one before that), you don’t even have to guess how high my excitement buzzed off the Richter Scale. Couple that with my voracious appetite for the “new and exciting” creations that were invariably in store, and you’ve pretty much got the Northridge earthquake of ’94 with the anticipation of the 2nd aftershock of the San Francisco earthquake of ’89. To the non-Californians out there, that just means “in excess” or really, just “big.”

And not surprisingly, my dining companions and I went “big” and ordered not a few things, but every singular thing off the menu because after all, we might as well, right? “New and exciting” is the name of the game each time at Ludo Bites, and Ludo himself mentioned that he would tend to get bored serving the same thing over and over. As we’ve learned (and tasted), if you give Ludo room to be creative, the idea of “delivering 10-fold” quickly starts taking over the entire meal.

Compared to the last Ludo Bites installment, this round, Ludo gives us a little something different. With the Summer installment giving us sophisticated takes on summer season items like his “cool and creamy cantelope based soup” (chorizo, cantelope, and cornichon), and even some summery picnic items like “mini sandwiches” (foie gras croque monsieur) and “fried chicken and potato salad” (duck fat fried chicken), this time, it was all about sophisticated comfort food with things like “udon soup” (Veal, udon, kombu dashi, mushrooms and sesame seed miso), ”bread” (bread soup, poached egg and gruyere marshmallow) and “donuts” (foie gras beignet). Last installment, while we enjoyed an essence of “in-season” summery peach, canteloupe, and strawberry, this season, Ludo showcases the fall and winter time vegetables.

And one by one, here are all the dishes we ate here. The lighting for these pictures was graciously provided by Ludo’s wife, the amazing Krissy Lefebvre – she sure does know us bloggers!

Caramelized Peanuts, Curry