Ludo is creative in multiple ways. He has his hand in every plate that leaves the kitchen, painted all of the art on BREADBAR’s walls and serves as the DJ. Based on his paintings, he also seems to like crowns.

TO START, we split a plate of Gougeres with Mornay sauce ($4), filled with molten cheese.

Ludo’s take on eggs Benedict involved a perfectly poached egg, mustardy mayonnaise and a slice of Breadbar’s black olive bread ($5).

Twin toasted baguette slabs hosted rich chicken liver mousse ($6) torpedos and crispy bacon slivers. It’s a good thing we split this starter four ways.

Ludo punched me in the palate with his explosively flavored miso soup, which contained big squares of melt-in-your-mouth foie gras, crispy radish, red onion, tender enoki mushrooms and briny nori.

Ludo’s summery salad was much more successful, featuring rare tuna cubes and sweet watermelon, raw julienned beets and bursting balsamic-infused tapioca pearls.

I expected Ludo to break out some culinary fireworks, but never expected him to lower the boom on fried chicken. He coated the dark meat in herbs de Provence and fried the bird in duck fat. That may have been a shortcut to poultry nirvana, but so what. He plated the chicken on “Basque vegetables,” which consisted of spice-soaked peppers, onions and potatoes. This was a surprising showstopper.

Cassoulet is typically a gut-busting dish that involves sausage and has been known to include the fat of multiple beasts, including pigs and ducks. Ludo’s version was shockingly delicate, involving a luscious fillet of cod that separated at the touch of a fork, fava beans, lemon and sage.

A dish that jumped off the menu: Ludo’s braised lamb “seven hours” with black curry, rosemary polenta, harissa and zucchini. The lamb was overcooked and somewhat gamy, but still pretty flavorful. His polenta was outstanding, gritty and reminiscent of grits. Ludo’s black curry paste was only notionally Asian, incorporating coffee, black olives, ginger and lemongrass, but the flavor was still concentrated.

Ludo’s spicy chocolate mousse was feathery and spiked with jalapeño, leading to a finish with some real kick. The bowl also hosted a concentrated orange puree blended with extra virgin olive oil and decorated with edible marigolds.

Previous attempts at chilled fruit soup have fallen short, including at Chez Panisse, but Ludo managed to pull it off. His sweet but not cloying strawberry soup featured big chunks of rhubarb and a fluffy cap of marshmallow ice cream.

We finished with fromage du jour, a cheese board hosting twin columns of soft petit Basque paired with whipped honey-like date puree and runny Epoisses paired with waxy honeycomb.