A Night at Ludo's Table

Ludo Lefebvre

After training in France for 12 years with the great masters, Chef Ludo Lefebvre came to Los Angeles and was soon awarded the prestigious Mobil Travel Guide Five Star Award at two different restaurants, L'Orangerie in 1999 and 2000 and Beside in 2006. From 2007 to 2012, he became known as the "pop-up king" and has been credited with igniting the phenomenon of the pop-up restaurant and establishing it's viability as a business model.

In September 2010, Ludo brought fried chicken to the streets of Los Angeles by opening his food truck, known on the streets as "LudoTruck". In October 2013, he opened his first brick and mortar location, LudoBird, within the Staples Center (now LA's Crypto.com Arena), with a second location opened in 2016 at Universal City Walk, Hollywood. Turning his attention back to the "refined" dining of his pedigree, from 2013-2020 Ludo operated Trois Mec, a 28-seat restaurant in the heart of Los Angeles, which was twice named "L.A.'s Best Restaurant" by LA Weekly and was awarded one Michelin star by the California Michelin Guide.

In July 2014, Chef Ludo opened Petit Trois, a "Bar a la carte" concept that was honored as a 2015 James Beard finalist for Best New Restaurant. The second location of Petit Trois, with added breakfast and table service, opened in Sherman Oaks, CA in April 2018. Both Trois Mec and Petit Trois were included in the LA Times 2018 "101 Restaurants We Love" list. Additionally, Petit Trois was included in the 2019 Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand.

In winter 2022, Chef Ludo brought his acclaimed french cuisine to Denver with the opening of Chez Maggy, a French Brasserie inside the Thompson Hotel. Chez Maggy was an homage to Chef Ludo's Denver family (his wife Krissy is from Denver) and combines his classic techniques and approach to French cuisine with elements and ingredients native to Colorado. In 2024, Costa Palmas, a beachfront resort community in Mexico, partnered Ludo to create Delphine, a day club offering Nicoise cuisine, lounging, and dancing to the community. Petit Trois will be opening at MOLLIE Aspen later this year.

Ludo has been named one of the "World's 50 Greatest Chefs" by Relais & Chateaux and was a James Beard Award finalist for a "Rising Star Chef, " "Best Chef West" and "Best Culinary Program" for his hosting of PBS's Mind of Chef. In December 2015, Ludo received the prestigious Chevalier de Arts des Lettres award from his home country of France. Ludo starred in three seasons of the ABC hit cooking competition, The Taste, and is the judge on TBS's reality cooking competition Rat in the Kitchen.

He is the author of two cookbooks: LudoBites, Recipes and Stories from the Pop-Up Restaurants of Ludo Lefebvre and Crave, The Feast of the Five Senses. For six seasons, Ludo and his wife Krissy Lefebvre have produced the cooking web series Ludo a la Maison featuring Chef Ludo preparing some of his favorite recipes.