Ludo Chicken

I don't like crowds, and I like sitting down at a table with silverware for my meals, so with the food truck craze stirring up both controversy and accolades, I must admit I have only been to the esteemed Kogi Truck (see my previous post) until today's Ludo Truck foray.

I went to the Affair in the Garden, an art show in Beverly Hills, which I attend nearly every year. It's a wonderful way to spend an afternoon in a park, walking around sculptures, paintings and jewelry while live music plays. It's a free event, except for the price you will be paying for whatever you purchase, and there are always artists who bring unique and intriguing work to show.

My two favorite artists this year were Jett Jackson's whimsical and slightly disturbed pop surrealism paintings of Alice who never seemed to have escaped from Wonderland, and Thomas Barbey's black and white photographs which combine two negatives in ways that remind me of Escher's mind altering work with ironic titles.

But after wandering and shopping, it was time to eat and since there was no line at the Ludo Truck, I made a beeline for the order window. I decided to try both the chicken wings and the chicken "balls" with bearnaise sauce (you get a choice of BBQ, Honey Dijon, or Bearnaise). The plain 2 piece wing option for $6 includes a coleslaw with jalapeno that was a refreshing spicy take on conventional coleslaw. The wings were slightly sweet with the sauce, peppery, and crispy with no batter. I would definitely order these again. I didn't even dip them in the BBQ sauce (which was spicy sweet).

If heaven smells like thyme, then the chicken balls smelled heavenly. They are made from chicken thighs, so they are juicy dark meat, with no bones and a fragrant aroma that wafted through the container. I ordered two pieces for $6 and couldn't wait to taste them. The crunch of the flour batter was satisfying and perfectly seasoned.
 

Unfortunately the batter was not cooked all the way through as I found out after I had taken a few bites. Yes, that is RAW batter in the center of the chicken ball :(

It's too bad that I didn't have a deep fryer with me or I would have refried it so I could eat it. I was very disappointed that more quality control wasn't used to ensure a completely cooked order; I would have preferred to wait a bit more rather than to have received my order quickly, but not cooked.

I would try them again, perhaps it was an off day for them and they wanted to leave and enjoy the art show in the park too rather than being cooped up like a chicken in a truck all afternoon.