Usually on a Friday night, the last thing I want to do is fight crowds of people to wait in line for food from a truck. The week leaves me exhausted and my only desires are to curl up on my couch with my Snuggie and a glass of wine. However, last Friday, my friend Eliza convinced me to join her at DomaineLA for a little wine and a lot of foie gras. Beloved LA chef, Ludo Lefebvre was cooking up a menu devoted to duck liver that particular night and we just couldn't miss it.
Foie gras is definitely a controversial ingredient in modern day cooking because of the methods used to fatten the liver (gavage). In fact, in about six months, the use of foie gras will be banned in restaurants in West Hollywood and many chefs have already pledged not to use it ever again. Ludo has tackled the controversy head on and only uses foie gras that has been produced without excessive gavage. He recently had a multi-course foie gras menu at Animal restaurant and this event was meant to further educated the masses.
Ludo's truck is mostly known for their fried chicken (formally chicken balls, but now hunks of chicken thighs). The menu has just been re-vamped and was available for sampling along with the special foie gras items. For the main meal, we chowed on a foie gras and corn soup ($8), a foie gras terrine sandwich ($15), and a foie gras beignet ($12). Many of my dining neighbors said the beignet was their favorite part of the meal, but while I enjoyed it, I was more partial to the velvety soup.
Despite the richness of foie gras, we were still a little hungry so we finished our meal with the Provencal fried chicken. This is the chicken used to come in ball form, but now arrives in the much more manageable full thigh style. It's meaty and crispy and stays surprisingly hot for a long time.
You have to hand it to Ludo for constantly finding new ways to put himself out there and stir up a conversation. I'm looking forward to seeing what he has in store for 2012 including the next LudoBites in January (if I can get a reservation) and rumblings of a permanent brick and mortar restaurant.
LudoTruck
@LudoTruck
7 comments:
Looks delicious! I'm so jealous of the food trucks you have in LA/the US, in Canada we have hotdogs and chip trucks, that's it.
This is so awesome! We have some food trucks in the area, but nothing this creative. Very cool!
what was that cole slaw stuff? man that looks good.
you guys have all the good food trucks--we have zero.
I would weigh 800 lbs. if I hung out with you. Might be worth it!
I don't know if I'd have the nerve to eat foie gras from a truck but it sounds like a super cool idea if done right!
Looks like lots of fun :)
LOVE Ludo and his fried chicken - it's what's on the cover of my book MADE IN AMERICA -
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