The Dude – Page 7 – THE DUDE OF FOOD

San Gusme’s best restaurant – Sira e Remino

The Dude of Food recently visited the Tuscan region of Italy. Luckily, my aunt and uncle were in the area and invited me stay at their rented villa for a night which happens to be a short walk from the cool old Italian village called San Gusme. In this village you will find one of the world’s finest culinary dreams come true. A place called Sira e Remino.

The restaurant’s sign which says Sira e Remino un cult, is exactly the kind of cult I need to join. Their place is located within the small old village walls and is awesome. The greeting and hospitality were warm and genuine. Our party of 7 were shown to the ‘Frank Sinatra room’ in the back away from the local soccer club filled bar.

We began this heavenly experience with lots of wine followed by salads, anti pasta, then more wine followed by incredible sizzling meat trays. There wasn’t a thing that wasn’t perfect about this entire place, staff and meal. The prices were generous considering the quality and portions.

Thank you Sira e Remino. Now I’m thinking I should get a job here just to be close to your quality food.

The Dude of Food can be reached on Facebook.

facebook.com/thedudeoffood

“Favorite Pizzeria in Firenze” says the Dude of Food

If you are hungry and need a slice of the best pizza in Firenze, then get yourself over to Pizzeria del Duomo next to the Duomo church. They have tables out front in the plaza to sit and enjoy your slices. Be sure to try the meatball pizza.

Volterra. Historically fine dining – Restaurante Enoteca del Duca

Restaurante Enoteca del Duca Volterra, Italy

Opening just in time for 7 hungry tourists walking by to enjoy lunch, we were led to the back patio garden to enjoy a warm spring day. After some refreshing wine the group chose a number of various items that can be seen above. All were incredible tasting. If you are unsure which place to eat while visiting Volterra, Italy then decide to eat at Restaurante Enoteca del Duca. Luckily, The Dude of Food and friends chose to go in and it was one of the best decisions ever!

Motto bene!

When in Florence the Dude of Food loves Bar Porta Al Prato.

Seen from the street, Bar Porta Al Prato looks like this corner building. Sitting quietly, this recently opened culinary beauty awaits your entrance, offering everything one could desire once you make your way through the doors and into the soul of this gem.

Bar Porta Al Prato in Firenze offers both a great indoor environment or a huge patio out back to enjoy. The staff here are awesome, extremely helpful, talented, generous and fun besides offering many delicious and thoughtfully prepared Tuscan dishes. Their menu offers everything from pizza and gelato to pasta and fine wine and everything in between. What a great way to spend quality time dining with your family, friends or team.

The delicious wine comes from local vineyards that produce some excellent flavors. The homemade gelato is delicious and kid approved.

Thank you Bar Porta Al Prato for everything. The Dude of Food thinks you guys are doing a great job. Keep up the awesome hospitality and great food.

They can also be found on Facebook by searching Bar Samus Porta.

Johnny’s OFF LICENSE Liquor Store, Rome

Located at Via Veio, 4 , near the San Giovanni metro station in Rome, Italy is the greatest beer and wine store around. The staff at Johnny’s OFF LICENSE are super knowing about the processes and tastes of their products and offer an awesome selection, especially beers.

You can drink on the streets in Rome, so you go in and buy yourself a coldie and simply enjoy it out front while talking with other beer professors. Much local knowledge can be learned from respectable folks at these street meetings, i.e. restaurant recommendations, train and bus info, etc.

These guys at Johnny’s OFF LICENSE are a hospitable bunch and even gave me a beer book to read while traveling. (3 Sheets to the Wind, Pete Brown)
This place is a must if you are tired of feeling like a tourist at the hotel. Tell them the Dude of Food sent ya.

Habana Cafe, ROME

One of the things that happens to the Dude of Food when he walks all over Rome is he begins to work up an appetite.

On my way to the Pantheon I stopped at the Habana Cafe and had an awesome and affordable lunch.

Located on Via del Pastini 120, around the corner from the Pantheon, you can get a great lunch, served by a cool staff for less that $15 euros. I sat outside and enjoyed the ambiance as I ate.

www.habanaroma.com

Aldo Restaurante – Vatican City, Italia

The first place to eat the Dude of Food came across after exiting the Vatican City museum is this sidewalk cafe called ALDO.

After much walking, I was ready to sit down and have some nutritious authentic Italian lunch and the Aldo Restaurant provided it for me. The thoughtful staff, cool service and really good food left me feeling blessed and content and the meal was very reasonably priced.

“I would eat here all the time, if I was the Pope” exclaimed the Dude of Food.

The Dude of Food likes Georges Burgers in Santa Monica

http://georgesburgersla.com/

You are on the Westside. The traffic is a bitch. The air is not as hot as the valley that you escaped from. It’s overcast and you don’t surf anyways. There is no parking by the beach. It’s a mess. The Dude of Food knows the best thing you can do is go get some food at Georges Burgers on Lincoln Blvd and head back home. Georges Burgers is located at 3101 Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica, CA 90405

You can call in your request ahead at 310-452-0445

They serve breakfast all day too!

Thank you George’s Burgers.

“Saibling, Char, whatever, it’s delicious!”, said the Dude of Food.

http://www.austrianwine.com/our-wine/wine-food/austrian-food-wine/trout-char-of-whitefish-forelle-saibling-oder-reinanke-muellerin/

So if you like fish, especially salmon then you will love Saibling fish. Sometimes called Char. It is a lake fish once forbidden to be eaten by all Bavarians except the king himself. It’s referred to sometimes as ‘the kings fish’.

When south of Munchen in one of the small villages on farmer’s market day you will most likely find a vendor selling freshly smoked Saibling fish. The Dude of Food says Run, don’t walk to the vendor and get the biggest one you can. I cannot speak for the Forelle, which is supposed to be ‘as good’ but never sells out as fast as the saibling fish. The third fisch you see is Mackerelle which are good too. Saibling is the best. They can be eaten for breakfast, brutzeit, lunch, dinner or when sleep eating.

Better than ice cream!

The Dude of Food meets Off The Shelf catering and likes it!

Good food is what fuels good thoughts in good creative people which is what the Dude of Food happen to be. It’s when the bean counters in the offices eating their favorite restaurants delivered dishes try to save $80. on lunch for the creative stage crew that the caterers are painted into a corner and forced to serve the equivalents of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or cheap Chinese food.

The creative chef, Yossi Faigenblat, worked for Dustin Hoffman as the actors private chef. The food was ‘all that’ and Hoffman encouraged the chef to get into the catering game. That was in 2003. They opened a craft service /catering company for the movie industry. The line ups have changed over the years and OTS has grown and now have a couple trucks in New York and a few more in Los Angeles. Off The Shelf has both catering trucks and craft service trucks so their awesome creative food can be shared with all of the folks behind the scenes that make the actors playgrounds look so fabulous.

In Feb 9, 2010 Saveur magazine did an article (issue # 127) on movie industry catering companies that included Off The Shelf’s quality food preparation. The link below will take you there.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/Fresh-Off-The-Truck

OTS is not cheap but will do wonderful things with the budget you have. The goal at Off The Shelf as told to the Dude of Food is ‘high end quality food and making people smile’ and this is something the folks at OTS catering are doing quite well. The Dude of Food would like to personally say ‘Thank you OTS and keep up the good work.”

Off The Shelf can be located at the following web address. http://www.otscatering.com/

OTS can also be followed on Facebook and other social media outlets.