Ludo Bites 7.0 with Chef Ludo Lefebvre Made Me a Believer Again

 

For those of you who may have read my post entitled "My Food Journey from Ludo Bites 3.0 to 5.0", you know that Ludo Bites 5.0 was a bit disappointing for me.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to dine at Ludo Bites 6.0 so I missed out on a chance to see whether or not a new menu would take me back to a high note.  Thankfully, I made my way to Ludo Bites 7.0 and with this menu from Chef Ludo Lefebvre, it made me a believer all over again.
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Our meal started with the Bouillabaise Milkshake.  Just recently, I had a conversation at another dinner with a fellow diner and he had mentioned that this particular milkshake played with his head.  Even though he knew what it was, he took one look at the milkshake when it arrived and automatically thought of a sweet vanilla milkshake.  However, with one sip, his (as well as my)  taste buds experienced something that was cold, lush, rich, creamy, but with definite seafood flavors.

There was a disconnect between what your mind was seeing and what your mouth was tasting, but I thought it was playful and interesting.  If nothing else, it was one of the most talked about dishes at our table where whether you liked it or not, people thought it was a really creative dish.

From the cold oceans of the sea, we went island way via the Jamaican Fried Chicken Wings.  While the chicken skin could have been crispier, I enjoyed the tangy sweetness of the marinade and thought the chicken meat was tender and juicy.

Next was the Onion Tart with Battarga.  It was more of a flatbread than a tart, but I enjoyed the light crispiness of the crust.  The bottarga's saltiness was a perfect foil for the sweetness of the caramelized onions, but I wish that there had been more of it.

Following the tart came the Dorade Ceviche with Cucumber Water and Parslane.  This was a dish that was refreshingly tart, bright and herby plus the dorade itself was tender and succulent.

While waiting for our next dish, I ordered the Lavender Ginger Lemonade. It was interesting in that the drink was tart, floral and spicy and somehow it all worked together.

Our next dish was the Salt Cod Panna Cotta, Whipped Fingerling Potato, Smoked Tapioca and Toasted Olive Bread Croutons. When I took a spoonful of the panna cotta just by itself, while creamy, I thought it was too salty. It was more enjoyable when eaten with a crunchy olive bread crouton and the smoked tapioca.

Soon, the Raw Beef "Flambe" with Japanese Whiskey, Rainbow Carrots, Veal Jus Gel, Parsley Panko Crumbs, Mustard and Shallots arrived.  This dish was definitely one of the highlights of the meal.  I loved how the mustard added a strong, spicy pungency to the meat.  The parsley panko also added a nice touch of grassiness which went well with the richness of the meat.

My absolute favorite dish of Ludo Bites 7.0 was the Egg, Sea Urchin, Caviar and Champagne Beurre Blanc.  Now this my kind of surf and turf.  The egg and sea urchin were so creamy and tasted of land and sea and the caviar was the cherry that topped the sundae. If I wasn't sharing this with two other people, I could have easily eaten this all by myself.

The dish that had some Indian influence was the Plancha Tandoori Octopus with Yogurt, Cauliflower and Grapefruit.  The octopus was very tender and the grapefruit added a nice acidity. Overall, it tasted good; however, if I wasn't told that this was a tandoori dish, I wouldn't have identified it as such. There was something missing, but I'm not exactly sure what.

One ingredient that always makes it way to a Ludo Bites dish is foie gras and that night, foie gras was the star in the Foie Gras "French Dim Sum" with Crispy Kimchi and Sake-Black Truffle Cream.  The kimchi and the sake-black truffle did a good job cutting into the sweetness of the foie gras, which made this a very nicely balanced dish.

When it comes to duck, I always look for crispy skin, which wasn't to be for the Duck, Cherry, Spicy Saucisse, Beets and Radish dish.  Having said that, the tartness of the beet-cherry sauce partnered well with the duck, but what really drew me was the spicy duck sausage. I would have loved to have one or two more on the plate.  What I also enjoyed was the fact that the beets weren't completely cooked through, so they had a crunch to them and their sweetness was a nice counterpoint to the radish which can have more of a "bite" to it.

Our last savory dish of the night was the Poached Ribeye, Horseradish Cream and Green Beans.  I'm never one to turn down a Rib Eye, but one thing I definitely learned is that I prefer it grilled, bone-in and not poached.  I found the poached ribeye to be both tender and chewy at the same time, which was odd.  While normally, a fan of horseradish, I found the cream to be a little salty. In general, this dish felt too "soft" to me.  It needed some kind of crunch component, which the green beans didn't really supply.

Finally, it was time for dessert and we went for the Lavendar Tropezienne Tart with Lychee.  Unfortunately, this wasn't a hit at our table.  The tart itself was a little too dry and the lavender so overpowered the lychee that you couldn't even taste the lychee.  All the lychee did was add texture, but no real flavor.

Overall, except for really just a couple of dishes, I really enjoyed my dining experience with Ludo Bites 7.0 and after this meal, I'm again very much excited for Ludo Bites 8.0 whenever that comes back.

Visit Chef Ludo Lefebvre's Website Here! ^

The Flavors of Belize Restaurant Made for a Happy Palate

 

I first found out about Flavors of Belize after reading it on the Food Marathon blog. The food looked pretty tasty and although it took about 9 months to pay it a visit after finding out about it, it was definitely worth the wait.

We started with trying out a couple of their fresh squeezed juices: soursop and craboo.  Interesting names, don't you think? It's hard for me to describe what they taste like exactly except both had a slight sweet/tart taste to them but definitely didn't taste the same.  However, I found them both very refreshing.
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When it came to the food, the first thing we tried was the Conch Fritter which was ground conch mixed in a batter, seasoned and fried. I couldn't actually taste the conch, but I liked that the fritter wasn't oily and had an almost cornbread quality to the texture.

Following the fritter came the Spiced Ground Beef Meat Pies.  I wish that there would could have been a bit more beef in the pie but what was there was delicious plus I really loved the flaky pie crust.

My favorite dish of our meal was the Chicken Tamal. Wrapped in a banana leaf, once opened, both the masa and chicken were tender and moist.

What was also addicting was this tropical habanero sauce that is a staple in Belizean households. Sweet with a kick, it went well with all the dishes, except dessert.

Another dish we tried was the Salbutes, fried corn tortilla topped with a mix of chicken, shredded cabbage, cilantro and tomatoes. On its own, it was delicious with the crunchy cabbage, the peppery cilantro and the acidity from the tomatoes, but that habanero sauce kicked it up a notch even more.

We also ordered a side of sweet plantains, not realizing that it came with one of the entrees we had chosen from the menu.  I liked that it wasn't overly soft, but other than that, there was really nothing else to it.

The one dish that was unexpected in regards to flavor was the Ducunu, which is young corn that is ground, seasoned and steamed. I was expecting it to taste sweet, but that wasn't the case.  It tasted slightly bitter with an after taste.  Apparently, the ducunu can be sweet or not sweet, depending on the type of corn used and/or the preference of the cook. This was definitely the one dish out of everything I had that just didn't do it for me.

Known as "Black Dinner" in Belize, the Chimole is a dish that might surprise you if you hadn't been prepared for its inky soup color.  Chimole gets its color and flavor from a paste made from charred chilies, annatto and other spices and the restaurant's version includes chicken, 1  potato and 1 hard-boiled egg and is served with tortillas.  The soup flavor was smoky with a dark pungency to it.  There's a complexity to that broth where I tasted a lot of different nuances, but what those nuances were, I had no idea.  Be sure to dip your tortillas so that you can mop up all that black goodness.

Our last savory item was the White Rice and Beans with Oxtail that included white rice cooked with coconut milk, stewed kidney red beans, plantains and a potato salad.  The oxtail was tender and while a little too overcooked, I enjoyed the coconut rice.  I also loved the kidney beans.  There was a creaminesss to the beans themselves that was unusual, but delicious.

We weren't planning on having dessert, but once I found out that there was lemon pie available, I had to go there and I'm so glad I did.  The mini pie crust was very flaky and buttery with a creamy lemon custard filling and a fluffy meringue.  I could have eaten dozens, well maybe, just one more.  They were just that good.

Overall, I very much enjoyed my meal at Flavors of Belize. I definitely was exposed to some new things I've never experienced before and if this restaurant were closer to me, I'd be a regular customer.  Having said that, it was worth the drive and I would certainly make it again.

Flavors of Belize
1271 S La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 931-4840
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Creative Cooking at Top Chef Winner Michael Voltaggio's Restaurant, ink.

The first time I ever experienced Chef Michael Voltaggio's food was at a Media Dinner at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena where he was the Chef de Cuisine of the now gone, Dining Room. This was around the time that he was part of the final four contestants still competing on Top Chef.  Of course, he emerged triumphant and everyone waited with bated breath to see what this creative chef was going to do next.

While he did stay with the Langham for a few months after his win, flash forward a little over two years later, he is now the Chef/Owner of two eating establishments.  One is a more casual sandwich eatery called ink.sack while his sit down restaurant simply goes by the name ink. with a period. I haven't made it to ink.sack yet, but I definitely enjoyed my meal at ink.

By the way, before I start talking about the food, there was a little element in the place setting that I really liked. When we sat down and were given our silverware, it came with a small rectangular magnetic block for our silverware to rest on. It was just a nice touch that I thought I'd mention.
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My meal started with a homemade soda that comes in a variety of flavors.  I went for Cucumber-Mint. When it arrived, I loved the use of fresh ingredients, but for some reason, it was extremely tart. After adding some water, that tartness was tamed, but man, my lips were puckering and I'm not even sure why? I don't recall reading that there was lemon or lime in this soda.

Soon after, a trio of dishes hit our table. The first one I tried was the Charred Avocado with hen of the woods, whipped fish sauce and mushroom chicarron.  It was a bowl filled with interesting textures from the softness of the avocado to the slight firmness of the hen of the woods to the crunch of the mushroom chicharron. The whipped fish sauce seemed an odd ingredient, but its slight saltiness balanced well with the mild sweetness of the avocado.

Next was the Octopus and Hiramasa with romaine hearts and fried caesar dressing. The octopus was prepared in a beautiful mosaic beneath the other ingredients and while tender and delicious, what I couldn't get enough of was the fried caesar dressing. If I hadn't been sharing with 2 other people, I would have gobbled them all.

One of my favorite dishes of the night was the Brussels Sprouts with fried pig ears, house-cured lardo and apple. The brussels sprouts were roasted to a caramelized perfection and the crunchy fried pig ears were a delight.

Our next two dishes were seafood items, with one of them being a Spaghetti, but not the spaghetti you'd usually expect. The noodles were made from a giant squid and also included squash, hazelnut-ink pesto and piment d’espelette. This was another favorite dish of mine. I loved the chewy texture of the squid noodles and the nutty-sweet-slightly smoky flavors of the dish as a whole.

The other seafood dish was the Sea Bass with cream of dehydrated potato, black olive oil, lemon and caper. I liked crispy fish skin along with the very creamy potato. The black olive, lemon and capers added nice punches of tart, citrusy and sharp flavors to the mild fish, giving it a vavoom!

Following the Squid Spagetti and the Sea Bass, we headed from sea to land starting with the Quail that came with beet juice, beets, sorrel salad and a banana polenta on the side.  When it arrived, we were all struck by beautiful redness of the ingredients.  At first, we weren't even sure where the quail was since it was surrounded by a mini beet barricade.

Eventually, we found our way and I have to say that beet juice goes perfectly with quail.  Whole beets tend to be on the sweet side, but fresh beet juice is actually quite strong in flavor.  With quail being more assertive in taste than let's say chicken, the beet juice was a perfect foil.  By the way, the banana polenta was amazing.  It was sweet, but not too sweet and wonderfully creamy.

Our other land creature was the Berkshire Pork Tenderloin with a charcoal crust, macaroni and cheese and leeks. The charcoal added a nice smokiness to the tender pork and the macaroni and cheese was both fun and delicious. It was fun because the cheese was inside a long pastry shell. I only wish that a side of that mac and cheese was on the menu just so I could have had more.

We were getting quite full, but managed two more savory dishes like the Seaweed Mashed Potatoes with Sea Beans.  I'm a big seaweed fan and in the past year,I have come to really appreciate the salty sea beans. While I found the mashed potatoes to be a bit gummy, I still appreciated the seaweed flavors.

Our final savory dish of the night was my least favorite of the our entire meal and it was the Bay Scallops with lamb neck, chickpea poutine and yogurt curds. Individually, the ingredients were fine, but together, it didn't work for me. The scallops didn't have much flavor to them. Either that or the lamb was too overpowering. It's as if the scallops were there just for texture and nothing else.  I also didn't find much flavor to the yogurt curds although I did like the chickpea poutine. A couple of bites was enough for me.

For dessert, our end of the table went for the Grapefruit Curd with avocado, cilantro sorbet and charred maple-lime. What a perfect ending to the meal. At first, I wasn't quite sure about the cilantro sorbet, but I really enjoyed it.  It's pepperiness went well with the tart sweetness of the grapefruit and the maple-lime bits while the avocado rounded all the flavors.

Everyone else went for the Apple with crème caramel, burnt wood sabayon and walnut. I only had a small spoonful of the burnt wood sabayon. I didn't mind its smokiness, but I was very happy that we went the Grapefruit Curd route.

When all is said and done, I absolutely enjoyed my meal at ink.  The food was not only creative, but delicious and while there were 1 or 2 dishes that didn't quite do it for me, they still created as much interest and discussion as the dishes that I did like.  If you're going to go for it, go for broke and that's certainly what Chef Michael Voltaggio did.  I'm definitely looking forward to many more meals at ink. and hopefully, I'll be paying a visit to ink.sack soon as well.

ink.
8360 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(323) 651-5866
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