| Born | April 18, 1971 Burgundy, France |
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| Cooking style | Nouvelle Cuisine |
| Education | Mark Meneau, Pierre Gagnaire |
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Current restaurant(s)
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Previous restaurant(s)
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| Official website | |
| http://www.ludolefebvre.com/ | |
Ludo Lefebvre (French pronunciation: [ləˈfɛvʁ],[1] born April 18, 1971) is a French chef. He received his training in restaurants in France beginning in adolescence and in his early twenties immigrated to the United States where he quickly earned recognition, making appearances on television in culinary shows and earning an award for one of the restaurants where he held the position of head chef.[2]
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Lefebvre was born in Burgundy. While still in his early teens, he expressed his desire to be a chef. His father took him to a local restaurant named Maxime and asked them to give him some menial job in order to discourage him, but he loved it.[3] He continued his culinary training at the restaurant L’Esperance in Vézelay under chef Marc Meneau where he worked for thirteen years. After that he worked with Pierre Gagnaire at his eponymous restaurant in Saint-Étienne (that venue is now closed), with Alain Passard at L'Arpège, where he trained in what he describes as "the school of fire", learning to control and play with heat,[3] and with Guy Martin at Le Grand Vefour, from whom he states that he learned the business side of the food service industry.[3][4]
In 1996, Lefebvre moved to Los Angeles where he began work at L'Orangerie at the invitation of Gilles Epie, the chef there at the time.[5] About a year later, he was promoted to head chef and under his direction the restaurant won the Mobil Guide five-star award.
In 2004, he moved to the restaurant Bastide on Melrose Place which also won a Mobil Guide five-star award under his direction. The dishes he created there indcluded panini au foie gras with an apricot based accompaniment, poularde marinated in Pepsi-Cola with popcorn, and panna cotta topped with caviar in a salted-butter caramel sauce. After the restaurant closed for renovations, he decided not to return due to "creative differences".[6]
He created the menu for the restaurant Lavo [2] at the Palazzo in Las Vegas and, after a year there, returned to Los Angeles in 2009 and in May opened Ludobites, “a little bistro where you have good food,” during the evening off-hours at the restaurant/bakery Breadbar on West Third Street. As they had previously, the Beverly Hills Cheese shop provides the dairy products and are a partner in the venture. Unlike some of the restaurants where he has previously been chef, it is his wish and intention to serve affordable food.[7] Subsequently, Lefebvre has taken his concept of the "pop-up restaurant", providing dinner service at restaurants that serve only breakfast and lunch, to other venues. These events last for limited runs of a few weeks.[8]
Food writer, Richard Guzman, wrote of his experience at this venue, "I was sad. The meal was over. In a way, eating at Ludobites is like hooking up with someone way out of your league while on vacation with none of your friends around to witness it and no chance of replicating the experience."[9]
He has described his food as, "French with an international flavour". Some of the characteristic dishes for which he is known include rack of lamb in a caraway-seasoned broth with baby vegetables, entrecôte with vanilla flavoured potato purée, and cardamom and pericarp pepper encrusted lamb.[2] He uses "over 200 spices", believes that his most unusual "truc" (technique) is making crême chantilly with fats other than cream, which he learned from Pierre Gagnaire, and his favourite cookbook is Le Pyramide Cookbook by Fernand Point. Two of his favourite restaurants in Los Angeles are the sushi restaurant Katsu-ya and La Cantina in Studio City.[3]
In 2005, Lefebvre released his first book Crave: The Feast of the Five Senses' published by William Morrow, ISBN 0060012854. In it the recipes are categorised by sense. There are chapters on "See," "Touch," "Smell," "Hear" and "Taste".[10]
Some recipes from the book are:[11]
SEE: Oysters on the Half Shell with Red Beet Jelly and Shallot Cream
TOUCH: Fried Stuffed Tomato Beignets
SMELL: Chicken Étouffé in Dried Verbena and Curry Leaves
HEAR: Roast Beef with Long Pepper and Spiced French Fries
TASTE: Lemon Sorbet with Saffron
In a review of the book, food critic Leslie Brenner wrote, "compelling, ... each time I tried a recipe, I craved more ... Even without the glamour shots of him, this book would be food porn — the dishes themselves look irresistible. You want it. All of it. You crave it." ... "The book's strength and weakness are one and the same: the restaurantiness of the recipes. They're quite well thought-out in terms of do-ahead preparation. Just as in a restaurant, a natural mise-en-place suggests itself, so executing fairly elaborate dishes is actually pretty stress-free. For those who like to entertain, that's a huge plus." Of an apple dessert she is especially enthusiastic, "A cake of apple confit was pretty fabulous: 20 thin layers of apples, scattered with citrus zest confit and slow-baked. It was intensely appley (it's a brilliant use of Granny Smiths), with an amazing texture, and a light, tart caramel sauce ... So what if it took 2½ hours to prep, plus 5 hours to bake?" [12]
Nevertheless, of his recipe for lentils cooked in Evian water with cinnamon and cucumber, she wrote, "The cinnamon and lentils harmonized beautifully ... I think, Lefebvre took a really good idea and then went off the deep end. The slimy surfboards of cucumber are just weird with the lentils; they don't add anything to the dish. And Evian? Please." ... "I loved the filo-salmon with the red wine-Port sauce, and I loved the potatoes with clams. But together, they were utterly weird, the clams and Port wildly dissonant." "That's Ludo: absolutely alluring, but frequently infuriating." She also felt that some of the instructions in the book were possibly errors or omissions and cautions that perhaps the recipes should be attempted by an experienced home cook who can detect the flaws.[12]
Of his physical attributes, however, she is quite beside herself, "He's the guy your girlfriends warned you about. Look at him, emerging from the surf like a chef-Adonis, kelp fairly dangling from his biceps. He caught those big fish with his bare hands! The guy's gorgeous. And he can cook. What could be sexier? ... He's beautiful, with his white teeth and downy beard and all those vivid tattoos. The gold earring is set off by a nose stud." [12]
She points out that the book's photographer Steve Wayda whom Lefebvre thanks "for making me look the best I can look" is a photographer for Playboy and Penthouse.[12]
The book won second place in the cookbook category in the New York Book Show.[11]
Lefebvre lives in Manhattan Beach with his wife Kristine whom he met at L'Orangerie where she was dining at the time.[13] She is an entertainment lawyer. They like to eat simply at home, "pasta with olive oil, parmesan shavings, salt and pepper". For a snack, he eats a bowl of Cheerios while she has some nuts.[2]
He works out with a trainer twice a week and runs on the beach for 2½ miles. His "killer abs" are attributable to his doing a huge number of sit-ups, leg-lifts and other abdominal exercises. He and Krissy like to go hiking in Runyon Canyon with their dog Sullivan.[2]
In his book which is dedicated to her, he writes, "I was only a rumor, but you believed in me; Los Angeles was a mirage, but you've made it my home; This book was a fever dream, but you've made it real. I love you." [12]
Kristine is a former candidate on Donald Trump's television show The Apprentice. In 2007, Kristine posed for Playboy after surviving cervical cancer and a hysterectomy. She said of the photoshoot, "I want people who have gone through what I've gone through to realize they're still a whole person." [14]
In 2009 he appeared on the first season of the Bravo Television show "Top Chef Masters" and returned for the second season as well. He has also appeared on the cable channels E! and the Food Network.[13]
He is currently appearing on Ludo Bites America on the Sundance Channel.