Friday, May 14, 2010

LudoBites 4.0

I don't tend to flock to things that are hip and happening, mostly because of limited energy and funds. But, sometimes, it happens by accident. Other times, it's fate. One night, I thought about it was too bad that I never got my act together enough to go to LudoBites (getting reservations isn't for the faint of heart nor those who aren't on the web minute-by-minute). The next morning, I got an email from Rants and Craves seeing if I was free to go to LudoBites! And the rest is history.

My other two dining companions for my first taste of Ludo's food were The Truck Chaser and Weezermonkey. A lovely group of ladies to consume butter with, non?

Ludobites paris ham soup
Paris ham soup: unreal. Ludo's take on ham and cheese means utter decadence with Guiness foam and cornichons thrown in for balanced hot-damn-goodness. My (savory) personal favorite of the night. I'll get to dessert in a minute.

Ludobites asparagus veloute
White asparagus veloute: We missed the part about this dish being cold. Still, a delicate yet sexy way to highlight white asparagus. And yes, that salmon roe is beckoning you right now.

Ludobites croque monsieur
Foie gras black croque monsieur: are you kidding? Wonderful.

Ludobites Squid carbonara
Squid carbonara: who needs pasta when you've got tender squid? I really enjoyed this interpretation, especially with the poached egg.

So, my pictures stop here because of lighting issues. You can check out Weezermonkey's LudoBites post here, chock-full of gorgeous photos per usual.

Now, I must tell you about dessert: my very first chocolate souffle. Pertinent background information: my dessert experience is limited because I don't really care about ending meals on a sweet note. If it's there, I'll eat it, of course (I'm not monastic about sugar, trust me). Now, back to the souffle. I took one bite and everything fell away for a split second. That good. Only the French could have concocted a billowy puff of a dessert that holds a slightly gooey chocolate heart. Souffle, je t'aime.

I'm now going to be chasing the dragon on this front, but I will take on that challenge gladly. Thank you to Ludo for giving me such a special food memory.

And of course, thank you to Rants and Craves, my LudoBites fairy godmother! I had the best time and it's times like these that I thank my lucky stars that I live in LA. Magic can happen anywhere, but living in a city like ours serves up possibilities on a silver platter quite often.

LudoBites 4.0 (through May 28)
Gram and Papas
227 East 9th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90015

6 comments:

Daily Gluttony said...

Yay! So glad to have been your LudoBites Fairy Godmother!!! Such a great time sharing delcious food w/ you guys! We have to do it again soon!

weezermonkey said...

I'm so glad the four of us did this! Our grand master plan of eating together at least once a month is coming to fruition. :)

I think your photos are pretty good -- huzzah for our window. If you'd like to steal a souffle pic, please feel free. Nice to have a visual for your incredible description!

food je t'aime said...

Love the "Soufflé, je t'aime" ;)
Glad you also got to experience LudoBites!

bagnatic said...

the meal sounds wonderful...mmmm. and your souffle cherry was popped :0

Esi said...

Sigh...one of these days I WILL make it to LudoBites.

Marie said...

DG: You heard me across the universe! :P Yes, let's meet up again very soon!

Weezermonkey: I agree, we are off to an excellent start! So lovely of you to offer your picture; I may keep this in mind the next time I'm resigned to no photos after the sun sets. :P

Food Je T'aime: Thanks for stopping by! Lucky girl, you got to try so much of his food!

Bagnatic: Ha! Now, I need to try macarons!

Esi: If I can do it, you can do it! :)