Love Life, Hate Kittens

[all pics courtesy of Eli G. - friend, lunch buddy and fellow diner at ludobites]

My expectations of Ludobites probably skewed my judgment. When I hear Ludobites I think of creative, clever, well executed, and charming.

Ludo may be all of those things himself (super nice guy) but his food fell short of my high expectations. Some chefs focus on seasonal, simple food with complex flavors. Some gear toward Bazaar like creativity. This was neither. In fact, if anything I felt the menu that lacked theme and consistency on both regards. This is SO not the food I expected from the glowing reviews, the highly acclaimed breadbar showing and Ludo Lefebvre in general. Quit lying to me yelp.

After we confused ourselves silly with the menu, we decided to just get two of everything (minus the peanuts and desserts). It was perfect for 6 people. The dishes were quite proportional for three to share.

Food breakdown (some i don’t have pics for):

Scallops with brown butter, pineapple and black powder - I love raw scallops and this was no exception. Fresh though nothing special. The pineapple was honestly the best part.

Fish Ceviche - Fish to onion ratio was way way off. Between three people we all had a little bit of fish with a huge amount of veggie left over. But it was way too acidic.

Monterrey squid with chorizo oil, kimchi puree, and grilled sweet jalepenos - Squid was cooked perfectly. Love the chorizo oil. The kimchi puree didn’t stand out.

Bread soup with poached egg and gruyere marshmallow - this was like high end biscuits and gravy minus the biscuits. Tasty. I’m glad we shared this because eating a whole bowl of soup with gravy like consistency is like a heart attack. The poached egg was a nice touch.

Veal with udon, kombu dashi, mushrooms and sesame seed miso - Combining “Asian” ingredients does not equal an asian inspired dish. I wasn’t quite sure if this was meant to be traditionally asian but it didn’t work as fusion asian either. It tasted like a sickenly sweet udon bowl like something you find in the to-go aisle at Mitsuwa.

Foie gras beignet with yellow celery root remoulade - Anything with foie gras is delicious. It’s like truffles or caviar. It’s almost hard to fuck up. LOVED the huge huge portion of foie gras but what really stood out was the yellow celery root. It cut the richness of the foie well.

Confit pork belly with pickles mustard tartine, frisee - Our end of the table didn’t come with mustard. But it was fairly good. But I’m picky. Pork belly is something I’m rarely impressed with. It’s a chinese dish that the chinese have perfected in terms of flavor, crispiness and ratio of fat to meat. I still don’t get the pork belly obsession in high end restaurants.

Wild striped bass with garden vegetables and yuzu aioli - I liked the veggies more than the fish. It was a bit overcooked and horribly underseasoned.

Marinated hangar steak with crunchy escargot, baby corn, bok choy, and black olive mole - Did not like the mole. The crunchy escargot didn’t stand out. The steak was cooked perfectly and the baby corn was lovely.

Fourme d’Ambert tourte with red pear and honey-balsamic - very rich. the red pear was a nice touch.

I thought the little accompaniments to each dish was better than the actual main. Would I attend another Ludo event? Of course. He’s a good chef and genuinely enthusiastic about his own food even if I’m not. Perhaps if he personally executed each of his creations the results would be different.

Was it good value for my money? Yes. Although the food was pretty average, we had around 9 courses and two bottles of wine between 6 people for 75 bucks (including tax and tip). Not bad at all.

Until next time, this was just A-OK.

Ludobites @ Royal/T

8910 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 559-6300

www.ludolefebvre.com/ludo-bites