LudoBites 5.0 @ Gram and Papas

Our third LudoBites event, this time iteration 5.0, which is once again at Gram and Papas in downtown Los Angeles.  The nearly impossible to get reservations are now infamous.  Somehow when the reservations opened up on the first night, I was able to snag a reservation for 5 at 9p on a Friday night.  Stupid me, instead of confirmation the reservation, I tried to get a better time along with the other 3000 or so foodies.  Needless to say, I lost my chance.  When reservations opened up for all the rest of LudoBites on opentable.com a couple of weeks later, once again, I managed to get a reservation for 6 at 6p on a Friday night.  This time, I confirmed before the system crashed.  In hindsight, 6p was a good choice.  We ate for over 3 hours tonight.  Had we started at 9p, we would probably still be there!

With 6 people, we essentially ate the menu.  Our waiter said we had the highest table of the week.  Not sure if we should be proud of that or not!  We were certainly light weights in terms of drinking.  We saw people carrying multiple bottles of wine per person in their group.  We barely managed to finish one!

Anyway, without further ado, food picks.  The dishes this time was much heartier than the last iterations.  There were some outstanding dishes and some I wouldn't order again, but overall, a very enjoyable night out.

To start things off, the Vandouvan Naan Bread with Salted Coconut Butter.  The bread was excellent but we all craved the butter.  Even took a little bit home.  The butter went with EVERYTHING--although the honey-lavendar butter from 4.0 was even better.  Shh, don't tell my friends.

Heirloom Tomato Smoothe, Ice Dashi, Squid Ink Vodka-Gelee, Seaweed   Light and refreshing though not everyone's favorite.

Raw Waygu Beef, Dried Miso, Somen Noodle, Peanut Vinagrette, Watermelon   Raw waygu beef, what more can I say.  Can I have seconds?

Lightly Smoked Grilled Squid, Cold White Bean Cream, Candied Olives, Prosciutto Chips, Meyer Lemon  The squid was so fresh and tender...

Grilled Octopus, Oregano, Grilled Hazelnut Polenta, Pineapple Aioli, Piment D'Espellette Gelee  Who knew octopus can be so meaty!  It was perfectly done.  The meat was soft and tender while the outside had a nice char from the grill.

Poached Egg, Potato Mousseline, Chorizo Condiment  Not exactly what I expected.  I thought it was going to be light and airy and instead, this was very dense and creamy.  Reminded me of the mashed potato from Robouchon.  Did I say it was dense?

Goat Cheese Soup, Bacon, Lardo, Tofu, Green Apple, Frisee Salad  Not everyone's favorite.  I thought it was fine for what it is.

Hot Foie Gras Dynamite, Tuna, Lychee, Crackers  For a foie gras dish, much lighter than expected.  But then, it's basically a deconstructed dynamite roll so I should have expected something light.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

Confit Pork Belly, Raw Choucroute Thai Style, Mustard Ice Cream  The pork belly is hidden underneath somewhere.  I'm making buta no kakuni this weekend.  Hopefully the texture of my pork belly will be somewhat close to this.  The mustard ice cream (actually more like a heavy foam than an ice cream) was very interesting--and I don't even like mustard.

Wild Striped Bass, Grilled Yellow Corn Mexican Style, Salter Butter Powder, Fresh Wasabi Salsa  I liked this one.  Fish was perfectly done.  In other words, it's not dry, flaky and overcooked.  The corn was very sweet.  Wonder what corn Mexican style means.  Hum.

Steamed Duck Lemon Verbena, Crispy Skin Puree, White Peach, Radish & Balsamic  I love the skills involved in cooking the duck.  It is so tender and moist.  Did not care for the crispy skin puree.  But if I can make duck like this, I will be happy.

Matcha Green Tea Almond Cake, Red Berries, Mascarpone Mousse  This was alright.  The cake is a bit dense for me.

Campfire Smoked S'mores, Guacomole Sorbet  S'mores so expect it to be sweet!

Caramel Souffle, Blanco Grapefruit, Fleur De Sel Ice Cream  While the souffle was good, the fleur de sel ice cream was amazing.  And when you combine everything into one bite (maybe with a little more coconut butter), it was even better.

Saint-Nectaire with Pear Kimchi Chutney, Epoisse with Whole Grain Mustard & Honey Comb, Camenbert with Apricots-Lavender  Eh, it's only cheese.  Nothing to see.  Move on.

So we pretty much ate the entire menu.  There's also a Cheese Cupcake with Foie-Gras-Chicken Liver but V and I didn't order it so we didn't taste it.  I think our friends liked it enough.

I would say LudoBites 5.0 is a definite success, not just from the billions of people who tried (and are still trying) to get in.  Our waiter told us a little tidbit about the possible whereabouts of 6.0 but I think maybe I should keep it hush hush to keep the crowds away.  Shh...