The Dude of Food really likes Joe Matos Cheese Factory in Santa Rosa, CA

The Dude of Food met the chief of cheese in Santa Rosa, Joe Matos. He has been making cheese since 1979.

joe matos  lots of cheese

To get to Joe Matos Cheese Factory you will need to go to the end of a small road. Inside you will find and sweet woman at the counter and tons of cheese behind her. The aged is really good. The Dude of Food thanks you Joe Matos.

Keep up the good work.

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The Dude of Food discovers California’s Best Sushi

http://www.hanajapanese.com

If you love sushi then all you need to know is the above web address. This will lead you to a place called Hana Japanese Restaurant and the Best Sushi in California!! I have never heard of black throated mackerel and normally don’t like mackerel unless it’s aji, but this black throated mackerel is great. The blue fin tuna belly was so good I had seconds. Same with the black throated mackerel.

The special thing in a spoon was really good. It was all good. The bill was $100. for lunch and the Dude of Food could have easily gone bigger but it was awesome tasting and well worth the splurge.

If you are ever near Santa Rosa or in Rohnert Park, CA, go to this place and see for yourself what quality sushi is supposed to be like.

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The Dude of Food creates a great new oatmeal-tapioca breakfast treat.

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Tired of the same old thing for breakfast? Give up on your quest to eat healthier 10 days after your New Years resolution? Perhaps you are a hockey player and have no front teeth to bite a burrito with. What ever the case may be, the Dude of Food has created an awesome new way for people of all ages to enjoy a pretty healthy breakfast.

The Dude of Food decided that he wanted to try a German packaged cereal thing he saw on a market shelf in Munich. The package was made by a guy named Dr. Oetker and was called Griessbrei. As you can see below the label is in German as were the directions for preparation. I had a heck of a time online trying to decipher exactly what the proper measures and times were when I decided to try and prepare it. Anyways to make an interesting story short, the stuff was like a cross between creamed wheat and tapioca pudding. I liked it and mentioned it to my Bavarian friends. They all  said the same thing, “You like baby cereal?”Dr-Oetker-Griebrei-Klassische-Art-Sweet-Porridge-92g_main-1

Well since the stigma is that this stuff is too sweet for a proper adult breakfast the Dude of Food decided to try mixing tapioca pudding with oatmeal. The tapioca pudding is easy to acquire. In the German market the small packet of Dr. Oetker Griessbrei was like .89 euro or about 93 cents. If you can find it in the states or online it is $3.99 a packet.

So the Dude of Food  (www.facebook.com/dudeoffoodpage) prepared 1 cup of oatmeal. Just as it was time to turn it off and cool off I added a little bit of warm homemade tapioca pudding and stirred it together. I topped it with a little bit of strawberry preserves and put it to the taste test. The results = excellent.

Get ready America for a new little something good for breakfast.

The Dude of Food showcases Cee Gee Farm’s homemade goat milk cheese

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Somewhere in the Tucson foothills a couple stones throw away from Arizona Wildcat stadium is located a small rancho that carries the brand name CG. On this small but productive rancho known as Cee Gee Farms live a community of award winning european show goats that are hand kept, cared for and loved by the farm’s, Charlotte G. The Dude of Food recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Charlotte G and her fury Alpine buddies and learned some stuff.

Bred of good farm genes and with the energy of 2 energizer bunnies, Charlotte G breeds, feeds, tattoos, milks, cares for and shows this collection of goats and has been the recipient of more than a dozen Grand Prize and 1st Prize awards over the years for her top notch goats. These goats love to be fed the pods of the mesquite trees that are everywhere. Goats are funny animals and fun to play with for awhile.

Charlotte has learned to make goat milk cheese of various flavors as shown in the photo above and also creates a really nice and all natural goal milk soap that is great for gifting.

Baaasically, the Dude of Food can report that the goats located on this farm in Arizona are a happy bunch of kids.

The Dude of Food has a favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

HUE HOUSE – Vietnamese Food

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The Hue House, located in Munchen Germany, is the best vietnamese food the Dude of Food has ever tasted. It came recommended from 3 of my 5 friends there and the Hue House menu could be found in 2 of their kitchens! We had a party of 4 and everyone asked for something different.

Arriving at the table before the main courses were served were the best spring rolls the Dude of Food has ever had the pleasure of eating. These things were hot but not oily. Slightly crispy and full of vegetables but light. These springs rolls were a delicious food conundrum dancing delicately between the tastes of awesome and unreal.

Then the Hue House layed out 4 main courses in front of us. All of the dishes were incredible and we couldn’t decide which dish was the best. They were fresh and incredibly delicious.

Find Hue House on Yelp, Facebook or they can be found online at www.huehouse.net

The Dude of Food finds 1 of the best pizzas in Europe, at the Dusseldorf airport!

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  The Dude of Food had just left Munich. It was with a painful heart that he dragged himself away from Minga, a city that he loves. He had prepared for the long flight back to LA by staying up all night on his last visit in town before he left. He knew he had a 1 1/2 hour layover in Dusseldorf Airport’s Terminal ‘C’. Upon arrival to Gate 32 Terminal C a vision similar to an oasis housing a food mermaid revealed itself to this hungry traveler. A restaurant at the next gate had a sign announcing food and beer that read Zigolini.

At gate 34 this small restaurant named Zigolini offered some good looking pastas and pizza for a reasonable price. The Dude of Food asked for a large beer. The guy next to me received a veggie pizza and that was it. I needed one also. A sausage and bacon pizza was asked for. There is no exaggeration in saying that this may be one of the best pizzas ever!

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The next time I flew through Dusseldorf it was a no brainer to go back. Zigolini was still there waiting for me in all her delicious glory. The only thing that was different was the sign now reads Marche. You can read more about Marche at http://www.marche-restaurants.com.

Muhamad Ali, the head chef and designer, personally told the Dude of Food that the restaurant is still called Zigolini even though the sign has changed. The receipt still reads Zigolini. Chef Ali has one of the best secret recipes ever and is a sweet guy that loves sharing with his customers. His pizzas are simply amazing and he will happily add the ingredients you may want if you don’t see the combination you like on the menu.champ

This pizza was better than nearly all I’ve ever had in Firenze, Rome, Germany, New York, Chicago, LA or maybe even ever! Certainly the Best Valued and Best Tasting Airport Food that the Dude of Food has ever encountered. If you are ever near the Dusseldorf airport and have some time to kill, the Dude of Food highly recommends that you go see for yourself about the pizza at Zigolini Italian Food.

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Chef Muhamad Ali is doing it right and deserves the title of ‘the Champ’!

Zigolini

Dusseldorf Flughafen                                                                     Terminal C / Airside                                                                              40474 Dusseldorf

The Dude of Food encounters a market apocalypse!

aisle 2 When the Dude of Food walked into this closing local southern California market he didn’t expect to feel like he missed the party. There is something really ominous about walking around an empty market. Even if you are full from just having eaten, this sight has a way of making you feel hungry. Even now when I look at the photos I feel myself getting hungry.

The Dude of Food found his mind racing as he wandered around the desolate market while enduring hunger pains. As he walked through this empty space he begin to think maybe everyone already knew something that he didn’t and they  hurried out for a solid reason.

I had to remind myself to not touch anything, don’t breathe deep and certainly do not rub my eyes for fear of getting kooties. I saw enough as I begun to realize I was in the back of the place and held my breathe and swiftly walked to the exit.

The Dude of Food has always wanted to run a market and would love to have a small store of empty shelves to stock with quality goods for the neighborhood.

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Adelholzener Alpenquellen – Bavaria’s finest lovingly supports global needs.

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  Adelholzener makes some of the finest drinks from Bavaria and the Dude of Food loves them. Tasty, refreshing and quality products by Adelholzener really help make life better.

Adelholzener Alpenquellen is owned by the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul which is a congregation of women with simple vows, founded in 1633 and devoted to corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  The Company’s proceeds are therefore channelled into numerous social welfare projects.

As a young boy the Dude of Food volunteered 100 hours of summer vacation time at St. Vincent’s hospital in Los Angeles while working with his grandmother who worked in the pharmacy as a volunteer. My buddy and I were known as ‘candy stripers’ because of our uniforms and we brought books and smiles to healing people.

According to their web page, www.adelholzener.com , Adelholzener places utmost importance on all of their products being of the highest quality.  Their broad range of products offer the right kind of refreshment for every situation and befitting of any event or occasion. Anyone who is health conscious can enjoy our Organic Spritzers made with juice (Not-From-Concentrate) and certified by Naturland.

The Dude of Food respects what these women do and likes the quality of their products. Anything I can do to help make this product become more recognized I will do.  My tee shirt size is L/XL.

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California Chardonnay Taste Test Winner

storytell  From the 6 bottles tested in round 1 of the Dude of Food’s search for the best inexpensive Chardonnay on June 22, 2015 we have a winner. The results are in. The notes have been compared and the winner of this tight competition was Sonoma County’s Storyteller Chardonnay. That was until I updated this story on July 28, 2015.  While the Storyteller was holding down the 1st place spot the Dude of Food added three more bottles of Chardonnay to his list. The new results follow-

1st Place –  Nitty Gritty Chardonnay Napa Valley 2012   3.9

2nd Place – STORYTELLER 2012    3.8

3rd Place –  Ghost Pines Chardonnay blend 2013    3.6

4th Place –  Kendall-Jackson Vinter’s Reseve 2013   3.5

5th Place – Benziger 2012    3.3

6th Place-  Frei Bros Reserve 2013    3.2

7th Place – Hawkstone 2013    3.0

8th Place – EDNA Valley 2013   2.9nitty gritty

 

 

Paella search Barcelona? See the Cheriff.

When the Dude of Food was wandering around the streets of Barcelona asking folks where he could find the best paella in the city there was 1 name that kept popping up.  Located on a corner in the easily accessible Barcelonetta district, it’s easy to find this restaurant named Cheriff.

cheriff frontCheriff opens for dinner at 8p and there were 3 parties waiting to come in when the doors opened. The Dude began with a bottle of local dry white wine and a salad. cheriff salad

Both were satisfying. Then when it came time to order I had a last minute change of mind and instead of ordering the normal seafood paella I decided to try the black ink squid paella.

cheriff ink paella

 

The choice turned out to be a good one and the black ink paella with fresh squeezed lemon was delicious.

The Cheriff is a family run place, where mama is running the kitchen and papa is managing the finances. They are great and make awesome food.

The Dude of Food thinks when in Barcelona you need to go here!