good food – Page 7 – 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 lunches at McGraw’s Tucson Cantina

Sadly McGraw’s announces they are temporarily closed. Reach out and support them if possible.

The Dude of Food went to visit Tucson, AZ. After mom’s haircut we went to lunch at this cool place on a bluff. As you can see be the accompanying photo above, the view from McGraw’s Cantina is amazing. The tables on the outside patio look south over the east Tucson valley. If a gang of old west outlaws was riding up from Mexico, you would see their dust trail way before they would see you from here.

McGraw’s opened at 11a and they had a Tucson blonde ale on tap. The McGraw’s Cantina menu is full of good things to choose from and the two girls working there were very nice. It turns out McGraw’s hosts a steak night special on Tuesdays. This place really is a party waiting to happen.

Mom ordered a burger that looked awesome and a coke the waitress was happy to refill. The Dude of Food asked for the BBQ Tri-Tip sandwich and another Tucson blonde ale. The food was really good.

There are many restaurants in Tucson but McGraw’s Cantina may be host to one of the best. They have tons of party space plus plenty of parking and would make an awesome place to do an Arizona Octoberfest rager, BBQ challenge, wedding party, anniversary party, birthday party or any other celebration.

Check it out.

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.

The Dude of Food is curious to experience your food product.

After years of independent merchandising for surf companies and the Hawaiian Tropic brand, the Dude of Food is switching gears and working on a list of quality food and beverage products to offer in his upcoming market.

If your company is looking to get in other markets, whether domestic or international, then please by all means let’s talk.

The Dude of Food can be emailed at- weallgottaeat (at) g mail (dot) com

Eat well and be happy.

The Dude of Food

Peteloaf by the Dude of Food.

The Dude of Food made Peteloaf and potatoes for dinner. Serve with salad, cold beer and BBQ sauce and everyone should be satisfied.

For next Valentines Day I’m gonna make a meat heart for my sweetheart. ;)

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 made yummy stuffed grapes.

The Dude of Food made these stuffed grapes and it was easy. Just crush raisins, dates, dried apricot, prunes, honey, Nutella, peanut butter, a little good jam and some oats all together into a paste and you’ll get a rough wet version of a Cliff bar. Then take some large washed grapes and slice them in half. Smash a small spoonful of the Cliff bar type mixture on top of the grape halves and enjoy a tasty treat. It’s yummy.

The Dude of Food explores Wolvesmouth.

http://wolvesmouth.com/blog

Fox in the Hen House, Wolves in the Snow. These don’t sound like titles you would see on a menu, but when dining at LA’s Wolvesmouth, you can throw out all forms of conventionality. From what the Dude of Food can make of it, this is a whole new experience in dining and culture and looks forward to the experience one of these days.

Nicely done Craig Thornton.

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.

Category: good food