Saturday night I met my friend Sook, of yutjangsah, at LudoBites for dinner. Sook is my first real, live internet friend, and I’m not ashamed to say it. She loves to get together with other Asian food bloggers and have extravagant dinners. Meanwhile I show up at my mom’s house with an iPhone and write about a slab of meat she bought at Ralphs. So basically I’m uncouth and unAsian but she still likes me.

Some of you may remember Chef Ludo from his appearance on Top Chef Masters, where he was competitive, intense, and frustrated. Guess which one he is from that description:

At LudoBites, he is warmer, although equally intimidating, and equally concerned about the final judgment of every plate he prepares. LudoBites is a pop-up guerilla style restaurant that serves dinner inside of Breadbar, which normally only serves breakfast and lunch. I love this idea because for the consumer, it means there is an urgency to try it before it goes away (which, incidentally, will happen on August 22). For the chef it means he gets to reinvent himself, his menu, his restaurant all over again when he pops up somewhere else.

For me, one of the best parts of the experience was feeling connected to the chef. And not just cause he’s one hot, French, talented, sexy man. But because he himself brought some of the dishes to our table, he checked on our food, and he talked to us about the struggles of being a chef. It felt like I was a guest in his home, not a patron of his restaurant. Which might also be why I got confused and thought we had something “special” going until Sook pointed out that he was married. Whoopsy.

Didn’t stop me from fanning out and taking a million pictures with him.

My pictures will most likely not do the meal, or the evening, justice. Sook brought a great, affordable white from Whole Foods that I want to stock my fridge with–crisp, sparkly, summery.

We ordered a green bean salad with peach, coconut, apple, horseradish and lemongrass. Unexpected and delightful combo.

Sook’s picture:

My big idea of taking a picture the second Sook’s camera flashed was a huge failure. All my pics are either dim or look like the food has a glo worm in it. See, look at the lobster medallions. No way you can tell how good they were with this weirdo picture..

Once I realized Ludo was taken I set my heart on another hunk of meat, the grilled beef tenderloin with smoked eggplant, goat cheese, shallots, and chives. The earthy eggplant with the perfectly seasoned and cooked meat=a marriage I hope never falls apart.

From Sook:

We also had the cod with onion soubise, grilled chantarelles, balsamic and kumquats. I just about died when I tasted this one. I love cod, but I’m used to eating it in a more brothy, Japanese preparation. The kumquats? Good Lord. Had Ludo not been married I would’ve proposed. As a matter of fact, whoever actually prepared this dish, call me.

Courtesy of Sook:

The chef was kind enough to send out the Spaghetti Carbonara with Prawns, which I know Sook secretly wanted but didn’t order out of consideration for my non-dairy lifestyle. When it came out, I think she was hoping I would be stricter about not eating dairy so she could have it all to herself. Better luck next time, pal.

My picture was terrible because by this point I was psychoanalyzing Ludo while she was enjoying watching me act like an idiot the pasta. Glo worm pasta:

Here’s the pic from her post:

At some point Sook looked at me menacingly during our meal, and commanded, “you KNOW we’re getting dessert.” This is what I like about my food bloggy friends. Well, actually, friend. She’s the only one I’ve had a meal with. There’s no, “I think we’re ok without dessert” bullshit.

We got the organic strawberry wasabi mascarpone pistachio parfait, which they so kindly decomposed into seperate plates so I could avoid the dairy. Service, if I forgot to mention it in all my excitement about the chef and the food, was warm, accomodating and lovely.

again, Sook’s photo:

Chef Ludo read my dessert hoarding mind (he’s way multi talented and intuitive), and sent us his signature chocolate cup cake with foie gras, candied bacon, and almonds. The cake was not overly moist or rich, which is exactly what you want when cake is paired with something as decadent as foie gras or bacon.

my pic followed by Sook’s:

The moral of the story is…Sook takes better pictures, manages not to fall in love with married chefs, and is generally just way funnier than me. You should probably just read her blog. Oh and you should definitely eat at LudoBites before they just up and leave Breadbar on August 22.