LudoBites 5.0's closing night

If granted a cursory glance, Downtown Los Angeles this Friday eveningtide past at 9:00 p.m. resembled any other weeknight, where time-honored storefronts shielded themselves from the dead stillness of night that was interjected only by whizzing automobile drive-bys. But mosey down 9th between Los Angeles and Santee, and you would have rubbernecked to behold a mob of befuddling proportions congregated outside a seemingly deserted edifice.Angelenos and West Coast transplants from near and far corralled for the huzzah-evocative closing night of LudoBites 5.0, the modish pop-up restaurant event conceived and cultivated by French-bred celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre,
who, coupled with his charming wife and hostess, Kristine, along with their motley cookery crew of 14, set up temporary camp at breakfast-and-lunch sandwich shoppe Gram & Papa's every weeknight once the sun submerged into the smog-sopped horizon for an epic dinner extravaganza
that has taken the City of Angels' culinary scene by breathstealing storm.
The LudoBites-morphed venue was teeming with reservation and invitation only patrons within the intimate 90-person environs,
including the dear friend Audrey Magazine's assistant editor and me as her guest photographer
fortuitously invited by the Food Digger himself,
who was eager to chaperone us through the edgily innovative and unanimously redefining once-in-a-lifetime dining experience that is LudoBites.
We commenced the 14 course affair (each dish shared between the 6 of us) with a BYOB cheers before partaking with utmost relish Ludo's complex yet effortlessly executed edible art that had us all at awe at the sheer ingenuity of the mishmash of flavors, textures, and complementary pairings, inadequately connoted via the menu's descriptions:
warm baguette dunked in seaweed buckwheat butter,
poached egg concealed swimmingly beneath hand-whipped potato mousseline and a chorizo condiment,
raw waygu beef atop a bed of cold somen noodles dressed in peanut viniagrette and watermelon cubes,
heirloom tomato salad served with a generous dollop of mozzarella ice cream and a basil crumble,
grilled octopus with oregano, burnt red pepper polenta, pineapple aioli, and piment d'espellette gelee, adjacent to a serving of Ludo crispity fried chicken hailed from his fire engine red food truck fixed outside the rented restaurant,
salmon "a l'hulle" juniper berries sprinkled with rainbow carrots, all paired with orange sorbet and crushed pistachios,
hot foie gras lavished in dynamite sauce, balanced by delicate raw tuna and lychee cubes and a cracker sauce,
john dory fillet floating atop frothy saffron risotto and a chanterelles mousse emulsion,
roasted sonoma saddle of lamb camouflaged by artichoke salad joined by a goat cheese stick rolled in candied black olives and mint pesto,
Korean-style marinated steak with pickled vegetables, grilled baby corn, and crispy bacon,
an unparalleled cheese plate comprised of saint-nectaire with pear kimchi chutney, epoisse with whole grain mustard and raw honeycomb, and roncal with apricot-lavendar jam,
followed by decadent and saccharine finales of caramel souffle, grapefruit gelee, and fleur de sel ice creaminess, alongside a sundae of pistachio ice cream, bing cherries, hot chocosauce, and salted pistachio crumbles.
Mister Lefebvre is a legitimate visionary, indeed.
All toasted to the mostest to a rampantly successful summertide run of LudoBites 5.0, and to Ludo's impending adventures aplenty in the culinary sphere,
whilst the melange of food blogger attendees reveled in the 4-hour-long epicurean divertissement
before calling it an unforgettable night of bonding o'er the universal communal pastime dubbed eating,
which we accomplished in plentitude, thanks to LudoBites 5.0.