Celebrity Chef Ludo Lefebvre is an award winning culinary artist and chef extraordinaire. Whether appearing on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters show or inside the kitchen for his “pop- up” restaurants in Los Angeles or  the Big Island of Hawaii, you will find magic.

Critics and loyal foodies alike go where Chef Ludo goes and guests are never disappointed. Inspiration comes from seasonal, market fresh, local ingredients.

Below is a sampling of dishes from an incredible meal I enjoyed last March at the fabulous Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. Bet you wish you could savor theses dishes right now!

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

My husband and I started with an appetizer of Smoked Mahi-Mahi Rillette on toasted bread. I’m thinking I really need to ask for this recipe.

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Next came the Hirame Ceviche. Just the list of ingredients is daunting. Aji Amarillo, strawberry papaya water, rainbow carrots and salmon roe. This chef is serious about his ingredients.

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I couldn’t resist the Crispy Chicken with chorizo, eggs and hamakua mushrooms. The skin of the chicken was crackling crispy and the meat tender.

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Of course, no dinner is complete without a fish course and Chef Ludo presented a culinary masterpiece of Steamed Hapu’upu’u (Hawaiian sea bass) with crispy caramelized skin, miso cream, fennel, navel orange and tonka beans. 

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WAIT! THERE’S MORE?  I simply HAD to taste this beautiful Red Beet Gazpacho soup with goat cheese chantilly and a hint of balsamic. Lightly balanced and visually spectacular, this was delicious (my husband doesn’t even like beets)!

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Again, what strikes Chef Ludo’s guests is the unusual combination of ingredients and the visually artistic plating of each dish. Here, Chef presents Seared Foie Gras Pina Colada with Macadamia nuts. Is that a slice of pineapple to balance the richness of the Foie Gras and provide a local nod to Hawaii?

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Of course,  no meal is complete without desert. I could have eaten Chef’ Ludo’s Lemon Meyer Meringue Tart not only to complete our culinary experience, but for breakfast the next morning. Really, this is a bite size piece of heaven.

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There’s a reason Chef Ludo has received so many accolades and press. How many chefs are working their first three star Michelin restaurant at the tender age of fourteen?

Having trained with some of the finest chefs and restaurants in the world, Chef Ludo, is now ready to create culinary masterpieces when and where he wants – always on his own terms.

Whether he is single handedly creating another menu for his roving restaurant concept called “LudoBites,” or grilling Hawaiian fish on a beach side grill, this James Beard Rising Chef awarded chef is the man to watch, if you love great food.

In February of this year, the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on the BIg Island of Hawaii, hosted a Chef Fest, billed as the ultimate culinary getaway in paradise.  This  Taste of America event included many famous chefs traveling from the mainland to prepare gourmet dinners, along with daily cooking demonstrations/events and mixology classes.

P.S. On Sunday’s last day of the Made in America food event, the Chef’s Champagne Brunch, Chef Ludo made his famous eggs. Remember Chef Ludo is an impresario and a master at combining unusual ingredients. His creamy, whisked eggs combined sea urchin roe, champagne, shallots caviar, chive flowers and lobes of sea urchin roe (uni). Talk about telling a story through food!

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Chef’s wife, Krissey, is his business partner, mother of their twins, and a well known LA attorney and former finalist in the Apprentice! What an accomplished team.

Check Chef Ludo out on his website and our blog post on this fabulous chef. Whatever you do, don’t miss the next Taste of America food event at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai next fall.

– The Gourmet Review