Ludo Lefebvre

Ludovic "Ludo" Lefebvre (French pronunciation: ​[ləˈfɛvʁ]), born 18 April 1971, is a French chef, restaurateur, pop-up impresario, author, and television personality. He trained with the great masters in France for 12 years before moving to Los Angeles. He was quickly awarded the prestigious Mobil Travel Guide Five Star Award at two different restaurants, L'Orangerie in 1999 and 2000 and Bastide in 2006. He then went on to create his uber-popular LudoBites concept, a multi-city restaurant tour, followed by opening two restaurants in Los Angeles, Trois Mec and Petit Trois. Trois Mec was named Best New Restaurant Los Angeles in 2013 by LA Weekly,Best Restaurant 2014 - LA Weekly Ludo was named Best Chef 2015 by LA Weekly and in 2016 took back the title of Best Restaurant in Los Angeles 2016

Lefebvre was born in Auxerre, Burgundy. In his early teens he expressed his desire to be a chef. His father took him to a local restaurant named Maxime and asked them to give Lefebvre some menial job in order to discourage him, but he loved it. His love for food began in his childhood, spending many of his days in his grandmothers kitchen.

His formal culinary training began at age 14 at the restaurant L’Esperance in Vézelay under chef Marc Meneau, where he worked for three years. He then went on to work with Pierre Gagnaire at his eponymous restaurant in Saint-Étienne (now closed), then with Alain Passard at L'Arpège, where he trained in what he describes as "the school of fire," learning to control and play with heat. Ludo concluded his formal French training with Guy Martin at Le Grand Vefour, from whom he states that he learned the business side of the food service industry.