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A On ABC's "The Taste," Ludo Lefebvre comes off as imperious to the burgeoning chefs he's mentoring but also passionate about cooking. In an interview, he's much more relaxed and even more passionate about cooking. "I am not here to be nice with you," he says, referring to a cook on his team. "It is a competition. I want a star. How it is in the kitchen – it is not that easy." Cooking on a timetable is stressful, and Lefebvre acknowledges that even when he cooks at home, he worries about timing a meal so all dishes hit the table simultaneously. Cooking is all he ever wanted to do, he says with such a heavy French cadence that his English sounds French. His grandmother, an accomplished home chef, was such a huge influence that he knew by 10 he wanted to be a chef. "I love to make crepes with my grandma," Lefebvre says. "My mom was always working. I spend all my day with my grandma, and she loved to cook and take care of the house and the kids. My grandpa has a big, big, big garden, and every day he would bring back a lot of vegetables. "Every day, I was doing my homework in kitchen, and my grandma was cooking at the same time," Lefebvre continues. "She was so serious. I just love to watch her – the way she moves, the smells." Lefebvre trained and worked in restaurants before opening pop-up restaurants in Los Angeles. Though he is credited with starting that trend, it evolved because a friend's bakery/cafe was empty at night, and he needed a space. Like the true French chef he is, Lefebvre waxes poetic about butter. "How do you do mashed potatoes in France?" he asks. "One kilo of potato and one kilo of butter." And how do the French stay thin? "We don't eat big amounts of mashed potatoes," he says. "Two spoons and you are done." F TRUE RENCH CHEF TALKS BUTTER, ATTITUDE AND FOOD 'DUCK' MOVIES Dean Jones and Sandy Duncan "The Mighty Ducks" 8 "Howard the Duck" BY JACQUELINE CUTLER What are you currently reading? "I am reading a French cookbook by Michelle Gerhard, a very, very old chef." What did you have for dinner last night? "Bad food, because I was at the Grammys; you go to a private suite. Fried chicken, not very good, swimming in maple syrup. Everything is cold. I eat a lot of spicy cheese popcorn." What is your next project? "I am opening a restaurant next month in West Hollywood. No more pop-ups now. I don't want to move anymore. It is time for me to have my own kitchen. Traveling is nice, but you get tired. I want my own staff and kitchen." When was the last vacation you took – where and why? "I was in Denmark, in Copenhagen, to eat at some restaurants. I am always looking at what is going on, what people are doing. That is why I love my job. I do not know everything." BY JAY BOBBIN "Duck Soup" (1933) The Marx Brothers run amok – as if they'd run any other way – in this comedy classic, with Groucho as the new ruler of Freedonia, a country where his leadership "style" creates problems ... especially for the rich benefactor (perennial Marx foil Margaret Dumont) who has promised to bankroll the region out of financial disaster. "Lord Love a Duck" (1966) The teen movement of the mid-1960s is parodied in director George Axelrod's comedy, with Tuesday Weld as a young woman who's lucky – or so she believes – to have a pal (Roddy McDowall) steering her through the social uncertainty of those times. "The Million Dollar Duck" (1971) Sandy Duncan was making her way from stage stardom into other media when she filmed this family-friendly Disney vehicle, casting her as the wife of a professor (Dean Jones) harboring a scientifically enhanced duck that lays literally golden eggs. "Duck, You Sucker" (1971) Also known as "A Fistful of Dynamite," this Italian-made saga from "spaghetti Western" master Sergio Leone teams Rod Steiger and James Coburn as partners in a scheme to rob a bank during the Mexican Revolution. "Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island" (1983) Given how long he's been a staple of the Warner Bros. studio, the title character would have to find his way onto this list via his feature films. This one actually weaves classic "Looney Tunes" footage into the premise of Daffy and Speedy Gonzales exploiting a wishing well by turning it into a resort of sorts. "Howard the Duck" (1986) An offbeat comic book became an offbeat movie under the stewardship of executive producer George Lucas, with no fewer than eight actors listed as contributors to the live-action incarnation of Howard ... who's brought from his home planet to Earth, where he becomes a rock singer's (Lea Thompson) defender. "The Mighty Ducks" (1992) The Disney studio scored a hit, as well as a name for an actual hockey franchise, with this comedy about a lawyer (Emilio Estevez) who must do his own legal penance and gets a moral reawakening by coaching a junior sports team. The Goshen News • Viewer's Choice • March 11-17, 2013

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