The Gastronomnom

LudoBites 3.0 was no sequel. It was a reboot.

Come knowing that and you’d leave happy. But come expecting a sequel to LudoBites 2.0 at Breadbar and you might as well have gone to watch JJ Abrams’ Star Trek reboot expecting to see William Shatner.

All the familiar dishes from LudoBites 2.0 were gone, replaced by a completely new line up. Oxtail polenta? Gone. Foie gras croque monsieur? Gone. Ludo Fried Chicken? Well, that one made a comeback in a different form.

Kinda like Leonard Nimoy as Spock.

In fact, don’t even come expecting to see Kirk in the captain’s chair. LudoBites 3.0 left the confines of Europe to explore Asia and Mexico. Kimchi, udon, dashi, miso and mole took center stage, befitting the pop-up restaurant’s move to Royal/T, a Japanese cosplay cafe. It’s as if Sulu had taken over the bridge and reprogrammed all the food replicators.

But that, really, is the mission statement of LudoBites. It allows Chef Ludo Lefebvre to create and explore cuisines without the normal constraints of running a restaurant. To seek out new tastes and new cultures. To boldly go where no man has gone… okay, perhaps I’m taking this metaphor too far.

On to the food. In the words of Chef Ludo’s famous countryman, Jean-Luc Picard, “Make it so!”

We went on the second night of the limited 13 night engagement.

The menu changed over the course of LB 3.0 but, on this night, Ludo opened with his caramelized curry peanuts. More a snack than a course, these would have been perfect with an Asian beer. A Tiger or a Singha, perhaps. Just something to nibble on before the meal.

Next up was the scallops with brown butter, pineapple and squid ink powder. The scallops were fresh and plump, with the pineapple adding a sweet and tart acidity. I did pick up a bitter element though that no one else at my table seemed to detect. I’m guessing this was a function of the squid ink powder.

This was followed by the bread soup with poached egg and a gruyere marshmallow. The bread soup had a strong, smoky bacon taste. Delicious but I had been expecting more of a toasted bread flavor from what I had previously read. Luckily, I prefer the taste of bacon to bread.

Next was a confit of pork belly with pickled mustard seeds, vadouvan apples and frisee. The pork belly was good. Tender with a firmer skin.

The fifth course was the Monterey squid with chorizo oil, kimchee puree and eggplant “paper”. Talk about Korean-Mexican fusion. But the dish worked. The squid was tender with just enough give and, eaten together with the chorizo oil and kimchee puree, brought a complexity to the dish.

The dish that followed was, surprisingly, my favorite of the night. Veal udon, kombu dashi, mushrooms and sesame seed miso. I say surprisingly because here was a Japanese-inspired dish prepared by a classically trained French chef. But the veal was tender, the broth flavorful and with depth, and the addition of mushrooms, shallots and the sesame seed miso complemented but never interfered with the main flavor palette of veal and dashi. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, this dish probably best exemplified LB 3.0 – a French experimental pop-up in a Japanese neo-pop cafe.

In contrast, the next dish was exactly the kind of dish I’d expect from Chef Ludo. The foie gras beignet with yellow celery root remoulade. I read Ludo’s tweet about this dish on his recent trip to France and knew I’d taste it sometime on his menu. And, after all, what is LudoBites without some foie gras? This dish tasted exactly as I had imagined. The salty, offally, fatty, almost melted foie gras paired with the sweet fried goodness of the beignet. This dish should go into the LudoBites Hall of Fame along with the foie gras croque monsieur, oxtail polenta, Ludo Fried Chicken and caviar panna cotta.

Next up was the wild striped bass, garden vegetables and yuzu aioli. The bass was well cooked and the vegetables certainly colorful but my mind was still on the veal udon and foie gras beignet.

The marinated hanger steak with crunchy escargot, baby corn, bok choy and black olive mole followed. Here was another dish I liked a lot. The hanger steak was nicely pink in the middle and well marinated but it was the mole that Chef Ludo had only learned to make a few weeks ago that stood out for me. Okay, I’m no expert in regional moles but the fact that Teenage Glutster’s mom (who Ludo learned the recipe from) gave it her seal of approval was as good a sign of authenticity as any. Yes, he added his own touches but the slight sweetness of the complex mole was a perfect accompaniment to the hanger steak. The baby corn still in the husk was a nice touch and made for a beautiful plate. The crunchy escargot were more for texture than taste, I think. Honestly, I felt they were extraneous but they did add a nice textural contrast when eaten with the steak in the same bite.

The traditional cheese course was replaced by the Fourme d’Ambert tourte with red pear and a honey-balsamic sauce. One of France’s oldest cheeses, the Fourme d’Ambert had a milder blue cheese taste. Baked in this tourte with a thick bechamel sauce, the result was wonderfully nuanced and yet apparently simple. Definitely greater than the sum of its parts. I’d take this over a cheese course any day.

Onto desserts, the first dessert was a pistachio rice milk, lemon pound cake and coffee chantilly. Honestly, this dessert lost me. Texturally, the pistachio rice milk and the coffee chantilly were similarly soft and mousse-like. It’s like a dessert that could have been good had been pureed into the texture of baby food. This was the only dish that we left partially eaten.

I’ll put it down to bad code in the food replicators.

We finished with the chocolate mousse with coconut sorbet soup and rum bananas. The photo doesn’t do this dessert justice. Yes, it looks like a bowl of melted ice cream but the chocolate mousse had a distinct kick of jalapeno in its tail, which was soothed by the coconut sorbet soup.

So there it was. The end of another LudoBites adventure. It’s hard not to make comparisons with LB 2.0. Sure, there were dishes I missed. But there were also dishes here I’d definitely add to a “best of” LudoBites menu.

But ultimately, LudoBites 3.0 held out the promise of further exploration and experimentation when Ludo returns with version 4.0 and eventually his bricks and mortar dream.

And I’ll be there as eager as I was for this incarnation.

Until then Chef Ludo, live long and prosper.

Someone explain to me how Marcel Vigneron was, until recently, only the sous chef at The Bazaar?

And while they’re at it, explain to me how Ilan beat him in Season 2 of Top Chef to win the title? I’ve eaten at The Gorbals and there really is no comparison. It’d be like Hosea Rosenberg beating Michael Voltaggio.

Okay, I exaggerate. But only just.

Speaking of Michael Voltaggio, I was at his Hatchi tasting in July and wondered how Marcel’s meal would measure up. After all, Marcel was Michael’s sous chef at The Bazaar until earlier this year.

Last night, Marcel more than held his own. His Hatchi tasting was close to flawless. Imaginative, exceptionally well executed, complex and, ultimately, totally satisfying. As good as, if not better than, meals I’ve had from more celebrated chefs in recent times.

Someone give this man his own restaurant. Or perhaps they already have.

Marcel opened his eight course tasting menu with an amuse bouche of a pomegranate blueberry spherification. Perhaps the most iconic representation of molecular gastronomy, it was a perfect introduction to those unfamiliar with Marcel’s style. A shimmering and mysterious dark blood red sphere served on a Chinese soup spoon. Take it whole into your mouth and pop the sodium alginate polymer skin. Inside, pomegranate juice and a whole blueberry. Perhaps a little vodka and it would have been perfect.

Luckily for me, my Negroni cocktail arrived just in time. Gin, Campari and Antica Formula vermouth, garnished with orange rind. Displaying the bitter herbaceous quality of Campari, this cocktail was very well mixed by Devon Espinosa, mixologist at The Tasting Kitchen in Venice and cocktail alchemist for the night. I also got a lesson in and taste of his Coca Cola spherifications for his Coke in Manhattan cocktail. I imagine this is how they’ll drink Coke in space.

The first course arrived. Hamachi sashimi with espelette, momo chan, kumquat and iceplant. The hamachi was clean and fresh, dressed simply with some sea salt, espelette (those red chili flakes) and, I think, yuzu. The momo chan (the green Japanese baby peaches) added a sweet touch and sat under slices of kumquat, which lent that slight bitterness of citrus rind. The dish was then garnished with iceplant and red seaweed.

Next up was the dayboat scallop with cauliflower couscous and seaweed. I loved this dish. The scallop tasted as good as it looks, with just a bit of crunch of sea salt. The pickled seaweed added a nice dimension, the cauliflower cous cous added texture and the purple, pink and yellow dots of cauliflower puree around the plate added pure whimsy.

Third course was a langoustine ravioli with thom khai foam, avocado wrapped mango, petite basil and coconut milk powder. Another great dish. Our plates also came with an additional piece of crispy fried fish, which I noticed wasn’t included in some diners’ plates, making this almost two dishes in one. The fish was fried crispy with skin on. It was linked across the plate by a delicious thom khai foam to the langoustine ravioli, which was garnished with the petite basil and basil seeds. The langoustine ravioli itself was firm with a generous serving of langoustine on the inside, reminding me more of a Chinese dim sum gow gee than a traditional ravioli. Between the fish and the ravioli was the avocado wrapped mango. Sweet dices of mango wrapped in slices of avocado, this was a great counterpoint to the strong Thai flavor of the thom khai foam. Sweet, refreshing, simple. It was sprinkled with coconut milk powder, which tasted, unsurprisingly, of coconut milk. Combining the fish with the foam, the ravioli with the foam, the ravioli with the mango, and the fish with the mango all brought new dimensions to this dish. Truly a tour through South East Asia on a plate.

Leaving Asia, the fourth course was a Lyonnaise salad of frisee, “nesting” egg, bacon, sherry vinaigrette and endive. The egg, “nested” in crispy wonton strips, was a playful rendition of this classic. The bacon was good, as was the endive and frisee and vinaigrette but after the taste sensations of the previous three courses, this one seemed a bit safe. Safe but still beautifully executed and plated.

Next was the miso honey black cod with nasturtium textures and sesame oil powder. A broth was then poured into the bowl tableside. The honey in the miso glaze lent a sweetness to the fish. A sweetness that may have been overpowering in a larger serving but, for this small serve, was perfect. The sesame oil powder, made with the addition of tapioca maltodextrin, dissolved in the broth adding a nice slick of oil to it. The nasturtium was presented three ways: a flower, a leaf and a peppery puree.

Course five was a vadouvan lamb with flavors of tzatziki, lavosh, pickled onion and sumac. The lamb, looking rare and fatty, was beautifully cooked, the vadouvan crust adding an earthiness and spice. I must admit, there was too much fat for me and I did end up trimming much of it, but the lamb was delicious. The tzatziki, cucumber balls, pickled onion and toasted lavosh were all welcome accompaniments but the lamb was definitely the star.

The final savory course was the grass fed “corned beef” – a sous vide short rib, textures of corn, Saul’s pastrami and black trumpets. The sous vide short rib was thick cut and tender, sauced with a black trumpet mushroom sauce. Corn was prepared in three textures: baby corn, a corn puree and popcorn. I loved the corn puree on this dish. Some of my fellow diners felt it was too sweet but I loved the sweetness it imparted to the short rib when eaten together. The pastrami, named after Saul Cooperstein at SBE, and interestingly also served by Michael Voltaggio in his Hatchi menu with a short rib, was loved by some of my companions but I felt it was extraneous. The dish, for me, was really the combination of the short rib and the corn puree.

Dessert was a green chartreuse souffle with a vanilla bean ice cream. Just prior to this point, I did step away to chat to some friends and returned to a deflated souffle, so the photo doesn’t represent the souffle when served. I did see it come out to other tables and it stood high and proud. It was, however, moist and fluffy with a nice baked crust. As you reached the bottom of the cup, the alcoholic taste of the green chartreuse became increasingly pronounced until the last couple of bites seemed soaked in it.

Dessert was followed by little macarons and cubed marshmallows. In the vein of Marcel’s beautiful and sometimes whimsical plating that evening, I decided to stack these into a small tower. Because I’m old enough to play with my food.

Lastly, we were brought the famed Dragon’s Breath, now only served at The Bazaar’s private dining room, Saam. Small rolls of popcorn dipped in liquid nitrogen. Pop them into your mouth and the warmth causes you to breathe smoke, hence the name. Unfortunately these were not prepared tableside so by the time we ate them, there was no more smoke. But they did bring another serving and instructed us to eat them immediately. We got the requisite smoke, although it was more a wisp than a cloud, but nevertheless still fun and interactive.

That rounded out one of my most memorable meals of the year. Imaginative, playful, beautifully executed and plated, and a gastronomical tour through Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the future of food.

Marcel left The Bazaar just weeks before his Hatchi tasting. I’m looking forward to seeing where he resurfaces.

And I’ll be there with reservations.

Kerry Simon is known as the Rock n’ Roll Chef.

But as far as rock stars go, he’s the culinary equivalent of Bryan Adams. Well crafted, familiar and accessible. A working class dream in a million dollar venue.

Don’t get me wrong. Bryan Adams is more successful than most musicians will ever be. Has more fans, sold more records, played more shows than most. But on the international stage, he’s no Bono.

And I have to admit, the thing that pushed me to try Simon LA was Restaurant Week. Which is basically the culinary equivalent of scoring cheap tix.

The venue itself was kinda sexy. Like a darkened nightclub meets a haunted forest. We sat down to the support act. A glass of prosecco, which got us suitably warmed up for the headline act.

Kerry Simon opened his set with a jumbo lump crab salad with avocado, micro greens and a grapefruit vinaigrette. Maybe not the most innovative dish but very tasty. The crab was chunky and the salad was well dressed. For a reluctant salad eater, I polished this dish off.

Next up was the grilled skirt steak with balsamic roasted root vegetables. The skirt steak was left nicely pink in the middle but with a heavy sear. The marinade was well caramelized. To my palate, it reminded me of Malaysian satay. I loved the sweetness of it. There was ample jus to keep the meat moist and the vegetables were simply cooked but delicious. The dish was comforting, hearty and left me wanting more. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

For his encore, Simon broke out some more crowd pleasers. Cheesecake and cotton candy. The cotton candy was a fun element but, obviously, insubstantial. Still, a playful addition. The cheesecake came out looking like a scoop of ice cream on top of a crust. But it was indeed cheesecake. An incredibly smooth and creamy cheesecake. Not what you’d think of as a traditional cheesecake presentation but I loved this dessert.

Looking back over the meal, I can’t say that there was any one dish or component that was particularly outstanding or challenging. It was like a collection of greatest hits. Perhaps safe but very enjoyable. And that’s what Kerry Simon does. Food we know and recognize but executed very well. So well that you can’t help but like it, even if you’re not wowed.

Much like Bryan Adams.

I still find myself singing along to “Summer of ’69” whenever it comes on the radio. I can’t help it.

And I’m willing to bet a lot of you out there do too.

I guess, despite myself, I’m a fan.