LudoBites at Royal/T

It's been almost a half year since chef Ludo Lefebvre closed up his LudoBites pop-up at BreadBar in West Hollywood and I was fortunate enough to have slipped in a visit before it ended. You can read my review of that "epic" meal here, and to this day it stands as of one the better meals I've had this year (and I've enjoyed many good meals in recent times!)

When chef Ludo announced the second coming of his pop-up concept, I wasted no time in penciling in my reservation because I knew the limited number of spots would disappear quickly. Disappear quickly they did, but I secured my Sunday night four-top and gathered up some foodie friends to join me in round two of LudoBites.

Interior of Royal/T serves as the dining room for LudoBites

Menu for today

The venue this time is at Royal/T, an art gallery and restaurant in the heart of Culver City. I arrive for my 7:30pm spot and my three dining guests, Jason, Herman, and Ariana appear shortly after. We're escorted to our spacious table near the back and are handed freshly-printed menus and the wine list. The wine and beer menu is new this time around, as BreadBar's venue did not offer its own selection of libations. Corkage is a modest $15 and I actually brought a bottle of wine, but after seeing the impressive and attractively priced wine list, we opted to purchase a few bottles from the list.

We start with a bottle of Shannon Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon:


Mild, easy on the palate, and boasting a fruity scent, this would pair well with just about anything and it was a good and safe first choice.


The four of us pondered over what to order and ultimately zeroed in on four dishes to start with, starting with what turned out to be our favorite of the night: Nantucket scallop, pineapple, brown butter, black bread powder:


The scallops were served slightly chilled and came with a generous amount of that black bread power, which had a very crunchy and earthy texture. Brown butter added richness, and the pineapple gave the dish some nice sweetness. All the flavors and textures just worked so well with this first dish.

Our next plate is the Foie gras beignet, saffron, dried apricots:


From my favorite dish to my least favorite, the foie gras beignet was nicely presented but the taste was very mild, and the textures were soft, mushy and lacking in texture. The apricot sauce added sweetness to counteract the savory foie gras. Slicing into the beignet resulted in a bit of a mess with small pieces of foie gras spilling over the plate. Had the outer shell been crispier and with firmer, larger pieces of foie gras, this might have been one of the better dishes.

Another dish arrives, the Crispy confit pork belly, burnt eggplant puree, plantain coconut, Thai chili emulsion.


Cooked pork belly is usually soft or slightly firm in texture, but chef Ludo's version is soft and silky with a very crispy outer portion. I love this this combination of textures; it was like having crispy and very savory bacon wrapped around soft and mild pork belly. Absolutely delicious! The chili emulsion provided some spiciness, and the deeply-colored eggplant puree was excellent on its own.

Here we have Fried chicken, cantal polenta, baby corn polenta, otherwise known as LFC -- Ludo Fried Chicken :)


This is certainly not your colonel's fried chicken! Perfectly deep-fried, these boneless pieces of chicken were incredibly moist with a crunchy exterior that was seasoned just right. A few weeks ago I made my own fried chicken at home with a buttermilk brine and sage-seasoned flour, but I have to admit Ludo's version was better =). The creamy polenta was delicious, and the baby corn had great texture and some nice charred flavors.


With our first four dishes and the bottle of wine cleared, it's time for a second bottle. We go with a 2007 Olivier Pithon “La Coulée” Red Blend (Grenache/Syrah/Carignan).


A bit more complex in taste and aroma than the Shannon Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, the La Coulée was very nice and paired well with our other dishes. Speaking of which, here's our next dish, Striped bass, teriyaki mashed potato, pickled garlic, lemon miso:


A nice presentation but unfortunately the bass was overcooked and thus lacked flavor; and, to make matters worse, the texture was firm and rubbery. This was definitely a misfire from the kitchen. Strong, bright flavors from the lemon miso helped to mask the bland taste. I actually found myself going in for more servings of the creamy mashed potatoes more so that the fish. A properly cooked bass would have made this a completely different experience.

Another dish is brought to us, Tuna sashimi sushi, rice ice cream, soy sauce gelee, smoked ginger:


This was probably my second favorite dish of the night. The tuna was extremely fresh and full of flavor, and the saltiness of the soy sauce gelee combined with the sharpness of smoked ginger made for a wonderful experience of tastes and textures. I've only had rice ice cream one other time and I don't remember it being as good or as creamy as the one you see here. I wanted to order a second serving but I knew to save room for a few more dishes and dessert.

Moving on to our next plate, Duck breast, carrot cake coulis, orange blossom, crispy lard:


Tender pieces of duck breast served with a sweet carrot sauce made for a deliciously savory-sweet experience. And while the duck breast was certainly good, the standout for me with this dish was the crispy lard. It's crispy pure fat--of course it's going to be good! I think I ate most of it. In fact I know I ate most of it. The little carrots were a nice touch and helped balance the overall richness.


With our savory plates behind us, it's time to move on to dessert. Diners have a choice of two desserts so of course we ordered both, and we also opted for the Fourme dambert tourte with red pears and honey balsamic; this item was listed between the mains and the dessert.


Fourme dambert is very sharp blue cheese, so sharp and pungent that my three other dining guests were put off by the taste. I personally had no problem with this, and so I did what I do best and cleaned up =). I actually wished there was more cheese in the outer edge of the tourte; you can see how there's little cheese and mostly dough in the edge portion.

Now for our desserts and first to arrive is Jalapeno chocolate mousse, orange, olive oil:


This was excellent! I'm a big fan of spicy desserts and this chocolate mousse did not disappoint. You could definitely feel the fiery heat in the mousse, and when you scooped some of the olive oil with the mousse, the combined taste was incredible. The orange appeared to be blanched and added nice, bright flavors to the dish. I loved this dessert.

We capped off our LudoBites dinner with our second dessert, Guacamole, exotic fruits, ginger ice cream:


Chef Ludo is two for two with this sweet combination of guacamole and ginger ice cream. I've never had a pairing like this so I was excited to see how all these flavors and textures would meld. The guacamole was very creamy and slightly sweet, and the ginger ice cream was refreshing with hints of ginger. Chunks of fresh melon fruits added some interest, but I could have done without them. I preferred the first dessert of jalapeno chocolate mousse, but you can bet we left no trace of the ginger ice cream behind.

Service was friendly, adequate, and about what I expected for a pop-up. Our plates weren't exactly cleared immediately and we mostly poured our own wine, but I was absolutely OK with that because I know that with LudoBites, it's all about the food. Our water glasses were refilled constantly, and our server was very friendly and chatty. At the end of our meal, chef Ludo made the rounds in the dining area and stopped by our table to greet us.

As good as my first meal was at LudoBites in BreadBar, this meal was even better, especially with the strong dishes of the scallops, fried chicken, tuna sashimi, and that intensely good jalapeno chocolate mousse. LudoBites ended a few weeks ago and I'm not sure if chef Ludo is planning another pop-up or perhaps even a permanent outpost, but you can be sure that this foodie definitely be following chef Ludo wherever he sets up shop.


LudoBites at Royal/T
8910 Washington Boulevard
Culver City CA, 90232