LudoTruck Foie Gras Night

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

Manila Machine Tasting 7/17/10

A few months ago, I received an email from my friend Nastassia of Let Me Eat Cake saying she had put in notice at her job and she was going to start a Filipino food truck. I was so excited for her. One of my good friends from college comes from a huge Filipino family and I always love going to their home to load up on goodies like pancit, adobo, and of course lumpia. Unfortunately, it's a little hard for me to chase down food trucks so I was happy that Abby of Pleasure Palate invited me to a special tasting of all the truck's goodness.





Our first course was tapsilog which was served with garlic fried rice and a fried egg. I always prefer savory breakfasts and this was no exception. Plus, a dash of Filipino hot sauce gave this a nice heat that had nothing to do with the 95 degree temperature outside.



Next we had lumpiang shanghai and chicken adobo. To me, lumpia is one of the best foods ever. I could eat it all day every day. The Manila Machine's lumpia is nice and crispy on the outside and full of pork greatness on the inside. I loved it. Nastassia's partner is Marvin of Burnt Lumpia. He explained that there are many, many versions of adobo and this is their take. I happened to think it was just the right blend of vinegar and spices.



Longganisa is a type of sausage that Nastassia and Marvin put into a pan de sal bun and top with arugula, onions, and mango jam. It's sweet, salty, and fresh all at the same time. I didn't get a picture of it though.

To cleanse our palates, and as a nice birthday surprise for me, Nastassia treated us all to popsicles. The cool and creamy mango popsicle was perfect on that very hot day.



My favorite dish of the day was the sisig. It's pork cheeks marinated in calamansi and served over rice. It was sprinkled with chicharones and with a spritz of lime juice, I was in pork cheek heaven.



I consider myself to be a slightly adventurous eater, but I've never really wrapped my head around Spam. However, it was on the menu so spam on. The Manila Machine takes a chunk of spam, sears it, then tops it with a fried egg on a pan de sal roll with banana ketchup. It's that great combo of sweet and salty and I actually liked it even though it was a little difficult to eat with the egg sliding around.



We had to leave early because I am a gal on the go lately, but Nastassia quickly whipped up some turon for my sister and I and gave us our ube cupcakes to go. The turon is basically a banana spring roll and topped with a caramel sauce. This sweet treat would go well with vanilla ice cream. The ube cupcake is pretty to look at and tastes even better. Love the coconut frosting on top!  Unfortunately, since we left early, we missed the adobo glazed chicken wings, but I hear they were stellar.





It was totally worth it to brave the hot, hot heat and try the delicious food the Manila Machine has to offer.  If you're in Los Angeles, I highly recommend tracking them down.

The Manila Machine Website
Follow them on Twitter @ManilaMachine

Grilled Cheese Truck

Until yesterday, I hadn't been to the gym in a week. I have been in a routine of going four to six times a week since September and I think I just needed a rest. Plus it rained all week, work was busy and a variety of other excuses. Blah, blah, blah. To compensate I ate mostly healthy all week, but when I learned the Grilled Cheese Truck was going to be making a stop in my neighborhood during the Miracle Mile Art Walk, I knew I would have to indulge. I am pretty unschooled in the LA food truck scene. Of course, I am familiar with some of the SF trucks after Foodbuzz fest, but LA trucks and I don't cross paths often. Over the break I finally got a chance to try the Grilled Cheese Truck and it was PHENOMENAL. Besides the basic melts, they have specials daily and of course the famed mac and cheese melt that you can also order with pulled barbeque pork and caramelized onions. It's gooey, cheesy, sweet, and slightly spicy. The mac and cheese is no joke either. It's very creamy and reminiscent of the mac and cheese at Lemonade.



For my second melty outing, I went with the special. A grilled cheese stuffed with pastrami, Muenster cheese, Dijon, and caramelized onions in between two pieces of perfectly grilled rye bread. For later I got a standard melt with American cheese, tomato, and bacon. Simple, classic, and comforting. All that cheese and bread and meat is extravagant, but worth it. Of course, now I have to go...the gym is calling (incidentally, I just became the "mayor" of my gym on Foursquare whcih Diana recently deemed an app for dorky social networkers)

To learn more about the Grilled Cheese Truck and their menu, visit their website and/or follow them on Twitter.