Vegan Dinner at the Breadbar with Kim Barnouin of SkinnyBitch

My girlfriends had been talking about it, I had heard whisperings about it here and there, and it had reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. What is this you ask? Well SkinnyBitch of course! Well, not quite of course. I'll be honest, with the little free time that I do have, I have very little time to read, and when I do decide to pick up a novel here and there, it is not a diet/nutrition book (however, recently I have taken to historical fiction).

Because of BreadBar's immense success with Ludo Bites, I decided to check out their calendar for any interesting upcoming events. I saw that Kim Barnouin was hosting a SkinnyBitch dinner. That evening I mentioned the dinner to my friend Erin and she jumped on the opportunity to go. I still had not read the book myself. Then, days before the event I decided that, in the off chance that I got the opportunity to speak to Kim Barnouin herself, I probably should read the book. So Sunday night I cuddled up on the couch and learned everything I needed to know about the "crap" we put in our bodies. The book was actually very good, a quick and easy read and full of interesting little tidbits on how to live a healthier life. No crazy diet plans, just information that is simply based on common sense. I was officially ready to be a SkinnyBitch.


The dinner this evening was a 7 course vegan feast, specially approved by the SkinnyBitch herself, and prepared by Chef Nori. The meal began with a watermelon gazpacho with tapioca pearls. When this came out it looked like a fabulous pink champagne cocktail. Now that's the way to start an evening! Unfortunately, we took our first sip and it tasted like tomato soup - not champagne -- darn! After getting over the disappointment of our first course not being champagne, the gazpacho itself was actually quite good. It was refreshing, flavorful and nicely complimented by the texture of the tapioca pearls.

The meal itself consisted of broccolini bruchette with kimchi; eggplant caviar; ginger and scallion marinated tofu with seaweed salad and white sesame vinaigrette; kobucha squash soup with asian pear, fried chickpea and thai basil pesto and red curry with quinoa and soy tzatziki.


Every element of the meal was so unique and full of flavor. My favorite was the tofu with the seaweed salad. The tofu was fried and had a great crunchy outside with a soft silky center and was complimented with the salty seaweed salad and the creamy and nutty seasame vinaigrette. To top it all off, the entire meal was incredibly filling, and we still had dessert!

For dessert we were served a warm mole chocolate risotto and avocado chocolate mousse. The avocado chocolate mousse was amazing. There was no hint of avocado, just purely decadent and creamy chocolate goodness. I could have eaten a whole bowl of that mousse!

Overall the meal was a complete success. I was amazed at how flavorful, diverse and filling a vegan meal could be. After reading the book, and experiencing such a great meal, I decided to try and incorporate some of what I had learned into my everyday life. An overall "cleaner" lifestyle. No more refined sugar, *less* coffee, more organic foods, less meat, and I have to be able to read all the ingredients on the foods that I buy. That is all that i'm committing to now, baby steps.

Oh yes, and Kim did sent us each off with a to-go package of homemade vegan chocolate chip cookies, recipe included! They made the perfect post lunch dessert at work the following day! Thank you Kim!

Breadbar - Century City
10250 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90067
310 277 3770

LUDO BITES - THE FINALE

I heard about Ludo Bites a few months ago, I don't remember exactly where, but since then the city has been all a-buzz over Ludo, and for good reason. The food is unique, decadent, innovative...simply divine. Dave and I made our first trip to Ludo Bites in July, and I knew I had to come back for the final celebration. And I did. And Ludo did not disappoint.

This time Dave could not accompany me so I brought along two friends, two friends who are now two new Ludo fans. The evening did not disappoint. There was a sense of euphoria in the air, the music was playing, the diners were laughing, the staff was all smiles, and the cameras were trailing Ludo's every move during his final hurrah.



We began the evening with, of course, a great bottle of red, and a large serving of Ludo's amazing lavender butter. Oh yeah, and some bread with the butter. Our first course was the lobster medallions with honey-sherry vinegar, daikon and rosemary. This was my favorite course, and Erins. The sweet and tangy vinaigrette perfectly complemented the soft and cool lobster. Oh yes, and we were so anxious to dive into this dish that I couldn't even get a picture in before each one of us had devoured our portion. Oops!



Next we tried the infamous Foie Gras Black Croque-Monsieur with ham, cherries and amaretto. Ludo takes the typical croque-monsieur, which is just a hot ham and cheese sandwich, and takes it to a different universe. Ludo's version starts off with squid-ink break, specially made for Ludo, and then fills it with foie gras, ham and cheese, and tops if off with a heavenly cherry amaretto jelly. This was my second favorite after the lobster medallions. Extraordinary.



Our third course was the Lacquered Pork Belly with mustard ice cream and vadouvan. Yes, mustard ice cream, and I have to admit, that was the selling point for me. How can you not order something on the menu that is served with mustard ice cream? When the plate came, Erin and Dana looked at it with a bit of skepticism. My response - just trust Ludo. Our waitress recommended that we "get a little of everything" on our bite (the same instructions apply to each dish). We happily obliged. It was awesome, BBQ in a bite. Even the two skeptics took down every last morsel. Something about each and ever element perfectly melded together to make the most awesome tasting BBQ bite.



We ended our culinary journey with the Fish & Chips, kimchee, honey-beer and peanut butter. This is another one of Ludo's take on the classics. This dish was actually a piece of halibut with a peanut crust served with a potato chip stick and a side of kimchee. Once again, you had to get a little bit of everything on each bite. This wasn't your typical fish and chips, by any stretch of the imagination, but the flavors and textures all worked together to make one amazing dish.

Thank you Ludo for bringing innovation and culinary ecstasy to Los Angeles. You are a trail blazer and a true magician in the kitchen. I can't wait for your next venture, and when you find you next stop, I will be first in line when the doors open!



PS: Thank you Krissy for your patience and your help, sorry for the +1! But you now have two new fans spreading the Ludo-gospel! :)

LUDO BITES

We finally made our journey to the highly acclaimed LUDO BITES. I must say, I was waiting in anticipation all week. Especially with Ludo's tweeting, musing about his potential ingredients and dishes, my mouth was watering.

Ludo Bites is a temporary "guerrilla style" pop-up restaurant that is serving out of the Breadbar in Beverly Hills. Ludo is serving his ingenious creations here Tuesday-Saturday nights until August 22.

We began the evening with the snails, spinach and curry and the creamy polenta, cantal cheese, oxtail beef and black truffle. I will admit, both me and my boyfriend were snail virgins. I am willing to try anything once (almost anything - i've seen what Zimmern and Bourdain eat, and I am not going to promise anything). I had a feeling Ludo would not disappoint, and he did not. The snails were wonderful. Well, at least the foamed curry, spinach and toast was full of intense flavor, and the snails just provided an interesting texture and protein. Overall, we were both largely impressed. However, my favorite dish of the night was the polenta and oxtail. I can guarantee you I will be recreating this dish this winter and snuggling up on the couch with a huge bowlful of this on more than one occasion. It was wonderfully rich and comforting. Perfectly seasoned, and a pleasure to the palate. We could have ended the evening right there.

But we didn't. We moved on to the bacon tart (yes, bacon tart) and the "spaghetti" carbonara" (both of which were recommended by the Chef himself). The bacon tart is not for the health conscious, or those with high cholesterol. The bacon tart is composed of chopped up bacon, almonds and cinnamon atop of a puff pastry and served alongside chantilly butter. And, yes, I admit, we generously smothered the butter atop the bacon - when in Rome... Honestly, it was not our favorite dish, however it was an interesting experience. The "spaghetti" carbonara was actually not spaghetti but rather strands of celery root in a peppery cream sauce with wonderfully large prawns. It was incredibly flavorful and you didn't miss the pasta one bit. The celery root actually added a nice texture to the dish, and lightened up what usually is a pretty heavy meal.

We ended the night with a sweet - and salty - note. Along with being snail virgins, we were also caviar virgins. So we had to order the panna cotta, caramel and caviar. When it arrived, being caviar virgins, we each tried a bit of the caviar alone. That was an experience in itself, salty fishiness, not anything you want on top of any dessert you are about to eat. However, then we tried the entire dish together, the creamy cool panna cotta, with sweet caramel, and the salty caviar, and I have to admit, it was very good. Each element perfectly complimented the other, the saltiness, the creaminess and the sweetness. I am not sure that I would order it again, but I am sure glad I tried it!

Thank you Ludo for a wonderful culinary experience. We will be seeing you again soon!

P.S. if you want to taste these innovative culinary creations, you better hurry up, you only have 2 weeks left. After that you will have to cross your fingers and hope that his next restaurant "pops up" back here in LA.