Trois Mec: First Look at Ludo's New Restaurant

Ludo Lefebvre, the enfant terrible of the Los Angeles culinary scene has struck again, partnering with the successful duo of Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal and Son of a Gun to open Trois Mec.  The restaurant, whose name roughly translates as “Three Guys” is located in a former Raffallo’s Pizza in a strip mall on Highland, just steps from Pizzeria Mozza.  Lefebvre, whose itinerant pop-up LudoBites garnered significant attention as well as a massive email list, is serving French cuisine in a tasting menu format.  The current pricing is $75 plus a mandatory gratuity and tax.

I had the opportunity to dine at Trois Mec last week, and the menu was $69, plus the same 18% gratuity.  A $48 wine pairing was offered and Trois Mec is one of the few restaurants in Los Angeles that does not permit corkage.  This is likely due to the size of the restaurant; Trois Mec only seats 18 patrons at tables and 8 additional diners at a dining bar facing the kitchen.  The wine list was still a work in progress but at the time of my dinner was tilted towards wines at the $100+ price point, making the pairing an attractive option.

Dinner at Trois Mec begins with a flurry of amuse bouches, which included a boneless fried chicken wing and a duck a l’orange in which diners drink the orange sauce once the duck has been consumed.  I would not have minded a whole plateful of boneless chicken wings; just think of the possibilities of a Super Bowl party at Trois Mec.

The tasting menu consisted of five courses, the first of which is listed on the menu as
Peas, beans, smoked eel, lamb, green cardamom.  The lamb was served on top of the peas and beans and eel.  I shared the eel with my dining companion, so cannot comment on that element of the dish, but the lamb was rather delicious and well prepared.

Carrot, bbq, orange, yogurt, avocado, watercress was the second principal course.  This was followed by Potato pulp, brown butter, bonito, onion soubise, salers.  The two veggie courses were quite different, with the potato course almost a puffy latke, while the carrot course was cleaner.  The salers cheese was on display in a wheel that weighed over 70 pounds.

Chicken, asparagus, mustard flower mustard, pancetta, brioche was Ludo’s take on the classic chicken with mustard sauce.  Unlike traditional mustard sauce, this was made using the mustard flowers, rather than the seeds.  It made for a different, yet familiar experience.  My dining companion loved it.

The concluding course in the five course tasting was Strawberry, almond ice cream, rhubarb, rose ice, olive oil cake.  This take on a strawberry short cake was my dining companion’s favorite and one I very much enjoyed as well.   It is rare to have a savory kitchen turn out a dessert of note, the butterscotch budino at Mozza is one, but this dish was a highlight.  We were given a final mignardes along with the check at the end of the meal.

Overall this was an ambitious meal and successfully executed.  $75 for five courses plus amuses is more than fair; there is no danger of diners leaving hungry.  On the night I dined, neither Jon nor Vinny was there as I do not believe they will be there on a regular basis as this is Ludo’s kitchen.  Helen Johannesen, Jon & Vinny’s director of operations / beverage director, was on site to ensure everything went smoothly.

It was reported by Betty Hallock in the LA Times that Trois Mec will fill its seats via selling tickets rather than taking reservations.  This method, pioneered by Grant Achatz’s Next in Chicago, ensures that it will be quite difficult to get in and that the restaurant will not suffer any no-shows.  As diners have paid in advance, the only bill they are presented with at the end of the meal is for beverages.

Tickets can be purchased at their website here.  Good luck getting in.  It will be interesting to see how the resale market develops.  Scalpers for a dinner reservation?

Casa Vega puts the tinsel in your holiday season

If you want the kind of restaurant where they have overflowing tinsel hanging from the ceiling in November (and perhaps more of the year), Mexican food with a lot of melted cheese, inexpensive margaritas during happy hour and long waits if you arrive after 6 pm, then Casa Vega is for you.  It is one of those San Fernando Valley institutions that has been on the Boulevard forever, in this case more than 40 years.

Meals at Casa Vega begin with bowls of the saltiest tortilla chips I have ever eaten.  I like salt, a lot.  But these chips were a whole new level of saltiness; just two or three would likely exceed the recommended sodium intake for the day.  The margarita I had was strong but also salty and I was drinking it through a straw, not the heavily salted rim.

Many of the meals come with a salad or your choice of tortilla soup or albondigas (meatball) soup to begin.  I choose the tortilla soup, which was fine and thankfully not oversalted.  The combination of chicken tamale and chicken enchilada was huge.  It was enough food to feed two people easily.  The enchilada was average as was the tamale.  The service was decent and they were good natured about serving our large party, which can't have been easy.

I can't really see the attraction of Casa Vega unless you are either nearby in the Valley during happy hour and want a cheap margarita or are hungry late night as they stay open until 2 am.  You could easily do better than this for dinner at a normal time, and the waits are legendary.  No reservations, of course.

Casa Vega: 13301 Ventura Blvd @ Fulton, Sherman Oaks.  Phone: (818) 788-4868.  Website: www.casavega.com

Jeremy Fox Dinner @ Animal - May 18th, 2010

Last night I ate dinner at Animal Restaurant, where for one week chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook are collaborating with guest chef Jeremy Fox, the former chef of Ubuntu in Napa, on a series of vegetarian dinners.

Each dinner is a tasting menu ($70) and has the option of adding one of two wine pairings ($35 or $65). Last night's meal consisted of eight courses, with the first two served together. The concept of a vegetarian meal in a restaurant named Animal and devoted to rich meaty cuisine is ironic and they have fun with it.

Marcona Almonds with lavender sugar, sea salt, olive oil & Crunchy 'French Breakfast' Radishes with whipped chevre with nori, black salt

The almonds were served spilling out of their container in a generous presentation. One of my tablemates said that they tasted like the children's cereal Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and we all agreed. The breakfast radishes were served with nori (seaweed) infused creamy goat cheese and black salt. The salt flavor was intense if you got too much of it in one bite. The radishes were presented simply in a signal of what was to come with the rest of the vegetable focused meal.

Spring Peas with white chocolate, 'chocolate' mint, macadamia

The peas were presented as three quenelles on a plate with the mint on top and small bits of white chocolate and nuts scattered on the plate. There were both mashed and whole peas and the dish was both beautiful and delicious. One of my favorites of the evening. The white chocolate was in very small doses and the dish played off of the mint chip flavor of ice cream.

'Pee Wee' Potato Salad - 3-hour favas, anchovy 'flavor', parmesan

This dish was the least successful of the evening. It was served cold, as most potato salads are, and the flavors just didn't come together cohesively. We did not taste anything resembling anchovy flavor. Parmesan shreds were on the bottom of the plate and were light as clouds.

Heirloom Carrots, Rescoldo Style, in Root Embers with parsnip, vadouvan, cocount, citrus

The carrots were of several different colors and the stalks were still on. The stalks had been roasted or crisped so that they were crunchy while the body of the carrots were soft; a nice textural contrast.

Triple Corn Anson Mills Grits - smoked cast-iron corn, agretti

This dish was nice and smoky. The grits were very smooth and the agretti stuck up out of the bowl like the tentacles of a sea creature. It was a deceptively simple dish and one of the favorites of the evening at my table.

Slow Roasted Beets: ruta-kraut, 'calaloo' amaranth, horseradish

The beets was a flavorful dish with the "saurkraut" on top and the horseradish flavor, a typical pairing. Often in LA you only see beets in salads, so it was a pleasant change to see them be the star of this dish. This dish was also paired with both a rose wine and a Bok beer.

Chocolate Puffed with Wild Rice Pudding: strawberry gel, rose geranium, green strawberry

This was the other dish that didn't work for our table of four. The presentation is dramatic with the layers in the jar, capped with the green strawberry with its stem still on and sticking out of the jar. There were various textures with the crunchy rice and gooey pudding but it all just seemed like a mess and was unpleasant. I had never seen a green strawberry served in a restaurant before.

Summary: Overall all four of us really enjoyed the meal. The food was beautifully presented and mostly delicious. It was vegetarian food but did not go for the mock-meat thing and there was no tofu or seitan used. The vegetables themselves were allowed to shine and the flavors were good and you we did not feel at all deprived of meat. The service was also first rate, especially Helen Johannesen, the manager and wine director. We felt that the value was good and that the $70 was well worth it. The wine pairings were mostly good (one Barolo was not pleasant) and if anything, too generous. The champagne from Marc Hebrart and the Silvaner Halbtrocken by Gysler were especially good.

I was fortunate to have eaten a meal at Ubuntu while Jeremy was cooking there and it was spectacular. Go and sit at the bar if you can't get off the wait list, but this is something special and if you enjoy food, go!

Cart for a Cause - from Animal to Chef Greenspan

Last week was Animal chefs Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo's second and final week of manning Cart for a Cause. They put out my favorite of the charitable Tuesday lunches to date, an amazing fried chicken sandwich with corn on the cob. The sandwich was served with a slaw on a bun and the chicken breast was juicy and flavorful and the crispy breading stayed on the breast and didn't come apart. I could eat that sandwich on a weekly basis and be a happy man.



This week, Shook and Dotolo have passed the baton to Eric Greenspan, of the Foundry on Melrose and soon to be proprietor of his own grilled cheese mecca. He will be serving a choice of either a Greenspan Grilled Cheese Sandwich or a Salad of Ablacore Tartare. Each lunch costs $10 and includes a beverage as well.

Tomorrow Tuesday May 4th, the Cart for a Cause truck will be at 11766 Wilshire Blvd, at Granville, 2 blocks west of Barrington Ave in Brentwood/West LA between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm.


Each Tuesday a different chef prepares a gourmet meal in the Cart for a Cause cart, for sale at $10 each, and the proceeds benefit St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels.

To learn more follow Cart for a Cause on Facebook & Twitter

The recipe for Eric's Albacore Salad is below:

Albacore Tartare with Carrots, Garlic, and Pomegranate

FOR THE TARTARE:
1 oz extra virgin olive oil in fused with garlic
1 oz sashimi grade Monterrey Albacore,chopped into a near paste
Salt and pepper
6 oz carrot juice, reduced to ½ oz
6 oz orange juice, reduced to ½ oz

Mix all ingredients.

FOR THE CARROT AND GARLIC SALAD:
1 baby yellow carrot, shaved on a Japanese mandoline
1 baby red carrot, shaved on a Japanese mandoline
10-15 pomegranate seeds
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced

Place the garlic in a small saucepot of cold water. Bring to a
boil. Strain. Repeat 2 more times, then fry the garlic. Mix with
other ingredients and arrange on top of the albacore tartare.

FOR THE POMENGRANATE PONZU:
6 oz Pom brand 100% Pomengranate Juice, reduced to ½ oz.
1/2 oz soy sauce
1/2 oz garlic oil

Mix all ingredients and drizzle liberally on the plate.

FOR THE CARROT PUREE:
1 large carrot, peeled
4 oz carrot juice

Simmer the carrot in juice until soft, then place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Animal Restaurant - Cart for a Cause

Animal Restaurant has been all over the news & blogosphere this week. The New Yorker magazine profiled Animal chefs/owners Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo in a four page article by Dana Goodyear. (you have to be a subscriber to read the article online). It was also announced that ex-Ubuntu chef Jeremy Fox will be doing a one week residency in May at Animal, serving vegetarian food in the house of meat and bacon. Lastly the Animal partners-in-crime were the chefs for the weekly Cart for a Cause, to benefit St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels, today outside the Roll International bldg on Olympic Blvd in West LA.

Today's Cart for a Cause menu had a choice of Hamachi Tostada or Chorizo Frita. The truck was running ~30 minutes late and when it arrived there was a long line of hungry folks. I did not sample the chorizo but the hamachi was good with fresh fish on top of avocado puree (some might call this guacamole). Chefs Jon & Vinny were in the cart-mobile dishing out their food to happy folks. "Fire one hamachi and one chorizo" could be heard as I approached to order my lunch.

If you are interested in the Jeremy Fox week (May 17 - 23) at Animal, call for a reservation at 323.782.9225 after 2 pm. More info at their website here. The cost is $70 per person prix fixe with the option of wine pairings for an additional charge of $35 or $70 depending on the level of grape juice you care to drink with your veggies. There have not been any announcements of V8 juice pairings, but anything is possible at Animal Restaurant.

Follow Cart for a Cause on Facebook & Twitter to learn about the chef creating the dishes available for $10 each Tuesday.

Learn more about chefs Jon & Vinny in their profile in Food & Wine when they won Best New Chefs last year (2009). Both photos are of Vinny in the Cause-mobile today. The other picture is of the hamachi tostada.