Ludo Lefebvre

french restaurants/los angeles
petit trois and trois mec

portrait by TODD COLE
interview by EMILIEN CRESPO

EMILIEN CRESPO — You started cooking at 14 under chef Marc Meneau at L’Espérance in Burgundy. How did that happen?

LUDO LEFEBVRE — I was a troubled kid; I got kicked out of two schools, and my father got fed up with it. He told me I had to work for real, and I was forced to apprentice for one of three things: mechanic, hairdresser, or cook. I picked cook because I loved eating. At that time, cooking for a three-star Michelin restaurant was the only way to learn how to cook; there were hardly any cookbooks, TV shows, no Internet. You had to suffer, get abused. I was lucky to be accepted at Marc Meneau’s restaurant thanks to my grandfather, who knew him. On my first day, the chef sat me down and…