Food Facts – Page 8 – THE DUDE OF FOOD

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 happens to be. It’s when the middle managed, mucky mucks and bean counters sitting in the offices eating their favorite foods from their favorite restaurants decide to save $80. on crew lunch cost by budget cutting catering costs for the hard working stage crew that catches the attention of folks and creates division in the ranks. Caterers are painted into a corner and forced to try and prepare healthy meals on a peanut butter and jelly budget.

The creative chef, Yossi Faigenblat, worked for Dustin Hoffman as the actors private chef. The food was ‘All That’ and Hoffman encouraged chef Yossi to get into the catering game. That was in 2003. They opened a craft service /catering company for the movie industry. The kitchen line up has changed over the years and Off The Shelf has grown and now operates 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 great 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.

The Dude of Food infuses tequila

On a visit to the Border Grill in Santa Monica, on an Easter Sunday morning, I was introduced to a cool new flavor. The Dude of Food was intrigued and decided to try to recreate this awesome taste at home. The famous chef and restaurant owner, Susan Feniger, knows about food and her staff impresses. The bartender on Sunday made us try this tequila infused with cucumber and jalapeno peppers and it was delightful. This was the flavor I needed to try an re-create.

So I went to the store and bought some agave tequila, cucumbers and a jalapeno pepper and put it all together in a mason jar. In a few days I looked forward to a cool refreshing taste.

A few days later I had created a spicy tequila that didn’t have quite enough cucumber flavor, but was still really good. The Dude of Food says ‘try this at home’.

teq — click photo to see what Elaine @ Dishes Delish says

The Dude of Food likes Loveless Cafe Plain Ol’ Hot Sauce.

Off of Highway 100 in Nashville is a place called the Loveless Cafe. You may not be close enough to walk in but you can go to their web page and check out the stuff they make.

http://store.lovelesscafe.com/product/hot-sauce/sauce-seasoning

The Plain Ol’ Hot Sauce is one of the secret ingredients the Dude of Food adds to his homemade michelada recipe. It adds the perfect amount of spice. Truth be told, the Dude of Food also likes Red Rooster, Frank’s, Texas Pete’s and Crystal from Louisiana. They all go great in a michelada, on grits, greens, smothered chicken, gravy, stuffing, waffles, wings, eggs and much more.

Can we feed the starving in Africa and elsewhere? One kitchen, one love.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jul/27/africa-potential-to-feed-world

UN rep, Kanayo Nwanze, and president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) seems to think it’s possible.

The thing that always bothers me is when we see on TV loads of food arriving by boat on a dock somewhere to feed folks and then the news cuts to shots of all kinds of starving people. My question is, why can’t the camera folks and talking heads on camera take the food they are filming at and give it to the starving people they are filming?

The Dude of Food thinks it’s time to stop sensationalistic reporting and start farming and sharing like good humans, not capitalistic robots.

The Dude of Food explores California Prop 65 warning labels and coffee.

Many people have created myths and formed opinions about Starbucks for posting the state regulated Prop 65 warning label. While exploring this topic the local Dogtown coffee barista told the Dude of Food ‘our coffee isn’t like Starbucks cancer coffee because our coffee is organic’, not realizing the warning comes from the bean roasting process and not the beans origins.

The following information may help shed some light on the subject of Prop 65 warning labels at coffee stores.

A little research shows that it’s not Starbucks fault. It may be possible Starbucks could alter their process and possibly avoid the warning altogether, but that would cost money, and is a different story.

The warning is prompted and occurs due to the following research.

Acrylamide is on the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity (such as birth defects and other reproductive harm).

For many years, acrylamide has been used in grouts and cements, pulp and paper production, ore processing, permanent-press fabrics and dye manufacturing. It is also used to produce polyacrylamide, which is used in water and wastewater treatment, soil conditioning and oil drilling. Acrylamide also is present in tobacco smoke.

In 2002, Swedish researchers discovered that acrylamide forms during the baking, frying, or roasting of certain kinds of foods, particularly starchy foods.

Acrylamide is not added to foods. It is a contaminant that forms during the baking, frying or roasting of certain plant-based foods. Boiling and steaming foods does not create acrylamide.

French fries, potato chips, other fried and baked snack foods, roasted asparagus, canned sweet potatoes and pumpkin, canned black olives, roasted nuts, coffee, roasted grain-based coffee substitutes, prune juice, breakfast cereals, crackers, cookies, bread crusts, and toast all contain varying levels of acrylamide.

The Dude of Food likes Bogle 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon

When you are looking for a full bodied Cabernet that is not short on flavor and you’re not sure what to do because you don’t want to over spend, look for this bottle of wine. Bogle 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon is a really good choice around $12. It may not be an expensive bottle but when folks taste it they won’t think you’re a cheapo, instead they should realize a smart deal and learn.

Spaghetti squash pasta and Miss Zurich!

From what the Dude of Food understands, you can purchase a device that you stick vegetables in and when you turn the handle it magically turns the veggies into spaghetti! This is a kitchen item that I need to add to my kitchen toolbox.

Right now the Dude of Food is sitting down with a coffee at home, pretending to be served by Miss Zurich in my amber room that overlooks the river. I ask her to dip her finger in my coffee to sweeten it just right. I sip my delicious cup of brew while relaxing in bed watching the ducks on the river. I’m imagining a zucchini pasta with assorted onions and mushrooms smothered in a cheesy white wine glaze served with a side of warmed buttery green beans and 3 poached eggs on sourdough toast and an avocado half is about to arrive. I see Miss Paris has joined in to help and is pushing a cart with food my way. 2 of Germany’s Next Top Models have arrived also. 1 is setting a up tray so I can eat in bed and the other is setting up a massage table so I can relax later. A breakfast for champions, served in bed by beautiful women, is a great way for the Dude of Food to greet the new day.

See what happens to you if you purchase one of these Paderno Spiralizer from Williams-Sonoma.

Bon Appetite.

The Dude of Food gets blessed. No joke, 2 yolks.

Is it the year of the chicken or what?

Don’t know what they are feeding these chickens but my luck seems to be changing in 2015. The first egg I cracked revealed 2 yolks inside! It happened to me at a sushi bar with a double yolked quails egg too!

The Dude of Food introduces “Michelada Mondays”

If everyone in town can decide to make Tuesday for tacos then the Dude of Food and a few friends are claiming Monday for Micheladas. Get some. A michelada for breakfast is way better than donuts.

The Dude of Food’s cool cookbook review

The Dude of Food knows wine and cooking enthusiasts will immediately realize that they have uncorked something truly magical with Karen MacNeil’s food book “Wine, Food & Friends”. This book sizzles with the culinary expertise of cooking light with the wine under the knowing connoisseurship of Karen MacNeil herself. Karen, an award-winning author, lecturer and television personality, knows food and wine. Pair her wine knowledge with more than 150 cooking light recipes and you have all the notes you need to reach new levels of cooking glory. Find a copy and give it a chance to make your chef skills shine.

Category: Food Facts