Midtown Lunch

I hit up the Ludo Fried Chicken Truck yesterday for the first time since the end of last year, and discovered a big change.  No more balls!  Not sure when they started doing this (it may have been awhile ago), but Ludo’s Provencal fried chicken is no longer franken-balls held together with lord knows what.  Instead, they’re using what appear to be whole thighs- making them more like dark meat chicken strips.  It’s completely understandable considering how much work it takes to make Ludo’s famous balls, and it’s hard to be mad since the chicken still has the same great herbes de provence packed flavor.  Oh… and the portions are waaaaay bigger- so there’s that.

Congrats to Starry Kitchen for now serving our favorite balls in Los Angeles, uncontested. But for fried chicken from a truck, Ludo is still king.

Related:
Ludo Fried Chicken is a Truck Worth Chasing

There is not much I can say about the infamous Chef Ludo that you couldn’t read in the L.A. Times or the New York Times or the L.A. Weekly, or in the millions of blog posts that have been written about him. But I will say this- the prospect of an under $10 Ludo lunch is especially exciting to me. When he introduced his ham and cheese sandwich at Gram & Papa’s downtown I got a little giddy…  but ham and cheese is child’s play compared to fried chicken. So once it was announced that Ludo would be taking his famous fried chicken to the streets permanently, the official stalking began.

There have been sporadic sightings over the past few months (like the one a few weeks ago at the Tuesday only LAX food truck lot) but lately it feels like they’re finally gearing up for an official launch.  They’ve even posted a schedule to their Facebook page and a menu to their MobiMunch page, so when I saw they were going to be parked on the westside for lunch yesterday I had to go check it out. (Fat man likey fried chicken.)

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This is not a mirage people. This was the scene about 30 minutes ago at the Tuesday Food Truck Lot near LAX, on 98th Street behind 5985 Century Blvd. (which is totally amazing btw!) And that, in the foreground, is the infamous, rarely seen in public, Ludo Fried Chicken Truck with absolutely no line. To be completely honest, they were getting the food out lightning fast and by the time I got there shortly after 1pm they had run out of their signature fried chicken balls (and slaw), but there was still the brand spanking new honey garlic glazed chicken wings and buttermilk fried chicken finger strips, plus biscuits. I would have expected them to be slammed until the very last morsel of crispy chicken goodness had been sold.

Presumably today’s lunch was a little test run for this Friday night, when the truck will be parked Downtown for the last night of Ludo Bites 5.0 at Gram & Papa’s. I can 100% guarantee this scene will not be repeated…

Related:
Ludo Parisian Sandwich Now Available at Gram & Papa’s

Like many folks in Los Angeles, the first time I ever heard of Gram & Papa’s was when Chef Ludo Lefebvre announced he would be bringing his pop up restaurant sensation there this past April.  But for people who work in the Fashion District, and don’t mind spending $10 on a sandwich, Gram & Papa’s is a decent (albeit pricey) lunchtime standby. Their chicken salad sandwich was named one of the best in the city by Los Angeles magazine last month, but Ludo was clearly the biggest thing to ever happen to this place- and even though Ludobites 4.0 dinner service ended a few weeks ago, his spirit lives on in the form of “Ludo’s Parisian”- a lunchtime special now being served at the Downtown sandwich shop.

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