Test Kitchen: Walter Manzke 9575 West Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90035 I knew Test Kitchen’s devilish business plan would keep me coming back for more! As a recap, the kitchen opens its doors to various chefs and restaurateurs to allow them to try new dishes and menu concepts…and for us to sample these new…
Test Kitchen: Red Medicine 9575 West Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90035 This past Sunday was the last night in Red Medicine’s run at Test Kitchen, LA’s new “pop-up” restaurant. Drawing upon the success of the now-nationwide famous LudoBites’ pop-up concept, the restaurant is well…a test kitchen. There’s no permanent chef; rather, the space is…
LudoBites Truck aka LudoTruck Locations around the city I don’t typically review the food trucks I visit, but the LudoBites truck is a little different from the typical food truck. Based on the now-famous fried chicken served at previous LudoBites engagements, the truck serves a few varieties of fried chicken, as well as a number…
Some people know Totoraku as the “secret beef restaurant.” Others have no idea what it is. Likely the hardest reservation in Los Angeles, Totoraku is a non-descript “hidden” restaurant serving what many consider the best beef in the city. However, the restaurant does not serve steaks; rather, it specializes in yakiniku – grilled cuts of meat cooked over coals at your table. Given that I’m a beef lover, and that it’s consistently in the top LA restaurants on Yelp, it’s somewhere I’ve wanted to go for a while.
Breadbar is probably more famous for LudoBites and its Hatchi series, than for its bread and rather unspectacular food. The Century City location hosts the Hatchi Series, in which chefs around the city will pop-in for one night and prepare a menu of 8 courses for $8 each. On this night, Makoto Okuwa was in the kitchen under the theme The Power of Miso. Okuwa is the chef of Manhattan Beach’s Sashi Restaurant, and recently appeared on Iron Chef America, challenging Michael Symon.
Bouchon has become an ‘old staple’ – the restaurant consistently serves up delicious and comfortable food. So, being in Vegas this past weekend with a big group, Bouchon was a good choice to provide some good food that would appeal to everyone.
I was lucky enough to score a reservation to the opening night of this fifth incarnation of LudoBites. The husband-and-wife team of Ludo and Krissy Lefebvre continues to dramatically grow in popularity, clearly indicated by the reservation system crashing once reservations were available this time around. 3000 people tried to log on to the reservation system when it opened up at 5pm on July 7, more than it could handle.
We came to Daniel Boulud’s sole Las Vegas restaurant on what would be its last night of service. The Daniel Boulud name just did not attract enough people to the restaurant – evidenced by the restaurant being only half full on its final night during July 4th weekend.