Chefs Speak

Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his wife Krissy are truly a delicious duo to watch.  Born in Burgundy and classically trained in Paris, the French Chef Ludo moved to the US in 1996, and quickly established his status as a culinary icon as the Executive Chef of LA’s L’Orangeire and Bastide restaurants. Ludo earned the prestigious Mobil Travel Guide Five star awards for each restaurant, as well as a nomination for a Rising Star Chef Award by the James Beard Foundation.

Chef Ludo met his wife and business partner Krissy, and opened LudoBites, “pop-up” restaurants in several LA venues.  For those not familiar, a pop-up is a temporary instatement of a restaurant, typically located in the shell of an existing restaurant. Part of their magnetism to diners is that they are in fact so short lived.  Their durations are brief, anywhere from one night to several weeks, providing a “once in a lifetime” dining experience.  From it’s inception in 2007, LudoBites has received tremendous enthusiastic praise in the culinary world, from such top names as Jonathan Gold, Sam Sifton, and Ruth Reichl.

Chef Ludo and Krissy’s recent adventure is an expansion of the LudoBites concept, aptly named “Ludo Bites America”. The Sundance Channel reality series features Ludo and Krissy taking their touring pop-ups on the road to various cities across the US, opening one pop-up restaurant in a new town with a new menu each week.  (Note: For those on the road or sans television, the series may alternatively be viewed on Itunes and Hulu.)

We recently had the privilege of asking Chef Ludo and Krissy a few questions about life on the road, thoughts on Denver, the challenges facing pop-ups, and their plans for the future.

Savory Tv: Ludo, switching venue locations frequently must be very difficult.  You are continually dealing with brand new staff and completely different kitchen equipment. Can you discuss how you managed to adapt to the challenges?  How did the staff adapt?

Chef Ludo: We have a saying at LudoBites, “Just make it happen”. I did not have time to complain about the challenges (well maybe a little). We have such a short time frame to open the restaurant I just figure it out. Sometimes I had staff that turned into superstars and other times the staff was just weak. I think everyone can say they learned something, including me.

Savory Tv: We are located in Aspen, and would love to hear more about your Denver experience.   Denver is a very transient city, and is not traditionally known as an epic culinary center as opposed to NYC or San Francisco.   Local ingredients tend to have a short growing season due to the weather and altitude.  Did you have difficulty developing menu items there?  Can you discuss your Denver experience in general?

Chef Ludo: Denver was amazing. For the first time ever I hunted for my own meat. I went buffalo hunting. I never killed big game before. Of course we use fresh lobster, shrimp, etc in the kitchen but killing those is nothing like a 1200 pound animal. I realized I am not a killer. I made a menu with all of the buffalo, I wanted to respect the girl for dying for me.

I was also able to meet and wirk with Eric Skokan from Black Cat (farm & restaurant) in Boulder. It is a short growing season but when I ate spinach straight out of the ground at his farm it was the sweetest nuttiest spinach I have ever tasted. As Chef Eric told me, if something survives the cold, it is some of the best produce you will ever eat. I you have not been to the Black Cat Restaurant in Boulder, I would 100% recommend it, truly an amazing meal. Denver overall was amazing to me. It was rustic and cosmopolitan all at the same time.

Savory Tv: We love food trucks and pop-ups because frankly, times are touch economically and often times we simply do not have the time to spend in a restaurant.  Regarding “Pop-Ups” and food trucks in general, do you see this as a feasible concept for business owners in general?  How well do they fare financially as opposed to a traditional fine dining restaurant?   Do you see this trend continuing far into the future?

Chef Ludo: Pop-ups and trucks can be feasible for business owners, but if someone thinks it is an easier they are mistaken. Because we don’t have full time employees, whenever we open Ludobites I am typically working with new kitchen staff. Someone needs to be willing to work hard. I don’t sit back and watch people work, I have no choice but to be on the line every night. Trucks provide an opportunity with a little less up front investment, but they have their own set of problems. As with business there are risks and rewards, you have to just decide what you want. Right now the pop-up and the truck work for me.

Savory Tv: Imagine life fast forwarded to the year 2016 if you will.  Where do you see yourself and Krissy 5 years from now?  Where would you like to be?  Do you have any plans to return to France?

Chef Ludo: That is a good question. We have 3-month old twins, so I want to be super successful for them, so I see myself working like crazy to do that, but I also want to be there for them and watch them grow up, so we really need to figure out the future. It will be important for me to expose our children to my culture and have them speak French. I don’t know if I will return to France full time, but I hope we can buy a house there and spend our summers there.

Savory Tv: Krissy, a relationship with any chef, particularly a celebrity chef can be quite challenging.   Can you talk about how working together has affected your marriage?   Do you play a role in business decisions or do you let Ludo do most of that type of work?

Krissy: We did not intentionally start working together. It started as a way for me to spend a summer after I lost my job due to a corporate takeover. It was during Ludobites 2.0. I figured I would go back to the practice of law after a little break, but that just did not happen. I got deep into planning 3.0 and the rest if kind of history. As an attorney I helped build celebrity brands, but no one was focusing on Ludo’s career. It just seemed natural to me. Building a brand that I am 100% passionate about.
Ludo lets me make most of the business decisions. I of course, consult with him, but he just does not want to deal with it. He wants to cook and be creative. I don’t cook and he doesn’t read contracts.

Savory Tv: We love following both you and Ludo on Twitter, and he seems to really embrace your support.  Has the evolution of Twitter had a positive effect on you both?  Can you discuss this a bit?   Do you ever feel a touch of social media overload?

Krissy: Social media has been truly amazing. It has such a positive impact on business, but sometimes it can be a bit much. I think we both seem to be all or nothing on twitter. Sometimes I just want to check out. I find myself waking up and seeing what I missed and/or wondering if I missed an opportunity. We don’t have anyone that works for us, so everything is all us and it can be a big responsibility. From a business perspective, it is such an amazing tool.

Savory Tv: Krissy, we imagine that you have been living out of a suitcase quite a bit lately!   What is it like to cope with that?  Do you miss your home base?

Krissy: It is hard to be living out of a suitcase. But, it definitely has its positive (housekeeping everyday), but yes, we miss home. I grew up a military brat and have always been able to travel pretty well, but when you hit day 31 on the road, you just want to be in your own bed and use your own washer/dryer. When we have a tough day due to travel we just try to embrace the amazing journey we are on together and what great memories we are creating for ourselves.

Savory Tv: We asked Ludo the same question, but would love to hear your thoughts too!  Where would you like to be in 5 years? Can you ever imagine settling down in one spot after this adventure?

Krissy: Oh my, so hard to say. If you would have asked me this question five years ago, I would have been so completely wrong, so I can’t even begin to think about five years from now. The only thing that is certain is that our twins will be in kindergarten so that will probably dictate life. It could be in LA, could be in Denver, Raleigh, or even France, who knows. I have learned to just go with what the world brings our way. Right now we are so truly grateful for the amazing opportunities in front of us, we just want to appreciate “today”.

Cheers to you, Ludo and Krissy, and may your future be delicious and bright.

From the brilliant Chef chemist and molecular gastronomy mastermind Ferran Adrià, creator of Spain’s El Bulli, frozen chocolate air, edible flower paper and spherical olives,  a beer?  Yes it’s true.  While the talk has been online for over a year,  Chef Adrià’s new brew Inedit is now making an official appearance  on restaurant menus.

From the Estrella Damm website, Inedit is described as “”a unique coupage of barley malt and wheat, flavored with coriander, orange peel and liquorice”,  (it is)  “the first beer specifically created to accompany food. It is born from the conviction that a beer that could be paired with the utmost respect to the best cuisine was necessary. That is its aim and its virtue, and that is what makes Inedit different, special and unique.”

Priced at $10-30 per 25 ounce bottle, this is not your average Joe’s Saturday football drinking brew. Inedit is intended to be chilled and served at a temperature from 4 to 8 degrees Celsius or 39 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, in a white wine glass filled to one third.   Where to find it?   In NYC, it is available here, and you may purchase it online here as well as other venues.

In this video from Estrella, Chef Ferran discusses the beer and it’s serving suggestions. “I am sure it is going to be imitated” the chef remarks. What do you think? Would you consider stepping out of the box and serve Ferran’s beer to dinner guests?

We have not tried Inedit yet, but if you have, give us a shout and let us know your thoughts in the comments. For more mainstream beer drinkers, be sure to check our beer and food pairing charts.   Cheers!

Our newest foodie online obsession?  Eatocracy, a new food blog from CNN.  Mainstream news avoiders, don’t let those three letters deter you!   You’ll find a great light read, with tasty chef interviews, cookbook reviews, restaurant news and a deliciously fun dip into the world of all things food.

Here’s a quick sneak peak, featuring Eatocracy and Mario Batali in this short video interview.  The topic:  food, love, and what to make on a first date to impress.  His technique is surprisingly simple, and trust us, it should actually work!

More words via CNN video from top restaurant chefs regarding the BP oil spill disaster. Featuring Chefs John Besh, Marcus Samuelsson, Michael Voltaggio, and Michel Nischan from the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

More on our Chef Speaks series regarding the BP oil Spill.  Video:  Top Chef Hosea talks to Kat Tales about the impact.

[pro-player width=’550′ height=’353′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgksriKfw6s[/pro-player]

A very primitive, rustic video featuring chef John Besh, on the oil spill and it’s impact on the local community, consumers, and restaurants.

[pro-player width=’550′ height=’353′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbjT-n_zVwc[/pro-player]

We will be back to the recipes shortly, but stumbled upon this tonight and fell in love.  Chef Mario Batali and Good Earth Plants with GreenScaped Buildings have constructed an edible garden wall outside of his Pizzeria Mozza restaurant in LA.

Mario says:  “Clearly the vertical garden isn’t big enough to really harvest on a regular basis, we’re certainly not sending our produce purveyors home with their tails between their legs, but what for us it represents is a visual image of exactly what we think people should be thinking about.  It’s beautiful, I think it looks great, it’s totally green, but what it represents is the idea that we should be greening our society, we should be thinking about ways to be more local, to be more organic, to be more fresh.”

Composed of dandelions, marigolds, geraniums, and 20 different varieties of herbs, the edible vertical wall is self sustaining, and is watered with connected vertical supports.    According to Elizabeth Meltz, Director of Food Safety and Sustainability for the Batali / Bastianich Hospitality Group, this is only one of several methods Batali is using to green up his restaurant venues.   Others include a bottled water ban, full scale recycling and composting programs, LED rechargeable candles, and energy efficient faucet aerators and kitchen appliances.

Once again Mario, we salute you.

Watch the video here.

Be still our heart.  It’s chefs Mario Batali, Eric Ripert, and Tony Bourdain all together in a studio room full of cheffy  goodness.  It’s an excerpt from the debut of “Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert: Turn & Burn,” the series co-hosted by the renowned chefs on Martha Stewart Living Radio via Sirius Radio.  Does Mario Batali suffer from “fine dining fatigue?”   Watch the video for the answer, including true confessions from the celebrity chefs regarding street food vs. fine dining in restaurants.

The Hotel Cipriani is located on the gorgeous island of Giudecca in the Lagoon of Venice, Italy.  Chef Renato Piccolotto is the Executive chef of all of the Cipriani restaurants, where he proudly cooks authentic Venetian dishes, many featuring produce and herbs from the hotel’s garden.   Our friend Barry Frangipane from the delicious culinary travel group Savory Adventures interviewed chef Renato on his last visit to Venice, and has been kind enough to share it with us.   Chef Renato discusses how Italian food and consumer tastes have changed over the years, and gives valuable advice to new chefs beginning their journey.

We love this one. This new video featuring Rick Bayless was just published yesterday and comes to us via Earthbox, which is a maintenance free, water saving gardening system perfect for urban areas.

Chef Rick Bayless uses the Earthboxes for his urban rooftop garden for Frontera Restaurant in Chicago.  In the video, Rick speaks about how freshness is used to expose the Mexican culture in Chicago.   He discusses working with local farmers as suppliers, sustainability, and organics.  Rick also speaks about a  wonderful program that he has initiated to provide grants to local family farms.

[pro-player width=’550′ height=’353′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcqtachhFds[/pro-player]

For our recipe lovers, Rick Bayless has several authentic Mexican recipes on his site here, and we also have a collection of short recipes that he has shared on Twitter.   If you visit Chicago, treat yourself to Rick’s newly opened restaurant, XOCO.   It has received countless fantastic online reviews already, and features contemporary expressions of Mexico’s most beloved street foods.

{Please join us in welcoming Chef JoAnna Minneci. Chef JoAnna runs a home catering and personal chef business at chefjoanna.com, and has made several appearances on tv including an episode with Bobby Flay on The Food Network.  As if that were not enough, take a bite of this:  she and her husband are currently transforming 10 acres of abandoned forest in Tennessee into an organic farm and “Bed & Bistro”, and have plans to build a gourmet restaurant featuring fresh farm raised produce and meats.  You can follow their progress and growth on the Mockingbird Acres blog.

In this very special guest post for Savory Tv, Chef JoAnna teaches us how to incorporate slow food into our fast and busy lifestyles.  Thank you JoAnna! }

Slow Food for Normal People

You may hear famous foodies and professional chefs talk about “slow food” all the time .  Many of us have grown weary of hearing about it, but if you’d like become more familiar with the term, click here to read the wikipedia article for it.

On a grand scale, Slow Food seeks to reconnect people with the food they eat.  They pay attention to the cultures, community, and production behind it.  Slow Food’s members include culinary professionals, food enthusiasts, farmers, food producers, educators, and students.  Slow Food USA aspires for a world in which all people can eat delicious food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it, and good for the planet.

On a more immediate scale, and to understand how the movement got it’s name, slow food is meant to be a direct contradiction to Fast Food.  Italian journalist Carlo Petrini in 1986 organized a protest in response to the opening of a McDonald’s, and was dubbed the father of the movement.  Since then, the Slow Food moment has developed chapters all over the world, and succeeds in making us feel guilty about whether or not what we’re eating is good enough.

Michael Pollan wants us to “eat food, not too much, mostly plants”.  Julia Child would make these offhand comments on her television show, “The French Chef” of how much better life would be if people would take the extra time and make food like they did in the old days.  Don’t get me started on Alice Waters, who I find to be more of a culinary bully than her adversary Tony Bourdain.  Back in March ’09,  I posted my thoughts about that Leslie Stahl piece on “Saint Alice”. Waters has the right idea, but in my opinion her methodology is flawed.  Her premise is that eating good, nutritious food is a right, not a privilege, but her manner of spreading that philosophy reeks of elitism.   Even Julia Child talked a little smack to Alice Waters:

“You have an unduly doleful point of view about the way that most people shop for food.  Visit any supermarket and you’ll see plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.  And if you don’t like the looks of what you see displayed at the market, complain to the produce manager.”

Continue Reading

Yum.  Chef Mario Batali speaks to Time Magazine in this recently released candid 10 question video interview, including answers to the following:

• What attracted him to Spain for his show with Gwyneth Paltrow
• His thoughts on Gwyneth and what it was like to travel with her
• African and French influences in Spanish cuisine and his new cookbook
• Disaster dishes, what went wrong
• His favorite two childhood meals served by his mom
• His thoughts on Ferran Adrià and dining experiences at the restaurant El Bulli

And did you know?  Mario is starring in a new movie to be released in 2010, entitled “Bitter Feast”. It’s currently in post production, and is a horror comedy film about a chef who takes revenge upon one of his food critics.  Watch the (slightly gory) teaser trailer here.  Go Mario!