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>> BOURDAIN: The demands on a celebrity chef-- especially one that runs three vibrant restaurants and a fried chicken franchise-- can be rigorous.

In addition to ensuring consistency and quality in his establishments, there's an online presence, TV appearances and interviews, photo shoots, and a family life.

(cackling) When Ludo Lefebvre needs to escape the grinding pressure of Los Angeles, he turns to his beloved homeland, France.

Here there is an emphasis placed on the joy of life.

In something as simple as a baguette with Bordier butter, or as extravagant as a chestnut cream-filled pastry.

Enter: the Mind of a Chef.

>> LEFEBVRE: Cooking is not just a recipe.

It's instinct.

Don't need to use caviar, fried chicken is cool, too.

My mom will be proud of me.

♪ ♪ (sniffs) >> I'll do that, I'll fix it.

>> LEFEBVRE: Merci.

The life of a chef now, it's way more than just cooking.

>> Thank you.

>> LEFEBVRE: You're welcome.

Not just about, you know, doing my sauce everyday, and butcher my fish.

We need to promote ourself a lot.

It's a lot of competition now.

You have no choice, it's part of the game.

L.A. is a big, big, big city.

It's very difficult to plan a day because of traffic.

The driving thing really breaks the ambience of the city.

Really affect our lifestyle here.

And it's basically when you have a lot of restaurants, you know, dealing with the drama-- somebody don't show up, the freezer broke, so no ice cream that night.

I mean just every day.

Everything's like this now.

Life is so stressful, life is so speed now.

And sometimes it takes you out of the creativity.

And I have a little hard time with that.

Sometimes you need a little break to get away and get some joy.

Very close from my restaurant is a French vintage store where you can find a little treasure everywhere.

I always find something which makes me smile.

(sniffs) (sighs) It's really magical.

Like you're in Paris.

(laughter, chatter) I really miss the lifestyle, how we live in France.

We celebrate life.

Taking time to be together.

This joie de vivre, this art of living.

To just walk in the street, to smell the air, the smell of the coffee in the little bar, the bread in the bakery in the morning.

I mean I miss that, I miss all this ambiance.

The best pâtisseries were in France, especially in Paris.

Pâtisserie make me very happy because when I grew up, after I finish school, I always stop in the bakery.

A good flan, a croissant.

Of course, not a fancy one by a child.

But Jacques Genin is a very famous pâtissier in Paris.

He really cares about his passion, and you really feel that in this pâtisserie.

The store is pretty unique inside.

White glove take the chocolate, one by one.

It's so precious.

Very elegant, simple.

Pâtisserie, it shines.

Everything is presented so well, so much detail, you feel like you're buying luxury, but all this just for a cake, a pâtisserie.

>> LEFEBVRE: Genius.

>> LEFEBVRE: Wow.

(speaking French) >> LEFEBVRE: Like an orgasm.

He always have this happiness, this energy.

He's pretty amazing.

Wow.

>> LEFEBVRE: The technique, the ingredients just talk by themselves.

That's what I like about Jacques.

>> LEFEBVRE: The technique, the way he makes the cream very light... >> LEFEBVRE: Butter need to be at room temperature, but the cream very cold.

>> LEFEBVRE: Heaven, I'm in heaven.

>> LEFEBVRE: He's so precise.

The discipline to be consistent, my God.

Oof...

It's about the science, pâtisserie.

Ingredients, technique, and detail.

>> LEFEBVRE: And after he was tired of that, he become a chocolatier.

It's art à la française.

This sense of detail with each bite.

>> LEFEBVRE: He's thankful for what he's doing.

He love to give happiness to people.

That's what make him very, very special.

This Paris-Brest, it's pure joy.

A lot of pastry is so good in France because the quality of the butter.

The butter in the north of France, in Brittany, the flavor is creamy, melt in your mouth.

You feel like you're with the cow in the prairie eating the grass.

It's pretty unique.

Amazing terroir.

The sea is not far.

Mr. Bordier, he start his business of butter.

It's important the way he manipulates the butter to make the butter better.

It's really the best butter in the world.

Ooh la la!

Wow.

Vincent is the right hand of Mr. Bordier.

Wow.

♪ ♪ (grunts) >> LEFEBVRE: It's crazy.

(swishing, machine whirring) >> LEFEBVRE: The sound, it's amazing.

>> LEFEBVRE: You can hear now it's very wet.

It's like we are working the mud.

The sound is so different, it's crazy.

>> LEFEBVRE: Wow.

They're keeping the tradition here.

A machine cannot do that.

♪ ♪ Wow.

Wow.

>> LEFEBVRE: Butter is crème de la crème.

It's part of our culture.

No French cooking with no butter.

>> LEFEBVRE: 1,000 pieces.

Ask Julia.

You know, Julia?

(imitating Julia Child): A little more butter, more cream.

Butter and butter.

(groans) >> LEFEBVRE: So cool!

Whoo!

Oh, an escargot!

Wow!

For Petit Trois!

My restaurant!

That's precious, guys, thank you very much.

That's so special, making my own butter.

Like everybody is so happy to work here.

But I think they're more proud about what they do.

You know, I would be proud, too.

I mean it's a piece of art what they're doing.

Chefs, we don't do that much, actually.

We just have good ingredients, and after, cooking it's so easy.

If we don't have these guys, there will be nobody in the kitchen.

♪ ♪ Merci.

Merci, au revoir.

It's so magical, this energy of the lifestyle in Paris.

(sighs) You stop next to the canal in the afternoon.

You take a little break to drink coffee or eat a pâtisserie.

It's amazing to see the diversity of what people are doing during the day.

To see how people live in Paris, how people enjoy life.

I read a book, playing game, I love to watch that.

It's really a pleasure for me to just walk.

I love to walk.

Get lost sometimes.

It's beautiful everywhere.

I never realize that when I was a kid.

To just discover new things.

There's always something new.

♪ ♪ But my favorite store is called Deyrolle.

Wow.

Just amazing.

Wow!

You know I think we have like 150 different variety of rooster.

It's pretty amazing.

He's scary, this guy, look at this.

This animal got so strong, man, look at his feet.

A long time ago it's a Viking of France in Brittany.

You know, we call them the Gaulois.

Like very strong guys, and this cock ate a Gaulois.

Look at this shape, it's just pretty amazing.

In France, you have this story we always say a rooster wake up every morning, its feet in the (bleep), but it's still singing-- happiness.

When I was doing Ludo Bites, my pop-up restaurant, it was difficult.

Wake up every morning with my feet in the (bleep).

But I was still very happy.

It's a great inspiration for me to try to bring more of this French culture to America.

It will be good to find a balance, you know, between America and France.

(speaking French) Remember after school, you walk in the little village, and you have little pastry.

>> Yeah, it's the best, yeah.

>> LEFEBVRE: Stephane was complaining to me it's difficult to find some classic French pastry.

When's the last time you have a good millefeuille?

>> You know what, it was in France for sure, yeah.

>> LEFEBVRE: I grew up with millefeuille.

I mean do chocolate, we do strawberry, we do praline.

You know, but the classic I like is really vanilla.

We're going to do the crème pâtissière.

>> Show me how you do it.

>> LEFEBVRE: Oh, I love it.

>> I'm excited.

>> LEFEBVRE: Stephane Bombet is a good friend of mine.

He have amazing restaurant here, very successful and it's something I respect a lot.

>> You know what's the best part of cooking?

It's when you smell things.

It's almost better when eating.

The different flavors getting together-- I love that.

>> LEFEBVRE: We always meet and have a good conversation around good food, good drink, and just talking about life.

So now roll our puff pastry.

>> Nice.

>> LEFEBVRE: We incorporate butter and we do layers.

That's why they call that millefeuille.

Because when it cooks, it's like you have a thousand layers of flour and butter.

>> What I like about millefeuille is the mix of the custard and the crunchiness.

It's the perfect texture.

But you know, crème pâtissière is the best part of the dessert.

Oh, yeah.

>> LEFEBVRE: I love to talk with him about our memories in France.

Beautiful.

I think we miss especially the food.

I'm just sharing moments with him.

>> It looks so good.

(chuckles) >> LEFEBVRE: I will do that.

>> Oh yes.

>> LEFEBVRE: That's good.

My favorite thing to eat that.

It's good to have a good friend.

It's very difficult to find real friends, you know, in life.

So that's Stephane.

>> Oh!

>> Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

It looks amazing.

>> LEFEBVRE: See the texture?

>> Yeah.

>> LEFEBVRE: See shiny?

>> Oh, nice!

Yeah, it looks beautiful.

I can totally see the layers.

No kids should grow up without trying millefeuille, eh?

>> LEFEBVRE: The right stuff.

>> It makes kids very happy.

Nice.

♪ ♪ A labor of love.

♪ ♪ Really beautiful, yeah?

Look at that.

>> LEFEBVRE: I have a good surprise for you.

You see what we drink with the millefeuille.

Take a classic dish and make it more modern with the Hennessy XO.

>> Absolutely.

Cheers to you.

>> LEFEBVRE: Santé.

>> Cheers, it's going to be very nice with the millefeuille.

>> LEFEBVRE: You have a little bit of smokiness.

Oh!

You know when we burn it, the smokiness goes very well together.

>> Oh my God.

This is good.

You took me back to France for a couple of hours today, so thank you.

>> LEFEBVRE: Sometimes I need to go back to France to resource myself.

It's part of our happiness to just relax.

I need this energy in my blood to work and create a concept for my business.

I feel like we don't enjoy life enough.

I'm talking about myself, and a lot of people are like me, too.

We just work so hard, we work so much in America.

I love this country, but guys, we need to put some more holidays in our calendar.

(gasps) Or maybe we should do days with no computer, no social media.

For a day, guys, everybody will be so happy, I'm sure.

To take time and really enjoy life.

(sniffs)