Ludobites contest win! With a special guest appearance by J. Gold July 4, 2009
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , trackbackTwitter has its critics. People think it’s weird, they fear it or they say it’s a fad like slap bracelets or jnco jeans. For the FITK crew, its been a wildly efficient marketing tool. As anyone who’s ever tried to sell anything before knows, word of mouth cannot be bought. When it’s organic, it can be amazing. So when i saw a RT (”re-twit” for those of you over 30 yrs old) from @chefludo (are you confused yet??) that he was having a contest to let someone be his sous-chef for the night at Ludo-Bites (http://www.ludolefebvre.com/ludo-bites/) i thought first - “genius! what an awesome promotional idea.” and then I immediately thought, “im’a bout to win that.” I crafted a @reply tweet to chefludo and then sent it along through the inter-web. This is what I wrote squeaking in under the confines of the 160 characters rule:
@chefludo xperience catring.wrote cookbook w/bro(a chef).love free food but love to cook own food more.I take orders well+own chef pants12:04 PM Jun 23rd from web
I thought it had potential…i mean, a little bit of bragadocious never hurt anyone and I wanted him to know I’m not a total dolt in the kitchen. About 2 days later, I got the reply that I’d won and instantly hopped on the phone with the chef half of FITK and said “Max, I’m gonna be chef Ludo’s sous for a night. I’m out of practice, my knife skills are not 100%, I haven’t been in a professional kitchen going on 8 months! I’m a desk lackey!! boost my self esteem immediatly.” In typical Max fashion he said something to the extent of “It’ll be cool. You’ll be ok dude.” THANKS older brother for that riveting pep talk. Basically, I felt like I’d lost my restaurant mojo and knew I was about to be working on food put out by a world class chef so i was sweating. I mean, I expected to be cutting veggies and observing a lot but still, I wanted to bring my A-game and not embaress myself and most importantly the chef.
I arrived at Ludo-Bites on Friday at about 3.30pm and since it’s housed in Breadbar which is open for bfast-lunch, they need to change over the kitchen which is a pretty hectic switchover since time is off the essence. Here’s Breadbar before the switch
By 4.10pm I was in the kitchen standing at a cutting board doing a fine dice on some rosemary and i loosened up a tad and was getting into it. Just like riding a bike I told myself… Chef Ludo was accomodating and wanted me to feel comfortable, ask a lot of of questions and get into it. He seemed legit excited to be cooking dinner that night and when you see that kind of passion from a chef, it makes you excited to be around them. Right then and there, watching everyone prepping, rushing around I knew the night was gonna kick ass. After the rosemary, I did a nice lil Chiffonade on some mint and didn’t cut my finger off which made me feel good. Then I did a fine Brunoise on apples (that were actually quite even) and in no time I was just like Stella getting her groove back. Chef Ludo called out “1 hour guys! 1 hour.” My heart was beating faster and faster. Ge’Dang I love working in restaurants.
Chef Ludo put a guy in charge of me and he seemed down to show me stuff even though he was frantically prepping about 40 things himself. Along with another girl in her 2nd week working there, I was set up in the front of the house in plain view of the patrons. While the hot entrees are cooked in back, several of the smaller plate dishes are executed and plated on the front counter. This lends the restaurant a cool feel as people peer over to get a peek at what may be coming to their table. After showing me how to execute a few full dishes, I got the hang of most of them and put myself to work as a helper doing the less complex executions. The spooning of the mousse and cornichon was incredibly precise and there wasn’t much time for me to practice so I left that to the others but every other part I felt confident working on. These are the dishes I had a hand in during the night:
Poached Egg 65 degrees,Savory Toast, black truffle, Parmesan Onions
Chicken Liver Mousse Cornichons and Green Apple
King Red Salmon cubes,Watermelon, Mint Orange Confit ,Sesame oil
Chorizo Cantaloupe Cornichon
Shrimp sweet and sour emulsion Rosemary
At around 7.30, Chef Ludo was standing up in front surverying the scene in front of him looking relaxed and ready for the rush. Perhaps lucky for me (or unlucky since a dinner rush experience would have been epic…) the patrons ordered smaller quantities than Ludo Bites is used to, and we never got a flurry of tickets that wasn’t completely manageable by Chef Ludo’s staff. Here’s Chef Ludo totally kicked back about to put together the Foie Gras tart:
It was awesome that Chef Ludo (and the other cooks) allowed me to actually get my hands dirty. I plated full dishes that went out to diners which was a lot more involved than I thought I would be. At around 9pm, my friends, the uncouthgourmands (http://uncouthgourmands.com/) and some of 8449 (http://eightfourfournine.blogspot.com/) came in to check out Ludo Bites and show support for ya boy. That made me feel pretty spectacular so a big internet shout out to both of ya.
Soon after, none other than Jonathan Gold (http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/) the pulitzer prize winning food writer for LA Weekly came in to eat which was a major personal thrill as he’s incredible at what he does and I respect his work to the highest degree. Chef Ludo jokingly turned to me and said that I was making J.Gold’s food so that if he didn’t like it, it was all on me. Even as a joke, the thought sent sheer terror surging through my body. That’d be like Michael Jordan critiquing my jump shot which…isn’t that tight right now. Here’s Chef Ludo working on one of the many plates for J Gold
The entire experience was amazing and to be back in the kitchen made me feel alive again (as absolutely cheesy as that sounds). I give a major shout out and thanks to Chef Ludo, his wife and the entire staff for not being weirded out by me staring at them while they work (and taking lots pictures…god they must have thought i was insane) and actually teaching me things during my night in the kitchen. If you haven’t been to Ludo Bites yet, you have to go. Not only for the food, but for the eating experience. The staff’s passion spills into every dish and for Chef Ludo, it’s all about opening up people’s eyes to new flavor profiles and dish executions. I say go with friends and make sure to order 10 things and try them.
As the night was winding down, Chef Ludo had me plate a shrimp dish for my friends to try. Upon receiving it, he told them “eat it in one bite.” One of the girls replied right back to his face that it was much to big and she was going to cut it. Instead of being offended (as some chefs might be) at this lack of following his directions, Chef Ludo actually laughed. He had given someone an instruction about his food which they had clearly defied to his face. Later on, I asked Chef Ludo how he felt about this. He said that older people are apologetic and be embarrassed when they eat wrong. He was happy to see my friends enjoying his food the way they wanted while trying a new dish that by their own admissions ”remarkable.” (I think they ordered 5 of them). Chef Ludo went on to say that they are the customer and he cooks for them so they can enjoy his food how they like. That provides insight into Chef Ludo cooking mindset.
Chef Ludo loves to cook incredible food, but if the patron doesn’t feel comfortable and enjoy it while expanding their culinary horizons, then Ludo Bites has missed it’s mark. I can assure you after working there for a night and tasting his creations, Ludo Bites never misses the mark. It flips your expectations and playfully engages your palette with every dish. Going in you may expect the food to be great, but I can assure you it will be extraordinary.
Comments»
[...] got invited into the kitchen to say goodbye to Eli. He was very happy with the way that Chef Ludo treated him, allowing him to plate, try everything as it was cooking, and giving him a big piece of foie gras [...]
Yay, I am so happy we got to be there for your big night. Chef Ludo and his wife were amazing and you were as charming as ever. The Jonathan Gold thing was so unreal. I am glad we were all there to verify the story. Here is our review and our account of the night.
http://uncouthgourmands.com/2009/07/04/dining-with-foodies-galore/
Lovely post. Glad you had a wonderful time!
I have been eating Ludo’s food for years. Just wait until he opens his own restaurant.
For a glimpse of his past and to see some of the recreations of elements that he is now doing at Breadbar i.e sushi ice cream, see here:
http://lizziee.wordpress.com/category/southern-california/bastide-beverly-hills/
We had the pleasure of dining at Ludobites and loved it. Thanks for posting your experience. Hope to see you working around town in the near future doing what you love to do!
Hi, forwarded to your blog from eaterLA. Unfortunately, the first sentence of your entry reads “Twitter has it’s critics.” — homonym error. Try “its.”
lizziee,
those are amazing pictures. some of those dishes look absurd! I wish I could try them all.
-eli
alwayshungry – I may have the opp to work at Ludobites again! I’m very excited. thanks for swinging by!
-eli