Ludo Bites at Breadbar
Average user Rating: 91
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[CLOSED] See also Ludo Bites 4.0 at Gram and Papa's
Artisanal breads baked in the French breadcraft tradition are offered along with café food in a modern setting.
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96
1/3/2010
The one and only Ludo Lefebvre is returning this week for yet another highly awaited installment of LudoBites - this time, at the quirky Royal/T art gallery cum cosplay cafe, side-by-side with Curator Jane Glassman's exhibit, curiously titled "In Bed Together." And with lasting just 13 days (yes, you heard me) - 13 DAYS - you can bet your bottom dollar that starting Wednesday, December 2nd, LudoBites at Royal/T will be the hottest ticket in town. Not even the big fluffy white bearded guy can sashay his way past the incredible demand for this one. And as you can already imagine, scoring a reservation to LudoBites at Royal/T is surely any foodie's Christmas Wish (or anyone's Christmas Wish, for that matter).
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Recommended Dishes
"Chorizo, cantelope, cornichon", "foie gras black croque monsieur"
89
12/2/2009
I heard about Ludo Bites a few months ago, I don’t remember exactly where, but since then the city has been all a-buzz over Ludo, and for good reason. The food is unique, decadent, innovative…simply divine. Dave and I made our first trip to Ludo Bites in July, and I knew I had to come back for the final celebration. And I did. And Ludo did not disappoint.
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96
8/24/2009
Everyone and their brother has been remarking that this summer has gotten away from them. There's a collective sense that we've been beset by a perpetual June Gloom. This summer has certainly flown by fast and without much to map it by except bad news, but for me, just as The Summer of '69 is a kickass song by Bryan Adams (I did not personally experience the summer of love but thank you so much for asking), the summer of 2009 will be the Summer of Ludobites.
It's been a summer of rectangular tables, backless stools, paper printed menus, Jay Z songs from the black album, and the joie de vivre imparted by breathing in the molecules of strangers and friends who are passionate about food, wine and life, and more than likely, drunk on all three or on their way to getting there. For this, I thank Chef Ludo and his wife Krissy, the architects of the LudoBites patented feeling.
The last night of Ludobites was beyond memorable, beyond good and evil. A special shoutout to the big hearted, fun loving My Last Bite and hubs, The Delicious Life, the Baubshow and bf, and the wine making Kinsellas for breaking bread with the Yuttiness. The parade of dishes we shared marches through my head as do these images:
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Recommended Dishes
fried chicken, asparagus veloute, hanger steak, scallops in curry yogurt sauce, foie gras tart, panna cotta, cheese course, croque monsieur, pork belly, prawns, green beans, heirloom tomatoes, chocolate foie gras cupcake
93
8/9/2009
A dining experience like no other -- LudoBites presents Michelin-star food with a casual, up-beat vibe and entertains the palate with items such as foie gras cupcakes and liquefied chorizo.
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89
7/22/2009
Having heard about the famous Ludo Lefebvre on LA Food Hunt last year, I've been curious about this culinary prodigy. After stints at L’Esperance in Paris, Bastide in LA, and LAVO in Vegas, Ludo knows fine dining. This doesn't discourage him from flexing his casual muscle with limited engagements at Breadbar on Third.
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93
7/14/2009
The second time I went to Ludobites, the waiter stared at me and said "Weren't you just here ...?" Hey, that was 5 days ago! It's not like I come every day ...
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Recommended Dishes
polenta+oxtail, fried chicken, cheese board
89
LudoBites at Breadbar (Los Angeles, CA)
7/12/2009
Described by chef/creator Ludovic Lefebvre as a "guerilla style pop-up restaurant," LudoBites is a restaurant-within-a-restaurant concept that pairs Ludo with establishments that offer only breakfast and lunch service, creating a dinnertime event that drives brand awareness for both parties. The end goal is to serve haute cuisine at affordable prices by keeping overhead to a minimum, to create a "bistronomy" of sorts that offers Michelin-level food at Claim Jumper costs. LudoBites is designed to move every few months, not unlike an artist's exhibition, and this current engagement, which started on May 19, is slated to end on August 22. Go Tuesdays through Saturdays, and make sure to BYOB.
Though LudoBites is normally done Ă la carte, Ludo and his team agreed to create a one-off tasting menu for FoodDigger.
1: Deconstruction of Bloody Mary
This first course was more of an amuse bouche, one seemingly taken from the pages of the Moto playbook. An unabashedly deconstructivist dish, it consisted of spicy tomato sorbet, vodka gelée, and celery mousse. Taken in concert, the three elements effectively mimicked the classic Bloody Mary, with the sorbet taking center stage at first, before handing things over to the gelée, for a lingering alcoholic finish. The gelée, meanwhile, also added some nice textural variation with its Jello-like consistency.
2: Tuna Sashimi, Sushi Rice Ice Cream, Shishimi Togarashi
My next plate held two slices of tuna sashimi, topped with sushi rice ice cream, sesame oil, sesame, ginger, crispy onion, and soy sauce. I first tried the maguro alone; it was clean, mild, yielding--a good start. I then took everything together, and noted how the various accoutrements, the onion with its crunchy consistency especially, heightened the tuna, while the ice cream took on the role of shari in nigirizushi, effectively balancing and moderating the other ingredients. An interesting study in disparate tastes, textures, and temperatures: sushi, deconstructed.
3: Shrimps, Sweet and Sour, Rosemary
The next course, a one-biter, consisted of a solitary shrimp, covered in a gelatinous sweet & sour blanket, sprinkled with rosemary and lemon zest. The crustacean itself was firm, meaty, snappy--no complaints there. I was afraid that the whole amalgam would turn out a bit blunt, but in fact, the shrimp's natural sweetness was very nicely complemented by its accompaniments.
4: King Red Salmon, Smoked Vinegar, Watermelon, Mint
Here we have a cube of salmon, topped with ikura, and a cube of compressed watermelon, laced with mint and sesame. We were instructed to fare the fish first, followed fastidiously by the melon. The salmon was actually quite mild, but its brininess was elevated considerably by the roe. The watermelon, sweet as expected, was also quite minty, and the whole sweet-salty-minty complex that followed was rather unsettling. Indeed, the melon's sweetness did offset the richness of the salmon, which is what I think Ludo was going for here, but also introduced its own set of problems.
5: Chorizo, Onions, Cornichon
The next course was my favorite of the entire meal: a chilled Spanish chorizo soup with an island of cornichon and onion granité. Tasting the viscous soup was almost disconcerting--it was just so completely saturated with the quintessence of chorizo, its smokiness, savoriness, meatiness, its spicy lingering finish, along with a marked cheesiness that my dining companions likened to Doritos. It was delicious on its own, and I would've been happy drinking the "gazpacho" by itself. However, we mustn't forget about the "sorbet," a tangy amalgamation with a positively bracing flavor that balanced the overt saltiness of the sausage.
6: Foie Gras Tart, Lemon Paste, Mushrooms, Four Spices
Besides the chorizo, the most talked-about dish of the evening was this maple-crusted foie gras tart. There was quite a bit going on here; the first thing I noted was an attack imbued with truffle oil, giving way to the essence of liver, which strengthened as time went by on the finish. The lemon paste did its job in tempering the dish, but the key here for me were the mushrooms. Served uncooked, they had a wondrous raw earthiness to them and were a deft/daft foil to the decadence of foie, in addition to providing a great textural crunch.
7: Diver Scallop, Port, Crème Fraiche
Here was a lone scallop, in a sea of crème fraiche-port emulsion, joined by bacon and onion, and just a speckle of orange zest. The sweetness of the mollusk was enhanced by the use of port, while its savory components were brought out by the bacon. The course garnered mixed reviews from my compatriots, as these two countervailing forces either worked for you, or they didn't. Fortunately for me, they did.
8: Halibut, Spiced Butter, Fresh Porcini, Tonnato Style, Lettuce
After a series of rather striking dishes, this halibut seemed so...conventional. Conventional doesn't equal bad though, and the fish turned out to be one of my favorites in fact. The "tonnato" here refers to the sauce, a commixture of tuna and egg. It proved a fitting complement to the halibut, and I absolutely loved the use of lettuce, which gave the dish a vegetal aftertaste and a crisp, light texture contrast. The porcinis, meanwhile, contributed an earthy gravitas to the course.
9: Duck, Almonds, Crispy Skin Puree, Tapenade, Turnips
This duck was the bane of me. I thought that it was absolutely too sweet, on account of the almond, which overpowered the duck's natural flavor. Brian actually compared the dish's taste to that of mole (while Sook thought of Honey Smacks)! In any case, in an effort to neutralize said sweetness, I made a go at the tapenade, which, with its intensely olive-y flavor, sort of swung the pendulum to the other extreme. The best part of the dish was the stout cylinder of turnip, which at least provided some moderation. I did eventually try the duck by itself, and enjoyed it much, much more.
10: Cheese
With the savories dispensed with, it was time for a quintet of cheese, sourced, I'm told, from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills:
• Brin d'Amour / Toasted Hazelnut with Licorice
• Époisses de Bourgogne / Apricot Paste with Rosemary
• Fromager d'Affinois / Honeycomb
• Etorki / Date Purée
• Valdeón / Pink Grapefruit Gelée
11: Panna Cotta, Caviar, Caramel
We ended the meal with a dish developed by Ludo during his tenure at Bastide: a vanilla panna cotta, with caramel sauce, topped with a generous quenelle of caviar. I was a bit concerned about the roe at first, but fortunately things turned out alright. The admixture of caramel and caviar worked surprisingly well, inciting a sensation like that of salted caramel. The panna cotta, thus, took more of a back seat here, and clearly the action was focused on those two contrasting sweet-salty elements. This seemingly experimental juxtaposition of completely disparate elements was a fitting end to our LudoBites experience.
Ludo wanted to come to the US in order to expand his traditionally French repertoire, and to that, he has achieved considerable success. At L'Orangerie and at Bastide, Ludo cemented his place in the City's culinary landscape, combining his Old World foundation with exotic new flavors, techniques, and ingredients, even venturing into molecular gastronomy, breaking new ground in the process. He is thus constantly evolving his cuisine, always seeking out what's new and interesting, taking risks, learning, respecting the past, all the while living in the present. Though clearly not everything I ate on this night worked, I appreciated the spark, the international flair, the whimsy and the panache in his cooking that I bore witness to, and will be thoroughly interested as to where Ludo goes from here.
Full review with photos: http://www.kevineats.com/20 09/06/ludobites-at-breadbar -los-angeles-ca.htm
96
Dining Fun with Ludo
7/6/2009
It isn't often that I have the opportunity to allow a fine dining establishment to charm my stomach twice before I write a review. And it certainly isn't often that I get to try 22 dishes before writing a review either. In fact, I'd hazhard to guess that these circumstances are not likely to happen again anytime soon. Or, given the current state of my back account, ever.
Ludo Bites at BreadBar, a culinary tour de force manned by Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his lovely wife Kristine, offers its patrons the rare opportunity to break out of conventional dining with its menu of constantly changing, affordably priced small plates. As such, it becomes completely acceptable (and even desirable) to try as many dishes as possible before they disappear - like the infamous chicken fried in duck fat that has suddenly vanished from the menu.
During my first experience dining at the restaurant, total stomach annihilation was the goal. Our group of five ordered two of almost every dish offered that night, and overwhelmed our senses with too many varying tastes and textures at once. I didn't know up from down by the time we put down our dessert spoons, but I did know that I inequivocably loved the aforemention fried chicken, the creamy polenta with cantal cheese and oxtail, the sauteed diver scallops with curry yogurt emulsion and spinach, and felt kindly toward the poached egg 65 degrees that was a fine excuse to eat breakfast for dinner. Some of the other dishes were a struggle for me to understand, particularly since I had never tasted foie gras or sweet breads before that evening. I wasn't sure what Ludo was doing or why he was doing it, and I spent the next several day scratching my head over the Ludo Bites experience.
Did I like this guerrilla-style of dining? Did I like taking my palate on a roller coaster ride that could drop and spin and turn my tongue and expectations upside down?
I didn't know. Or at least I didn't until I tried Ludo Bites for the second time at a Food Digger event that offered me and a handful of LA food bloggers an 11-course feast.
This time I was ready -- my mind was open and my tongue was primed for bold new flavors and combinations. Chef Ludo doesn't let his diners off easy, and as the dishes began coming out of the kitchen, my palate was prepared for the challenge.
While not every dish was love at first bite, the evening as a whole was one of the best/most interesting dining experiences I've had to date. Ludo played tricks on our senses with his deconstructed bloody Mary, and the chorizo, onion, cornichon puree. He messed with our expectations with his tuna sashimi with sushi rice ice cream, shishimi togorashi and crispy onions. And he wooed us into obedient dining soldiers with his commands for us to eat the shrimp with sweet and sour sauce, rosemary and lemon zest in "one bite," and to tackle the cube of king red salmon with smoked vinegar, watermelon, and mint, by eating the salmon first and the watermelon second.
Ludo's kitchen experiments make dining fun, but he also knows how to pull out some show stoppers that could win over even the pickiest of palates. The foie gras tart on a maple crust served with lemon paste, raw button mushrooms, and four spices; and the panna cotta with caviar and caramel sauce (dessert course) are revelatory pieces of culinary art. I enjoyed the halibut with spiced butter, fresh porcini mushrooms, tonnato sauce, and lettuce, and was content to demolish the perfectly seared scallop that evening, but the foie gras tart and panna cotta are the dishes that have haunted the foodie cortex of my brain since the Food Digger event. I want more.
But not just more of my favorites. I want more of everything. I want another challenge. I want another shock to my senses. I want to feel the rush of biting into something totally unexpectedly delicious.
This is what makes Ludo Bites different from any other dining experience in LA. It's never the same. And it's never boring.
Recommended Dishes
Fried chicken in duck fat, Foie gras tart, Panna cotta caramel caviar
93
7/5/2009
Ludo Bites, the latest restaurant concept from Chef Ludo Lefebvre, is kinda like that hot guy who sublet a room in your neighbor's house for the summer. He's pretty much the perfect man because he's super sexy, super smart, has classic features but with a rockstar edge, has tons of personality and best of all knows how to show you a good time. Problem is, he's only here for a few months so you have to get it while you can.
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Recommended Dishes
Foie gras tart, panna cotta with caviar
93
7/2/2009
The first course, deconstruction of Bloody Mary was bold, yet refreshing. A mix of vodka jelly, tomato puree and a celery ice cream recreated the taste and flavors of the famous cocktail served on a spoon. Simply delicious, I knew that night, I was in for a treat!
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Recommended Dishes
foie gras tart, panna cotta caviar
93
7/1/2009
Heavily influenced by his mentor Pierre Gagnaire, the Chef serves up plates featuring jarring juxtapositions of flavors, tastes, textures, and ingredients. Ludo Bites is a throughly eccentric and eclectic dining experience that really is like no other.
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Recommended Dishes
Tuna sashimi with sushi rice ice cream, fried shallots, and shichimi togarashi, foie gras tart with maple crust topped with sliced mushrooms and truffle oil, vanilla panna cotta with caviar and caramel
PK
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Blogger
Favorite Cuisine: Japanese, Korean, French
15 Reviews
89
6/29/2009
What exactly is Ludobites??!!
LudoBites is a guerilla style pop-up restaurant event created by Chef Ludo Lefebvre. The goal of LudoBites is to create a revolutionary new “bistronomy” cuisine that features Michelin style French tradition combined with modern technique and offered at reasonable prices.
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Recommended Dishes
Crispy Veal Sweetbread, Foie Gras, Asian Pear, Imaginary Choucroute, Mustard & Creamy Polenta, Cantal Cheese, Oxtail Beef, Carrots
93
6/27/2009
Before preparing the meal, Ludo had told this gathering of food bloggers the key to his cooking is having fun. This was particularly exciting to hear given our blog motto. “Two Words: Chow, fun.”
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96
6/26/2009
Ludovic "Ludo" Lefebvre, author of Crave, is now hosting Ludo Bites at Breadbar on 3rd St until August 22nd. Ludo is known for his innovative and daring dishes. When it comes down to food, Ludo has a no guts, no glory attitude, regularly walking the plank over a pool of feisty critics.
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93
6/26/2009
Smooth, each flavor eloquent in its poise and all brought gracefully together by that burnt sugar, heavy cream-boosted caramel; perfect example of how confidently far Ludo Lefebvre's radical, french-rooted approach and exceptionally avant garde habits have gotten.
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Recommended Dishes
Scallop, Duck, Caviar Panna Cotta
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89
Ludo Bites Second Edition (May 2009)
5/30/2009
We went here on the opening week and things were a bit chaotic in the kitchen that night. The foie gras miso soup was very interesting from a taste perspective and the ahi + watermelon with beet foam was visually sensational.
Recommended Dishes
Miso soup with foie gras
93
Disclaimer: Only for the limited Ludobites Menu!
1/18/2008
Ludobites
Meeting's over, and we couldn't figure out where to go. When Brian suggested Breadbar, I almost fell out of my chair in disgust.
"I hate Breadbar!", I said.
"They're having a guest chef...Ludovic Lefebvre from Bastide and L'Orangerie", was his reply.
Enough said. We called and got a table for 8:30. Considering it was 8:10, that wasn't bad. Brian stopped at Wally's and got 4 bottles of wine, and the seven of us met up at Breadbar. This is where the dream began...
We started with 2 orders of Proscuitto Di Parma with mascarpone and honey on the side, and an order of salami sopressata. Never thought Proscuitto could taste any better, but with some mascarpone and honey, it was amazing!
Next was two orders of foie gras tart with maple syrup and lemon. The levels of texture and flavor made me understand how foie gras was supposed to be enjoyed. The richness of the foie gras was cut by the sweetness of the syrup.
After that we had the chicken liver mousse tartine with green apple gelee. I'll never eat chicken liver mousse again made by anyone other than Chef Ludo.
-Cheese break- we had a Morbier with a toast hazelnut paste. From the Beverly Hills Cheese store, this amazingly textured cheese was delicious, especially with the hazelnut paste.
Ok, next was sauteed scallop and spinach in a curried yogurt soup. Texture... levels of flavor... AMAZING!!!
We then had the white rice veloute, a soup-like dish containing grilled mushrooms with garlic soubise, egg mollet, and Christmas tree oil. Essentially, it was a poached egg in a creamy sauce and flavored with Christmas tree oil. Christmas tree oil? Who would have thought? That was the best poached egg I've ever had. I love Christmas tree oil!
-cheese break- we had the roaring forties blue with date puree and sea salt. Unfortunately, it didn't come with date puree and sea salt, but instead the hazelnut paste. Still thought it worked beautifully.
Now we got serious. We ordered the beef tenderloin with herbs sabayon and aligot puree. Seriously...it's not right to feed me something so amazing and tell me you're leaving in a week. How can you do that to me, Chef Ludo?
We followed the tenderloin with the cherry tomato aigre-doux with rigatoncini pasta and poached lobster in tamarind butter. Again...what are you trying to do to me? Do you want to see a grown man cry? I've never ever experienced such an incredible combination of flavors.
We finished off the meal with two orders of the Red Fire Chocolate Mousse-soup. It was a canale of mousse made with Hawaiian chocolate, and it had a red jalapeno finish that knocked my socks off. We also had two milkshakes made with belle-helene pear. Jesus...I don't know what else to say.
We were so enamored by the thought provoking menu, that we asked if the chef would come and speak with us. Since he only had one assistant, and did all the cooking himself, it took a while. Considering he was used to having 15 assistants at Bastide, I thought that was great that he came out. He was very gracious. When I asked him why Breadbar, he just started talking about making great food in an environment that was accessible to more people at reasonable prices. He said he'd always worked in expensive restaurants and he wanted to try something different. That really made the meal even better.
Afterwards, Chef Ludo sat at the table next to us with some French guests. These two girls came out of the restaurant and we asked how they enjoyed the meal. They had positive things to say, but they also had a few criticisms. As I listened, I turned around each time I heard something negative and I finally saw Chef Ludo's head shoot up. I asked him to come and join the conversation. He listened and asked for suggestions. The girls got a bit braver and eventually, Chef Ludo, in his French accent, said, "what do you expect? I'm cooking in a fucking bakery!" with a big grin. That statement hit it right on the nose. Chef Ludo...cooking in a fucking bakery. And I got to be a part of it. He's only there for another week, so I would suggest anyone go try. The cuisine was definitely thought provoking and imaginative. The talents of this chef came out with the different levels of texture and flavor. You can only read so much about a person...you have to taste for yourself what this chef can do. It was an experience I'll never forget.
Ludo doesn't bite,
Ludorocks
100
7/28/2009
96
7/13/2009
89
7/6/2009
100
7/2/2009
93
7/1/2009
74
2/17/2009
85
12/23/2008
93
11/22/2008
80
11/15/2008
89
8/28/2008
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