Category: appetizers

Border Grill weekend brunch awesomeness.

If you like to be refreshed with a delicious fresh squeezed orange juice mimosa, then you need to get yourself over to the Border Grill in Santa Monica one of these weekends. Bartender Geronimo will keep an eye on your glass so you can concentrate on what awesome dish to order next.

Once you get your whistle wetted, it’s time to settle into an entree section with some incredible dishes to choose from. Chef Alex prepares these dishes with a full spectrum of forethought and care. The meats are naturally raised. All of the produce is organically grown on local farms.

The shrimp grits were pretty good and a great way to begin. The shrimps were big and they had a cajun taste to them that reminded me of Drew Brees and the Saints. The Yucatan eggs benedict stoked my taste buds pretty hard. The flaky crusted bisquit was light and perfect.

The next thing I had was another mimosa,  and the steak and eggs. This experience was cool.

It seemed I just couldn’t go wrong.

The beef came and reminded of that delicious skirt steak from the Brazilian steak house. It was tender and tasty with a perfectly cooked egg on it.

I was loving it.

Geronimo brought me another mimosa and chef Alex made some machaca chilaquiles for me. I was having a really good time just hanging out and enjoying really delicious food. The chilaquiles and mimosa came and my day just kept getting better. The tender chunks of beef were in a tasty sauce with guacamole, light eggs and pico de gallo. Delicious.

The next thing I tried were the Oaxacan pancakes. These were super yummy. They were light and had Mexican chocolate chips and coffee caramel syrup with whipped cream on them. Like I said, they were really good.

The staff at the Border Grill is amazing. I have tried both the downtown and Santa Monica spots and have found everyone to be really friendly and knowledgeable.  This proved true again and my crush on the Border Grill became stronger.

The next item i tried was the peanut butter & jelly with bacon, egg and jalapeno sandwich. It was not my favorite thing, but I have to say it was pretty good.  Standing on it’s own it was good, but the other dishes were just so tasty that they all couldn’t be the best.

Chef Alex came out and introduced himself and was another really nice person from the Border Grill tribe.

He was real cool, knowledgeable and hospitable. He let me in on a secret and made me the daily special ‘special’ which was a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon with an egg. Again my taste buds danced and my good time continued.

The level of awareness is respectable. These folks have earned their places and a lot of thought and preparation goes into this operation to ensure your good experience.

A friend of mine arrived and she tried some of the things i hadn’t so I tasted the bisquit and gravy and the bread pudding french toast. The french toast is another favorite.

This brunch happens in Santa Monica from 10am-3p and if you like food or mimosas, then the Dude highly recommends you give this a try.  If you don’t like this you’re still a caveman.

Satisfaction guaranteed.

Susan Feniger

The Dude of Food prepares Kale

“Follow your grandma’s directions and eat your greens. She’s right, they’re good for you. Besides, blanched kale sauteed in olive oil and garlic tastes good.” the Dude of Food

Albacado

miso apple

When the newest thing in my neighborhood was the sushi bar, MISO FISHY, the sushi chef Steve, took an avocado and filled it with spicy albacore tuna.

He then decorated it up and served it like this.

It was incredible and is one of my new  favorite things.

Homemade Fried Catfish Sticks Rock

catfish sticks

Homemade fried catfish sticks are easy to make and fun to eat. If you are looking for an alternative to pizza, pasta, hoagies or chicken fingers then give these a try.

top

Take 1 lb of catfish and wash it off.
Chop it into preferred sized bits.
Mix 2 eggs into a bowl.
Pour some bread crumbs onto a plate.
Dip the cut fish bits in the eggs and then onto the bread crumb plate.
Once all the bits are breaded, deposit them into an electric frying pan that is dialed up to 340 degrees.
There only needs to be enough oil to sit the fish in. The sticks do not need to be submerged as you can flip them over. Let cook for about 4 – 5 minutes each side or until they look as crispy as you like them. Remove sticks from oil and pat dry. Put the sticks on a plate, sprinkle with some fresh lemon juice and serve with a side of tartar and your favorite cold beer. YUM.

How To Make Master Cleanse Lemonade

Master Cleanse Lemonade is available on Vimeo.

While researching a fast I first learning about this concoction called Master Cleanse Lemonade. It sustained me for 5 or 6 days while I tried fasting and I just loved the way it tasted. Every once in awhile I will make it for myself as a treat as I don’t fast and can’t afford and loose any weight.

Enjoy this.

Dude of Food Port Wine Recommendation

The Dude of Food obtained a bottle of 10 year old tawny port from Trader Joe’s. The producer is Quarles Harris, established 1680, in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. This beauty of a port wine was roughly $12. but tastes like a fine, costly bottle. This port boasts a light and fruity, but not too sweet, flavor that follows through nicely.

porto

This quality porto is a great after dinner sipper and goes great with chocolate. Let out your inner man and WOW your lady tonight with this fine selection after making her dinner.

Homemade Tomato Soup is good.

tomatoe soup

Delicious winter favorite.

I found that creating this recipe and making this dish really made me feel like a kitchen artist.

In the summertime some friends and I had some ambitious plans to make an urban garden and planted some tomato plants. We thought we had green thumbs as the plants yielded an abundant supply of lovely red ornaments. We had so much harvest that we began to put tomatoes into plastic bags and freeze them. When winter came I pulled the bags of tomatoes out of the freezer and let them thaw so I could work some kitchen magic.

After the smoke cleared there was a delicious brew of home made tomato soup. This was the kind of thick and zesty home made tomato soup that warms your bones after a good winter surf and leaves you with that cozy love feeling.

Serve with crackers.

Thank you faithful eaters and readers. Since it is that time of year when all of the urban gardens around town are exploding with tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, corn, broccoli, squash and more it is time to explore this fun and delicious recipe among others.

Using fresh grown produce is satisfying and makes the gardening experience come full circle. The flavors are robust and the freshness is unbeatable even by your local farmers market. Also the nutrition factor is at a premium when your food is vine ripened at home. (My home grown white potatoes have great flavor.)

TIP: A cool thing I learned about the tomato soup was freezing the tomatoes and then peeling them easily as they thawed. Great time saving trick.

I’m a bit of a story teller, as I have had some great experiences, but as i sit in the kitchen with my beer in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other while telling stories of fighting off spiders and pulling weeds with 3 inch roots with just my left hand while the aroma of cooking goodness permeates the kitchen, I feel the joy Shakespeare must have experienced.

Live long and prosper.

Dude out.

Marinated Fish for Grilling

marinated fish

“SIMPLY AWESOME TASTING !”

Halibut, Chilean sea bass or shrimp work well. In this photo you see thick fresh halibut fillets and fresh sea bass fillets after having been soaked overnight in a delicious marinade I found at a local Santa Monica market.

The marinade is an island blend sauce that was perfect. I then topped the mix with a pineapple ring, covered and let sit in the fridge. The ingredients pictured in the pan were thrown on a grill for a few minutes on the patio of a local architectural firm for a ‘Friday Fun Lunch’ organized by a cool office manager. The fish was served with potato salad, grilled shrimp, grilled salmon with a rosemary lemon sauce and a side of mixed fruit chutney and it was simply delicious.