So, a little while back my new friend Noelle said some of my favorite words: “Hey, I’m going to a fabulous dinner in a couple of weeks! You must come with me!” The tragedy was that Chuck would be out of town at the time, and would have to miss out. I decided to man up and have a good time anyway. As it happens, he ended up drinking all that same evening at Anvil in Houston, under the most excellent attentions of barmaster Bobby Heugel. I’m sure Chuck will be writing about this in short order, so we’ll all be able to see just how much he was not, in fact, suffering.
What Noelle had in mind was a Ludo Bites dinner, a kind of guerrilla-style dining experience orchestrated by Chef Ludo Lefebvre. The December incarnations of Ludo Bites are taking place at the Royal/T Café in Culver City, which bills itself as “LA’s first Japanese style cosplay café.” What this means for civilians is a fascinating fusion of café, shopping and art space in an open, relaxing environment. Which, I might add, happened to be whimsically decorated for Christmas.
Noelle arrived first, saw me drive by, called my mobile and said, “Park anywhere, it’s Sunday, the meters don’t matter!” Yay for Sunday! We were joined in short order by Noelle’s friends Kara and Mei-Lan, which made our party three girls to one boy, which made me the evening’s official Chick Magnet. I’m just sayin’.
We perused the evening’s menu with high anticipation and growing fascination. It’s a menu of small plates, larger than tapas but still ideal for sharing, which after all is the whole point, isn’t it? (I told the story of a good friend who for a metaphorical few minutes dated a girl we ultimately never met, because at a dinner out one evening it was discovered that She Did Not Share Her Food. It sounds like a sad story, but the ending is the best kind of happy, believe me.) Within moments, I heard more of my favorite words, again I believe from Noelle: “Let’s just order the whole menu, share everything and then see how we feel. ‘Kay?” It was perfectly ‘Kay by me–after all, it was only ten small plates plus dessert–and Kara and Mei-Lan raised no objections. Let the games begin!
I’ll apologize right up front for my food photography, which is nowhere near Chuck’s in quality. The lighting out our table was very dim and very warm, although we did have the benefit of the glow from more than one Christmas tree, and as you shall see there were mishaps along the way. And I was too lazy to get up from the table to use the thoughtfully provided lightbox.
The first plate was described as “Tuna Sashimi, Sushi Rice Ice Cream, Yuzu Soy Sauce Gelée, Smoked Ginger Oil.” (The word “Yuzu” had been scratched out and replaced with “Soy Sauce” written by hand.) I’m not sure how different the yuzu gelée would have been, but I love me some sashimi, tuna in particular, and this dish was remarkable. The tuna was a nice little slab, enough for four good bites (and a good thing, too). The ginger oil and soy gelée made interesting flavor counterpoints to the rich, velvety tuna, and that alone would have been wonderful, but for me the sushi rice ice cream was what put it over the top. It was heavy, but in a good rather than a bad way, like the luxurious weight of a goose-down duvet on a chilly Saturday morning, when you don’t have to get up, not just yet. It was just sweet enough, with only enough sugar to register and not enough to overwhelm the subtle flavor of rice. I think I said something like, “I’ll be needing several pints of that, to take home.”
The second plate to arrive: Egg “Meurette”, with Red Cabbage and Lardo Toast. That’s right, lardo toast. Sauce meurette always fascinates me because the dark flavors of its constituent red wine and stock seem like they would be well paired with meat, but traditionally it accompanies eggs or fish. Here the egg was perfectly, perfectly soft-poached. The slivered red cabbage added some crunch for good textural contrast, although without adding much actual flavor to the concentrated essences of the sauce. The lardo toasts — oh, the toasts! More great crunch against the softness of the egg, and spread with pork fat … what’s not to love? I would gladly have stolen this whole plate for myself, but I couldn’t come up with a good enough distraction on such short order.
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If you remember the show, you’ll remember Reese (portrayed by Justin Berfield), the second-oldest brother. He was a ne’er-do-well and schoolyard bully who never missed an opportunity to torture his younger brothers Malcolm and Dewey, and was for the most part thick as a plank. Between the two of them, the brainpower seesaw tipped entirely to Malcolm, not leaving Reese with very much — his nefarious schemes had a way of blowing up in his face, as the picture indicates. As the show progressed, though, we saw that Reese had some unexpected gifts and talents — for one, as we learned during the latter part of the show’s run, he was a very skilled and accomplished cook.
