Bastille Day 2011: 10 French Things To Do Today in LA

Bastille Day 2011: 10 French Things To Do Today in LA

On July 14th, the defiant French stormed the Bastille, and it marked the beginning of the end of the French Revolution. 222 years later, we honor the independence of modern France -- way over here in Los Angeles! -- with 12 hours of $2 oysters, three hours of free rosé wine pours and at least 20 minutes allotted to beating the Internet on OpenTable.com (for LudoBites reservations, of course). Behold, the 10 most important things to do on Bastille Day in Los Angeles: LudoBites: At 4pm today, the online floodgates will open, wherein you and hundreds of thousands of other Ludo enthusiasts will attempt to procure a reservation (via OpenTable.com) for the seventh iteration of LudoBites, chef Ludovic Lefebvre's infamous pop-up affair. Returning to Downtown's Gram & Papa's for dinner service Tuesday through Friday from August 3 through September 10, there is a total of 2,420 available seats. Of the 2,420 diners, how many will get to sample Ludo's deconstructed pot au feu only Ludo knows.LudoBites 007 at Gram & Papa's, 227 East Ninth Street, at South Los Angeles Street (213-624-7272 or ludolefebvre.com/ludobites) L'Epicerie Market: Your morning should start out no differently: one absolutely perfect latte at L'Epicerie Market, s'il vous plait. But it's Bastille Day, and we condone your decision to ride out the holiday at Thierry Perez's café and slowly graze on French tapas fare and cocktails a la Monaco, Kir and Panache -- it's all just $4! Pray that chef Sebastien Archambault will offer his heavenly beef tongue.L'Epicerie Market, 9000 Culver Boulevard, at Duquesne Avenue (310-815-1600 or lepiceriemarket.com) Bar Bouchon: From 10am to 10pm, the oysters at Bar Bouchon will cost just $2 a shuck. But indulge a bit -- get a traditional French country basket as directed by Thomas Keller and revel in picnic fare like escargot and Bayonne ham croquettes. Sip a gin drink called "Off With Their Heads!" and play bocce ball in the park. And ah, yes, there will also be a hired caricaturist to sketch your likeness and prove you look terrific in a beret.Bar Bouchon, 235 North Canon Drive, at Dayton Way (310-271-9910 or bouchonbistro.com) The Little Door and Little Next Door: LA's longstanding most-romantic restaurant -- and its little-sister brasserie -- are not only providing crepes and live entertainment, but the restaurants are offering discounts on rosé-wine drinking. It's officially "Pink Week" at The Little Door, and proceeds of rosé sales will benefit the Pablove Foundation, a local charity devoted to fighting childhood cancer with love.The Little Door and Little Next Door, 8164 West Third Street, at South La Jolla Avenue (323-951-1210 or thelittledoor.com) The Spare Room: The mezzanine level of the Roosevelt Hotel will be transformed into a cabaret tonight; Paris Loves LA's Adele Jacques will perform electronic-ified songs of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot, and the bartenders of The Spare Room have curated a special menu of Bastille-storming libations -- we want to wrap our lips around a "Duke For a Day" (Cognac, lavender and lemon) and a "Champagne Flip" (Champagne, Cognac, Cointreau, egg yolk, cream and sugar).The Spare Room, 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, at North Orange Avenue (323-769-7296 or spareroomhollywood.com) Fig & Olive: The chi-chi hubbub is breathing life into Melrose Place almost single-handedly, and tonight, it's offering a special $50 prix-fixe tasting menu (which includes tastings of two rosé wines of Provence). But if you RSVP (RSVP@figandolive.com) for today's Bastille Happy Hour, Fig & Olive is offering complimentary pours of six rosé wines of Provence from 4:30pm to 7:30pm.Fig & Olive, 8490 Melrose Place, at La Cienega Boulevard (310-360-9100 or figandolive.com) Café Stella: If you seek a hipster Bastille Day fete, Café Stella is providing it. There will be a DJ, there will be tables cleared, there will be a party. Like around sunset. At press time, that's all the Café Stella folks could divulge, but we presume the Intelligentsia squatters will simply saunter over, eat some Brie and request remixes of Yelle songs.Café Stella, 3932 West Sunset Boulevard, at Sanborn Avenue (323-666-0265 or cafestella.com) Comme Ca: Chef David Myers is offering a $40 three-course menu, wherein the second and third courses will be far too difficult to decide upon. The French onion soup is a first-course given; but between steak frites and crispy skate grenobloise, what is a Francophile foodie to do? And for dessert, will it be crème brulee, apple tart tatin or chocolate brioche bread pudding?! What to drink will be an easy decision: You'll have both available $8 cocktails -- the "Le Fete Nationale" and "Le Quatorze Juillet."Comme Ca, 8479 Melrose Avenue, at La Cienega Boulevard (323-782-1104 or commecarestaurant.com) Pinot Bistro: The Patina Group's Valley outpost is providing a beautiful $45 three-course tasting menu to commemorate France. You'll begin with an amuse bouche of Roquefort and bacon gougeres, then if it were up to us, we'd order the terrine of foie gras, the braised beef short rib bourguignon and the cherry clafoutis with hazelnut gelato as our perfect Viva la France meal.Pinot Bistro, 12969 Ventura Boulevard, at Coldwater Canyon Avenue (818-990-0500 or patinagroup.com/restaurant.php?restaurants_id=60) Le Saint Amour: We often find ourselves celebrating our independence at Le Saint Amour during lunch, but it's only Bastille Day that a two-course lunch is $17.89 (ahem, 1789 being the year the Bastille got stormed). You're free to choose between an appetizer and an entrée or an entrée and a dessert (and you should see the dinner specials!). You'll eschew your usual Arnold Palmer for a $5 Bastille Day Panache (two-thirds beer, one-third lemonade). Bonus: There's live jazz across the street tonight.Le Saint Amour, 9725 Culver Boulevard, at Washington Boulevard (310-842-8155 or lesaintamour.com)

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