Los Angeles: Hello Ludobites 8.0!!

So LudoBites is currently going on, now in its 8th edition. The reservation this time around is based on a lottery system, so whether you get a reservation is completely based on luck and if the slot they give you doesn't work, then you lose the reservation. I heard from LudoBites that it was only a 5% chance. Somehow... I was able to score a table for four this past Monday (1/30/2012)! Of course I replied and said yes :]

Same as last time, we ordered EVERYTHING on the menu. We were afraid that with just the four of us (Michael, Ray, Diana & me), we weren't going to finish everything, but figured, what the hell, only 5% of the people scored a reservation, might as well go all out! This LudoBites was definitely more... decadent and luxurious than the last in my opinion. Ingredients more exotic and there's more of a fusion from different cuisines. A lot of Japanese influence this time around. A few items really stood out while a few we didn't care too much for. There were also a few that totally surprised us in terms of the flavor and the preparation.

LudoBites 8.0 @ Lemon Moon

12200 W Olympic Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90064

LudoBites for Monday, January 30th :]

Unlike last time, there's an actual wine & beer list since Lemon Moon does have the alcohol license. It wasn't a wine sort of night for our party so we went with the 750ml beers on the menu, both from The Bruery in OC. The Saison Rue is a light Belgian and perfect beer to start the night with.

Really good Belgian, with a hint of fruity note. Saison generally refers to a French farmhouse pale ale with low alcohol content, but the Saison Rue has about 8.0% and unfiltered so you can actually age the beer!

First up: Brioche with Seaweed Yuzu Butter! Now... what part about that does not sound good? Buttery brioche bread then smeared with a "healthy" dose of the seaweed yuzu butter. The yuzu just pops. We split the bread 4-ways and there was a little bit of butter left over from the knife... so I just licked the butter. Yum :]

We absolutely loved the Chicken Tandoori Crackling. Fried chicken skin with tandoori spices, then topped with liver mousse and sea salt. The whole thing is a bit salty but we didn't really care cause it was so damn good! Who doesn't like crispy chicken skin?? It looked like a pita chip with some hummus on top, but nope, it is chicken skin!

So the meal started out with a dish with Japanese influence (yuzu), the Big Eye Tuna with Tahitian Vanilla, Somen, Basil and Seven Flavor Vinaigrette is straight up Japanese-esque with the exception of the basil. Tuna was great and the basil is very refreshing. I'm going to guess the seven flavor means the seven spice Japanese or Chinese uses. The somen was a little meh.

Another dish with Japanese influence: Sweet Shrimp with Miso Cream, Smoked Salmon, and Cannellini Beans. The miso cream was definitely the star in this dish and the creaminess went very well with the smoky smoked salmon.

Like last time, there's a beef tartare dish: Raw Beef with Radish, Beets, and Eel.

Right beside the raw beef, there's this frozen thing... I do not know what it is but it is sorta frozen by nitrogen or something.... it was good hahah.

My little creation!

We decided to go with the Trois Poules Francais from The Bruery for our second bottle of beer, which is this Belgian-style dark ale that's brewed with syrah grapes and then aged in wine barrel! You definitely taste the tart acidic grape and all the usual flavors you'd associate with wine, except in a beer! The sommelier referred to it as a sour-mash style beer. I've always wondered what wine + beer would taste like, although I'm sure it won't taste as good as this in real life :P

Absolutely amazing beer. The first sip is very surprising with the tartness hitting you right away. I actually tried to find it at Bevmo and Total Wine but they sold out months ago since it was a winter release. Boo. I did find 4 bottles of Saison Rue at Total Wine and cleaned out their inventory haha.

Foie Gras with Tamarin, Turnips, and Daikon. The flavors are very surprising and totally wakes you up thanks to the tamarin. I never had foie gras in a soup either so that was a very interesting experience. It's almost like.... eating uni. In fact, it tastes like uni!

Soft... smooth and melt-in-your-mouth foie gras.

Scallops with Leek and Potato Sauce then topped with Shaved Black Truffle. I heart truffle so I could not wait to dive into this dish. Truffle oil is a common ingredient nowadays with many restaurants serving up some sort of dish utilizing the oil, but if you've never had fresh truffle... it is totally different. The flavors are much more subtle and earthy, instead of the intense flavor from the oil.

The sauces were a nice complement to the shaved truffle. Not a huuuuge fan of raw scallop but it was fresh at least :P

John Dory with Squash, Fennel, Tonka Beans, and Lemon sauce. John Dory is a name for a type of fish, and not a pretty one :P However, when pan fried then topped with all sorts of sauces, it was pretty good. The lemon sauce to the side was definitely the best since lemon + seafood just go so well together.

I didn't care too much for the Monkfish Liver with Cumcumber, Cornichons, and Mustard Seeds. There's already too much "liver" by the time we got to this dish with foie and the mousse.

The few bites I did take was good though since the liver had a very buttery texture and when paired with the pickled cucumber, it was a nice contrast.

Pickled cucumber and the sweet mustard seeds.

Like last time, there's also a duck dish: Duck with Orange, Carrots, and Olive Spread. Duck with skin still on it = win. I did like the duck a lot more this time than LudoBites 007's.

Sweetness from the sauce goes very well with the salty olive spread. Loved the candied orange peel too!

Biggest entree of the night: Jidori Half Chicken with Parmesan, Celery Root Soubise, and Walnuts.

It is also my favorite "main dish" of the night. The chicken was super tender and moist. Michael was not a fan of the celery root "foam" but I liked it :P

Goat Cheese Profiteroles with Pistachio Spread and Crispy Leaves. The only dish that night that I didn't like. Profiteroles is essentially a cream puff but I didn't get too much from the goat cheese and the crispy leaves, most likely kale, weren't crispy enough so it was really oily. The pistachio spread though, was A+. Give me toast and I'll be happy with just the pistachio spread haha.

... totally forgot about that green sauce but that's not the pistachio spread :P Pistachio is underneath the profiterole, with that mustard green color.

Chef Ludo on the right working hard haha.

Of course, gotta go for the desserts! This time around, there's no weird and crazy combinations, just classics with a little twist. My favorite out of the two they offered was the Lemon Meringue & Poppyseed Crumble with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It is essentially a deconstructed lemon meringue pie with the poppyseed crumble acting as the pie crust. Strong lemon flavors with the light & fluffy meringue, the dessert is give a bit more fruity flavor with the EVOO. There's also some candied lemon peel!

Apple Tart Tartine with Salted Caramel and Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream. A very... nostalgic sorta dessert with a LudoBites version of apple pie and a flavor from many people's childhood, orange creamsicle. The salted caramel sorta brings you back with the nutty buttery sweetness. There's also these little seeds on the side, and we guessed it was fennel seeds? That was interesting, but we mostly left it alone :P

Apple tart tartine and the salted caramel. Apples were not too mushy and still had a bite.

Orange creamsicle ice cream. I want more.

All in all, we had a great time, sampling all the dishes. LudoBites is really more about the experience and eating a dish that you probably won't see ever again. In the end our bill was about $97 per person... so it is a little pricey. I was a bit sad that I didn't get to try the Uni Creme Brulee since it was the most popular dish served this time. However they couldn't source the uni from their supplier so they didn't offer it that night... sigh. Since the menu changes daily, with some staples, everybody's LudoBites experience can be different.

Maybe I'll do a walk-in...

Thanksgiving Our Way

My family only started cooking for Thanksgiving roughly 4-5 Thanksgiving ago. Prior to that, we've always gone to a family friend's place and eat those Chinese-style Thanksgiving turkeys. The reason it is Chinese is because rather than putting stuffing in there, these turkeys are stuffed with sticky rice! While I do like the turkey, over the years we found that it is too tiring and too much for us. Most of my relatives still live in Taiwan, with only an uncle and a few cousins here in the US, so for the past 2 years, we've prepped ham instead of turkeys!

Now... I'll admit, we don't make everything from scratch. In fact, we love it when we can find shortcuts to things, sorta like Sandra Lee and her store & home prepped ideas. Some is worth making from scratch, but some store bought items just taste... good, and if we like it, why change it :P Also, my family's Thanksgiving isn't very... American in terms of the food we prep. We take inspiration from everywhere and as long as it is tasty, nobody minds at all, so this year we have American, Hawaiian, Taiwanese, and Thai!

So this year, we went for the Kirkland Smoke Ham from Costco but of course we enhanced it a little! We used pineapple and OJ as glaze, then stuck a few cloves to give it additional flavor. Honeybaked? Psh... ours is better :P

Cloves stabbed in there.

Usually we make have a mixed green salad with lemon balsamic vinaigrette, but this year, we decided to try something with a little Asian flair. Bought some shredded cabbage (the ones from supermarkets for cole slaw) and Maru-Chan ramen packs to make our own ramen salad! We just toasted the ramen a little, then tossed it in with the cabbage with some awesomePietro Sesame & Miso dressing. Pietro's dressings have always been family favorite!

Toss a little bit of sliced almonds, and there, restaurant quality ramen salad :P

Taiwanese style fried chicken. Gotta have something Taiwanese! We made the marinade usually used for popcorn chicken, and soaked the chicken overnight to give the breast meat some flavor, then breaded lightly to be fried! All it needs is a little white pepper and everybody's happy :]

Oven-baked Thai Salmon. The sauce is just soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce, lots of lemon juice with come chopped up red chili peppers, parsley, basil, and garlic! Simple, healthy, and super easy to make!

Of course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving if the table didn't have mashed potato. Last year I made garlic mash with some chopped garlic, but this year, taking it to another level by adding truffle to make truffled garlic mash potato! Russet potatoes, fat free half & half (I don't like it too fatty :P), garlic, garlic powder, and just a little little bit of white truffle oil.

La Tourangelle Infused White Truffle Oil. This one is actually made in Sonoma, CA, rather than Italy. I actually have truffle oil from Italy as well, but figured since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, gotta go with the American-made truffle oil!

I've been buying these small bottles of truffle at TJ Maxx & Home Goods, and yes they are still good and there's nothing shady about it! TJ Maxx & Home Goods are actually two of the best places to buy specialty food items since it's always at a discount. You just have to search for a bit since it is sorta like treasure hunting. I've seen truffle oil go for as low as $7 from their retail price of $25+! The one above was around $12, and yes even though it is small, a little bit of truffle oil goes a loooooong way.

We LOVE our Pepperidge Farm Texas Garlic Toast. Garlic bread is definitely one of those items where we could've baked our own garlic bread but why move away from the family favorite??? Look how perfectly golden brown it is :P

There's always some sort of dessert, and this year, a family friend of ours dropped off a rum-soaked cake, and gotta admit, pretty damn good. First bite gives you a huge kick in the mouth with the rum, then a little bit of sweetness together with the flavors of all the nuts.

There's always leftovers after a Thanksgiving meal and one of my favorite leftover meal is definitely the ham fried rice I get to make the next day! Leftover rice, ham, pineapple, eggs, green onion, soy sauce, white pepper, with a sprinkle of tasted sesame seeds.

We also made some tiny potato pancakes with the truffled garlic mash but I totally forgot to take a picture of it. Smelled to good and I devoured it before I remembered haha.

So that was our Thanksgiving dinner! A little unorthodox in terms of what we eat for Thanksgiving this year, but nevertheless, we are thankful for what we have and the time we get to share with family, even if it is only with my parents, sister, and cousins this year!

Los Angeles Ludobites 007!!!

One of the hardest reservation to score in Los Angeles is the reservation of dinner service for Ludobites, a unique pop up concept by Chef Ludo Lefebrve. But what makes it so unique and so popular? Well, Ludobites is essentially a 2-month long event where Chef Ludo takes over a kitchen somewhere in Los Angeles, with a designated time to make reservations.

Who is Ludo Lefebrve? He's a French chef that has headed in two of LA's most prestigious restaurant and was even named as one of the world's 50 greatest chef by Relais & Chateaux, as well as being nominated for a Rising Star Chef Award by the James Beard Foundation. Ludobites is a restaurant by the chef that has no address and no permanent location, and more like a "touring" restaurant, only limited by the chef's imagination, not just French cuisine!

I actually tried to make a reservation for the 7th edition of Ludobites, but within one minute all the slots were full! My finger was definitely not clicking fast enough :[ But somehow, Connie was able to make a reservation for 6, so sometime last week after a month long wait, we arrived at Gram & Papa's, a sandwich shop that Chef Ludo took over. Needless to say I was super excited about finally getting to try Ludobites!

Ludobites 007 @ Gram & Papa's

227 E 9th St

Los Angeles, CA 90015

www.ludolefebvre.com/ludobites

Ludobites 8/11/11!! Whoooo!

The menu that night. Rather than looking through the menu, we just told our waiter to bring one of each! Haha the best way to order! Since we had 6, figured we can try everything out and order seconds on the ones we liked.

Ludobites logo on the ceiling tile. The chicken is a play on his Ludotruck, a food truck created by Ludo Lefebvre specializing in fried chicken. The truck is bomb also. Definitely check it out if you can!

They were selling apparel also! Collabo with UNDFTD. I was soooo tempted but decided not to get a tee. That hoodie looked bomb though hahaha. Also LOVE THAT ARTWORK. I need it!

Cool burned-in logo on the tables.

We sat next to the open kitchen. Crazy how they transformed a sandwich shop into this kitchen. Chef Ludo is the tallest dude there. Super friendly guy!

First, up, Lavender Ginger Lemonade. The ginger gave it a little bitterness and the lavender added some floral hints to the lemonade. It actually tasted like I'm drinking lemon peel thanks to the bitterness, which I actually liked! Not overly sweet as well, and a perfect drink for the summer!

Jamaican Chicken Wings. I'm not gonna even try and guess what spices are in here but they give us gloves to eat the wings with haha. Lots of flavor and the skin is slightly crisped. I can eat at least 50 of these wings...

Bouillabaise Milkshake. Ok not gonna lie... this was the weirdest thing that night. Bouillabaise is essentially a rich seafood stock. The "milkshake" tasted like a seafood chowder... except frozen. I think it weirded us out because we just couldn't shake the cold frozen chowder feel.

Onion Tart with Bottarga. Totally regretted not getting a second order. Super sweet caramelized onion on crispy flat bread then sprinkled with bottarga, which is salt-cured dried roe. Great appetizer.

Prawn & Scallop Ceviche with Aji Amarillo, and Red Berries. Not a huge fan of ceviche but this I liked. The red berries added a good deal of tartness.

Squid with Bread Ash & Chorizo Aioli. Super tender squid with caramelized onion bulb goes well with the two sauces. One is a black ink sauce and the other is an aioli infused with chorizo oil! Reminds me of a great tapas dish I had awhile back.

Fresh squid makes a world of difference.

Raw Beef with Rainbow Carrots, Shallots, and Red Wine Mayo. Essentially a beef sashimi dish! Beef are cut into chunks and laid on top of a bed of red wine mayo. Surprisingly light! Carrots reminded me of the marinated carrots from Mexican restaurants haha.

Red wine mayo with the hidden mustard seeds on the bottom makes this dish pop.

Pig's Head Compressed & Cheddar with BBQ Gelee. Playful take on a BBQ sandwich. Couldn't really tell it was pork that we're eating since it was so deconstructed but nonetheless tasty. The BBQ gelee just straight up punched you in the face. Really strong vinegar taste.

Salt Cod Panna Cotta with Whipped Fingerling Potato, and Smoked Tapioca.

Tapioca balls are your Asian boba balls. Slight hint of smoke flavor. Potato is creamy and goes well with the fish. We sat for awhile trying to figure out what the yellow oil is :P

Uni, Caviar, and Champagne Beurre Blanc. Sort of like a luxurious scramble egg dish.

Usually not a big fan of uni, but man this was good! Love the caviar too.

Plancha Tandoori Octopus with yogurt, cauliflower, and grapefruit. My favorite dish of the night. Tender octopus with Indian tandoori spices is great. Thin-sliced cauliflower paired with the grapefruit works well with octopus.

That's not char. That's flavor!

Foie Gras French "Dim Sum" stuffed with kimchi, with a layer of sake black truffle cream. Definitely the most decadent dish of the night. Ridiculously good. The little black spots are actual truffle shavings.

French "dim sum" haha! It's more like a ravioli but man the foie gras was gooood.

Inside is the foie gras with kimchi. The red oil is from the kimchi. When you take in a whole ravioli, the flavors just explode in your mouth: creaminess from foie gras and the earthy aroma from the sauce is cut through by the sharp kimchi.

After the foie gras ravioli came, we ordered some more Jamaican Wings and octopus!

First of our main entree: Salt Crusted Pork Shoulder with Beer Sabayon, Imaginary Choucroute, and Juniper Berries. The beer sabayon (foam sauce) is great with the tender pork shoulder. Cabbages add a nice crunch and texture!

The star of the dish is probably the imaginary choucroute! Choucroute is another name for sauerkraut. It is called imginary choucroute because there's actually no real sauerkraut. Instead, the block is actually a block of sauerkraut jelly! I can only describe the jelly as all the flavors of sauerkraut condensed. I love getting a piece of the pork with the cabbage and smear a little of the jelly with it.

Epoisse Cheese Risotto with hazelnut, egg yolk, and herb salad. I love risotto done well since it takes a lot of effort. Lots of different textures here and it's even better when you mix the egg yolk in with the rest of the risotto. Epoisse is a French cow cheese that was actually favored by Napoleon, so I guess it's a sort of... royalty of the cheeses?

Duck with cherry, spicy saucisse, beets, and radishes. Duck cooked to a medium, which scared a lot of people at our table haha. We're all used to duck being cooked through and through like roast duck, but I actually prefer duck cooked with a little red inside, as long as it's good duck. Skin is crisped and the cherry spicy sauce is slight sweet & tart.

All sorts of sliced root vegetables on the plate!

Afterwards, we decided to get all the desserts as well and first to arrive was the Lavender Tropezienne Tart with aloe vera and lychee. Tropezienne tart is a type of French dessert that looks like a sandwich. It seems like Chef Ludo was particularly fond of using ingredients that are quite Asian in the tart. Nice touch with the lavender as well to bring a bit of aroma to the dessert!

Crunchy puff and creamy filling!

Smoked Vanilla Bacon Creme Brulee with Strawberry Soup. This one was straight up craziness. SMOKED BACON in a creme brulee?? I loveeee creme brulee and I was really scared of the bacon ruining it, but... it works for me, surprisingly. A lot of people didn't like the saltiness & smokiness from the bacon, but I think that is what the strawberry soup is for. The sweet strawberry soup sort of evens out the saltiness of the bacon. It's like a strawberry syrup for your creme brulee.

The caramelized sugar crust is still my favorite part of the creme brulee!

A little bit of everything in one bite :]

The last dessert is Chocolate Cake & Chipotle Ice Cream with orange sauce and coco nibs.

The chocolate cake is more like a fudge rather than cake.

Chipotle ice cream also had a little of kick to it that you wouldn't expect, even though it is chipotle ice cream. The coco nibs is a touch to add some texture! The two are the best when eaten together.

Lots of people still waiting to be called. The only do two rounds of dinner service each night!

One thing amazing I've noticed about this particular edition of Ludobites is that he does a play on many different cuisines' flavors. From the French "dim sum" infused with a little of Korean kimchi or coming up with his own version of a popular German dish, they were all done with attention to detail.

Whether or not my friends and I react positive to the dish is a whole different story but each dishes definitely invoked an emotion out of all of us. Joy from a flavorful dish, disappointment from expecting more, or amazement from experiencing something new, it was definitely an experience.