lunch – Page 3 – THE DUDE OF FOOD

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.

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.

“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.

The Dude of Food lunches at McGraw’s Tucson Cantina in AZ

The Dude of Food went to visit Tucson, AZ. After mom’s haircut we went to lunch at this place on the bluff. As you can see be the accompanying photo 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 the old west outlaws was riding in from New Mexico or up from Mexico, you would see them way before they would see you from here.

The place opened at 11 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 nice. It turns out McGraw’s hosts a steak night special on Tuesdays. This place 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 host one of the best. They have a lot of party space plus plenty of parking and would make an awesome place to do an Arizona Octoberfest BBQ rager.

Check it out.

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Bon apetite!

http://thedudeoffood.yelp.com

The Dude of Food likes IN-N-OUT

The Dude of Food is a big fan of In-n-Out burger. Ever wonder why they are so good? Is the quality of the meat? Is it the consistency in quality? Is the care they take in customer service? Is it the fresh iced tea and clean bathrooms?

Whatever it is, these employees learn at the IN-N-OUT University in Baldwin Park.

Around the corner is a replica of one of the originals, seen below. Instead of millions served they advertise ‘NO DELAY’. My how times have changed.

Good Los Angeles Food Trailer

The Dude of Food believes if you live in Los Angeles and are looking for a good food truck to cater your party then you may want to call this phone number. I believe he said his name is Noel and he said this number rings to his house. Speak slowly as his English is not perfect. I tried the tacos and menudo and was pleasantly surprised with both. The quality is good and the prices are reasonable. Win/Win situation here.

The Dude of Food is not connected to this vendor and gains nothing from this endorsement.