Ludovic Lefebvre
Encyclopedia
Ludo Lefebvre 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.
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, and with Guy Martin at Le Grand Vefour, from whom he states that he learned the business side of the food service industry.
, the chef there at the time. 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".
He created the menu for the restaurant Lavo http://www.lavolv.com/ 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. 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.
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."
with vanilla flavoured potato purée, and cardamom
and pericarp pepper encrusted lamb. 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.
, ISBN 0060012854. In it the recipes are categorised by sense. There are chapters on "See," "Touch," "Smell," "Hear" and "Taste".
Some recipes from the book are:
SEE: Oysters on the Half Shell with Red Beet Jelly and Shallot
Cream
TOUCH: Fried Stuffed Tomato Beignet
s
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 Smith
s), with an amazing texture, and a light, tart caramel sauce ... So what if it took 2½ hours to prep, plus 5 hours to bake?"
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.
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."
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
.
The book won second place in the cookbook category in the New York Book Show.
with his wife Kristine
whom he met at L'Orangerie where she was dining at the time. 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.
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-up
s, leg-lifts and other abdominal exercises. He and Krissy like to go hiking in Runyon Canyon with their dog Sullivan.
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."
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."
" and returned for the second season as well. He has also appeared on the cable channels E!
and the Food Network
.
He is currently appearing on Ludo Bites America on the Sundance Channel.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. 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.
Early career
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. He continued his culinary training at the restaurant L’Esperance in VézelayVézelay
Vézelay is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France. It is a defendable hill town famous for Vézelay Abbey. The town and the Basilica of St Magdelene are designated UNESCO World Heritage sites....
under chef Marc Meneau where he worked for thirteen years. After that he worked with Pierre Gagnaire
Pierre Gagnaire
Pierre Gagnaire is a well known French chef, and is the Head Chef and owner of the eponymous Pierre Gagnaire restaurant at 6 rue Balzac in Paris . Gagnaire is an iconoclastic chef at the forefront of the fusion cuisine movement. Beginning his career in St...
at his eponymous restaurant in Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France. It is located in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region, along the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon...
(that venue is now closed), with Alain Passard
Alain Passard
Alain Passard is a French chef and owner of the three star restaurant L'Arpège in Paris.The son of musicians, Passard is also passionate about music, playing the saxophone. He recently released his first book, Les Recettes des Drôles de Petites Bêtes, a recipe book written especially for children...
at L'Arpège
L'Arpège
L'Arpège is a restaurant in Paris, France. The chef is Alain Passard. It was previously known as L'Archestrate, owned by his former mentor Alain Senderens from whom he bought it in 1986....
, where he trained in what he describes as "the school of fire", learning to control and play with heat, and with Guy Martin at Le Grand Vefour, from whom he states that he learned the business side of the food service industry.
US career
In 1996, Lefebvre moved to Los Angeles where he began work at L'Orangerie at the invitation of Gilles EpieGilles Epie
Gilles Epié is a leading French chef. Born in Nantes, France, he was the youngest chef to receive the prestigious Michelin Star when he was 22 years old...
, the chef there at the time. 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
Panna cotta
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. It is generally from the Northern Italian region of Piemonte, although it is eaten all over Italy, where it is served with wild berries, caramel, chocolate...
topped with caviar in a salted-butter caramel sauce. After the restaurant closed for renovations, he decided not to return due to "creative differences".
He created the menu for the restaurant Lavo http://www.lavolv.com/ at the Palazzo
The Palazzo
The Palazzo is a luxury hotel and casino resort situated between Wynn and The Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas. It is the tallest completed building in Nevada...
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. 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.
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."
His food
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, entrecôteEntrecôte
In French, the word entrecôte denotes a premium cut of beef used for steaks.A traditional entrecôte comes from the rib area of the carcass, corresponding to the steaks known in different parts of the English-speaking world as rib, rib-eye, club, Scotch fillet, or Delmonico.The term may also be used...
with vanilla flavoured potato purée, and cardamom
Cardamom
Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...
and pericarp pepper encrusted lamb. 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.
Publications
In 2005, Lefebvre released his first book Crave: The Feast of the Five Senses published by William MorrowWilliam Morrow
Sir [Arthur] William Morrow DSO, ED, FRCP, PRACP, was an Australian physician and specialist in gastroenterology. He served terms as president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and of the Australian Club....
, ISBN 0060012854. In it the recipes are categorised by sense. There are chapters on "See," "Touch," "Smell," "Hear" and "Taste".
Some recipes from the book are:
SEE: Oysters on the Half Shell with Red Beet Jelly and Shallot
Shallot
The shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name...
Cream
TOUCH: Fried Stuffed Tomato Beignet
Beignet
A beignet in the U.S. is a pastry made from deep-fried dough, much like a doughnut, and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, or frostings. Savory versions of beignets are also popular as an appetizer, with fillings such as maple or fruit preserves....
s
SMELL: Chicken Étouffé in Dried Verbena
Verbena
Verbena , verbenas or vervains, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the New World from Canada south to southern Chile, but some are also native in the Old...
and Curry Leaves
HEAR: Roast Beef with Long Pepper
Long pepper
Long pepper , , sometimes called Indian long pepper, is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. Long pepper has a similar, but hotter, taste to its close relative Piper nigrum - from which black, green and white...
and Spiced French Fries
TASTE: Lemon Sorbet with Saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
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
Mise en place
Mise en place is a French phrase defined by the Culinary Institute of America as "everything in place", as in set up. It is used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients that a cook will require for the menu items that he or she expects...
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 Smith
Granny Smith
The Granny Ramsey Smith green apple is a tip-bearing apple cultivar, which originated in Australia in 1868. It is named after Maria Ann Smith, who propagated the cultivar from a chance seedling. The tree is thought to be a hybrid of Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic...
s), with an amazing texture, and a light, tart caramel sauce ... So what if it took 2½ hours to prep, plus 5 hours to bake?"
Nevertheless, of his recipe for lentils cooked in Evian
Evian
Evian is a French brand of mineral water coming from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva.Today, Evian is owned by Danone Group, a French multinational company...
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.
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
Adonis
Adonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...
, 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."
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
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
and Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
.
The book won second place in the cookbook category in the New York Book Show.
Personal life
Lefebvre lives in Manhattan BeachManhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach may refer to:PlacesIn the United States:* Manhattan Beach, California* Manhattan Beach, Minnesota* Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, New York...
with his wife Kristine
Kristine Lefebvre
Kristine Leigh Lefebvre is a lawyer, and was a contestant on NBC's reality show The Apprentice who made it into the final group of six contestants before being fired. The credentials which garnered Lefebvre a spot on the show include her education and career as an attorney...
whom he met at L'Orangerie where she was dining at the time. 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
Cheerios
Cheerios is a brand of breakfast cereal by General Mills introduced on May 1, 1941 as the first oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal. Originally named CheeriOats, the name was changed to Cheerios in 1945 because of a trade name dispute with Quaker Oats. The name fit the "O" shape of the cereal pieces...
while she has some nuts.
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-up
Sit-up (exercise)
The sit-up is a strength training exercise commonly performed with the aim of strengthening the hip flexors and abdominal muscles. It begins with lying with the back on the floor, typically with the arms across the chest or hands behind the head and the knees bent in an attempt to reduce stress on...
s, leg-lifts and other abdominal exercises. He and Krissy like to go hiking in Runyon Canyon with their dog Sullivan.
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."
Kristine is a former candidate on Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
's television show The Apprentice. In 2007, Kristine posed for Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
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."
Public appearances
In 2009 he appeared on the first season of the Bravo Television show "Top Chef MastersTop Chef Masters
Top Chef Masters is an American reality competition show currently broadcast on the cable television network Bravo. It is a spinoff of Bravo's hit show Top Chef. In the series, 24 world-renowned chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges...
" and returned for the second season as well. He has also appeared on the cable channels E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
and the Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
.
He is currently appearing on Ludo Bites America on the Sundance Channel.