Paris Eats

Two dozen crabs demolished. #maryland #production #lunch #wrappedearly #sofull (Taken with Instagram at Harris Crab House)

Finally! #lobsterrollhereicome (Taken with instagram)

Exploring new neighborhoods #highlandpark #sundaybrunch #fuelforhiking (Taken with instagram)

Sunny Spot with Anna x2 @fumblr @anka1027 Blog to follow… (Taken with instagram)

One of the great things about my job in production is that from time to time I get to travel to places we are shooting.  Normally as soon as I find out where we’ll be traveling to, my first order of business is to look up the best places to eat.  About a month ago (yes I’ve been slacking big time on ParisEats), we were headed to Atlanta.  Oddly having lived in Florida for 18 years, I had never been to Atlanta and was quite excited.  Some of my co-workers had recently been and wanted to check out this restaurant “Empire State South” they had stayed near that looked good.  I immediately looked it up and it definitely seemed right up my alley.  One of the Chef/Partners is Hugh Acheson, who is a multiple James Beard winner, was a competitor on Top Chef Masters and was a judge on this past season of Top Chef.  

We decided to make a reservation for the team after a long day of shooting to celebrate the wrap of our first shoot day and kick back and have a great meal.  Luckily the other folks I was dining with were also foodie types so we all jumped right in to order a bunch of stuff for the table and for ourselves (although we all knew we’d be eating off of each other’s plates as well).  

We all started with a cocktail, as they had a lot of fancy, fun mixtures.  I had the Patois Cannon which included Zaya 12yr Rum, Fernet Branca, Turbinado Cane Syrup, Lime, Egg white, Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters. 

Next came all the goodies we ordered for the table which was probably the most delicious and fun part of the meal.  

Oysters on the Half shell.

You can’t go wrong with a killer cheese plate….

echo mountain blue, rogue creamery, or 

black swan, sweet grass dairy, ga – red onion marmalade

hudson red, twin maple farm, ny – rhubarb mostarda

And probably one of my favorite things of the meal, “In Jar”!  Five little mason jars came out with a different spread inside that you could use on bread, crackers or just by itself! Deviled ham, trout mousse, pickles, pimento cheese & bacon marmalade, boiled peanut hummus.  This was amazing!  I was convinced they would have an “In Jar” for desert, but no such luck.  

Once we gobbled up all of that and ordered our next round of drinks, it was now time for the main meals and side dishes…

English Peas ESS ricotta, mizuna, miners lettuce, ESS country ham, rice cracker, preserved lemon

Braised Octopus quince membrillo, ESS bacon, celery, mustard, shoyu mayo, dandelion green.

Bloody Mary bar! (Taken with Instagram at Brick and Mortar venice,ca)

Not kosher for passover at Cooks County. (Taken with instagram)

A little mischief @Spring street smokehouse (Taken with instagram)

5 spiced chicken vermicelli and a steamed pork bun on the side @Out The Door @ SF ferry building. Good start to business trip!

As being a lover of food (as is obvious by my food blog) I tend to eat out a lot.  I I don’t like to call myself a “foodie”, I just like to eat food and am open to trying most anything at least once.  Last night I was lucky enough to take part in and enjoy one of the more delicious and exciting meals I’ve had. 

For those non-food people out there (GET IT TOGETHER PEOPLE), there is a French Chef, Ludo Lefebvre who has had two restaurants in Los Angeles in the past, has a Sundance show “Ludo Bites America” and in 2007 started LudoBites Pop Up Restaurants.  What is a Pop Up Restaurant you may ask?  In the case of LudoBites, it’s a temporary restaurant (the run is about 4 weeks long) that takes over another restaurant’s space and creates a new menu, maybe even a new menu every night.  It gives a chef a chance to try out new dishes, new concepts, etc. without the risks involved of starting up a new restaurant.  LudoBites is now not just a “pop up”, but a touring restaurant as well as he goes to all different cities taking over local restaurants.  (Next up, Hawaii).

In the 8th cycle of LudoBites, he took over Lemon Moon in West LA and you had to enter a lottery to get a reservation.  Only 5% of the people who entered actually got in and thankfully I was one of the 5%!  I had made a deal with my co-worker (who had also entered the lottery) that if one of us got a reservation we would take the other.  Of course I held up my end of the deal and last night we went on our double date to check out LudoBites 8.0.

As my co-worker had been to one of the past LudoBites, he gave us the tip that we should order one of each thing and try it all!  We pretty much did that, minus two dishes that just didn’t seem to excite any of us.  Every dish was prepared perfectly.  There was not one thing I put in my mouth that I didn’t love.  I kept expecting some dish that would be disappointing, but the only disappointing thing that came was when the meal was over and our wine glasses were empty!

In order of arrival to the table we ate:

Burgundy Gougéres  (I couldn’t tell you how you pronounce it, but it was basically a puff pastry with cheesy goodness inside)

Chicken Tandoori Crackling (This was a chicken liver mousse served on a tandoori spiced cracker - one of my favorite bites of the night)

Lobster Salad, Yuzu, Honey (Was exactly what it says…a perfect piece of lobster topped with yuzu and honey. One of the other favorite bites of the evening.)

Sweet shrimp, miso cream, beans, and smoked salmon (Seriously…the flavors in all these dishes kept getting better and better)

Celery Root Soup, Foie Gras, Mushrooms, Ash (The waiter brought us this dish and told us to enjoy our wine while we waited two minutes for the foie to cook in the soup.  It was worth the wait for sure!  And the ash on top was made of crushed up burnt shallots.  Not too shabby!)

Uni Créme Brulee, Coffee (Really?  Uni Creme Brulee?  Yes, Really.  I normally don’t like Uni or smelt eggs, but the way this was prepared was simply awesome.)

Big Eye Tuna, Tahitian Vanilla, Somen, 7 Flavor Vinaigrette (This was good, but if I had to pick my least favorite dish of the night this would be it.)

John Dory, Squash, Spelt, Fennel, Tonka Beans (I didn’t love the spelt, but the fish was cooked to perfection and the squash really creamy and delicious.)

Monkfish Liver, Cucumber, Cornichons, Mustard Seeds (Monkfish Liver again is not something I’d normally eat, but it was prepared like foie gras and paired with the cornichons it all worked really nicely together.)

“Newport Pride Natural” Hanger Steak, Red Beets, Shallots, Goat Cheese (Normally a heavy steak dish at the end of the meal is too much, but this was again one of my faves of the night.  Although I’m pretty sure everything was a fave.  The steak was cooked perfectly, the beets were raw but sliced so paper thin and the goat cheese melted in your mouth!)

If all of that wasn’t delicious enough we topped off the night with a light, airy, dessert!

Lemon Meringue, Poppy Seed Crumble, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I had read some mixed reviews on yelp so wasn’t sure what to expect but went in super excited and with an open mind (and stomach).  The run is going until February 22nd and although the reservations are booked up, they do accept walk-ins every night and I would highly recommend anyone to check it out!