Uncategorized – Page 7 – THE DUDE OF FOOD

Adelholzener Alpenquellen – Bavaria’s finest lovingly supports global needs.

Adelholzener makes some of the finest drinks from Bavaria and the Dude of Food loves them. Tasty, refreshing and quality products by Adelholzener really help make life better.

Adelholzener Alpenquellen is owned by the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul which is a congregation of women with simple vows, founded in 1633 and devoted to corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Thank you sisters. The company’s proceeds are therefore channeled into numerous social welfare projects. My grandmother was a member and I volunteered my first 100 hours at the old St Vincent hospital in Los Angeles when I was a young boy.

My buddy and I were known as ‘candy stripers’ because of our uniforms and we brought books and smiles to recovering people throughout the hospital.

According to their web page, www.adelholzener.com , Adelholzener places utmost importance on all of their products being of the highest quality. Their broad range of products offer the right kind of refreshment for every situation and befitting of any event or occasion. Anyone who is health conscious can enjoy our Organic Spritzers made with juice (Not-From-Concentrate) and certified.

The Dude of Food respects what these women do and likes the quality of their products. Anything I can do to help make this product become more recognized I will do. My tee shirt size is XL.

Again, veilen danke to the sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. Keep up the good work and may the good Lord continue to bless you.

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Handheld graters with storage drawer

 
Sagaform brings traditional Nordic 
design to your kitchen

So the folks who added the drawer / container to the traditional grater have really done the Dude of Food a huge favor. Say goodbye to the grater sliding off the plate and the paper towel under the grater to catch the gratings. Now we can cut, use and store with little effort. No mess and by simply plopping the top back on the container you are preserving maximum freshness.

Betterware makes this cool grater with a drawer shown here in black. They also have been seen in white, pink and green.

The Dude of Food gets nothing for this recommendation and is not sponsored or connected in any way. It’s just a cool kitchen product that I like.

Oida! Oktoberfest Wedding. The Dude of Food loves Munchen, Bavaria und Helles bier!

Oktoberfest approaches again and the Dude of Food can barely wait!

The original Oktoberfest celebration began as a wedding party in Munich on October 12th, 1810 when Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (later King Ludwig I) married Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. All of Munich and the surrounding areas were invited to enjoy the joining of these 2 love birds. It’s been written that approximately 40,000 folks attended the party. The celebrating included a large feast, jousting and a horse race in the Sendlinger part of town at the current Oktoberfest party grounds. The wedding party lasted for many days. Everyone partied and good times were had by all.

There was entertainment at the Marienplatz, the Promenadenplatz and other spots about the city. 32,065 buns, 3,992 pounds of Swiss cheese, 400 kilos of mutton, 8,120 sausages and 13,300 pairs of smoked sausages were distributed for free. 6,125 gallons of beer and 98 gallons of Austrian white wine were also served. 150 musicians entertained the fun loving crowd.

The actual wedding took place in the Court Chapel of the Munich Residenz.

I worked for Heidi Klum for 9 years on Germany’s Next Top Model and fell in love with the awesome crew, German people and their culture overall. Oida! Ish liebe Bavaria und Germany. Vielen danke und prost.

The Dude of Food picks a new California Chardonnay Taste Test leader.

The results are in. From the 6 bottles tested in round 1 of the Dude of Food’s search for the best inexpensive California Chardonnay on June 22, 2015 we have a winner. The notes have been compared and the winner of this tight competition was Sonoma County’s Storyteller Chardonnay. That was until I updated this story on July 28, 2015. While the Storyteller was holding down the 1st place spot the Dude of Food added three more bottles of Chardonnay to his list. The new results follow-

1st Place – Nitty Gritty Chardonnay Napa Valley 2012 3.9

2nd Place – STORYTELLER 2012 3.8

3rd Place – Ghost Pines Chardonnay blend 2013 3.6

4th Place – Kendall-Jackson Vinter’s Reseve 2013 3.5

5th Place – Benziger 2012 3.3

6th Place- Frei Bros Reserve 2013 3.2

7th Place – Hawkstone 2013 3.0

8th Place – EDNA Valley 2013 2.9

Paella search Barcelona? See the Cheriff.

There was a time when the Dude of Food was wandering around the streets of Barcelona with his Bavarian brother Dominic asking folks where they could find the best paella in the city and there was 1 name that kept popping up. Located on a corner in the easily accessible Barcelonetta district, sits this highly recommended restaurant named Cheriff.

Cheriff opens for dinner at 8p and there were 3 parties waiting to come in when the doors opened. Dominic and the Dude began with a bottle of local dry white wine and salads.

Both items were satisfying for both of us. When it came time to order I had a last minute change of mind and instead of ordering the normal seafood paella, I decided to try the black ink squid paella. We both asked for that dish.

The choice turned out to be a good one and the black ink paella with fresh squeezed lemon was delicious.

The Cheriff is a family run place, where mama is running the kitchen and papa is managing the finances. They are great people who make awesome food. Muchas gracias Mrs. and Mr. Cheriff.

The Dude of Food advises you to go here!

Barcelona’s newest best, El Mar-Amor restaurant / bar.

Sadly this place has been closed. Sorry to se you guys go.

If you are staying at the Marriott hotel at the north end of the Diagonal St. you can easily walk or get off the Poblenou exit of the metro in Barcelona, like the Dude of Food did, and make your way to the cities newest quality restaurant, El Mar-Amor.

The place is newly opened, mid May 2015, and was already doing a decent morning and evening business 4 days into it. Owner, manager and great host Hamid has put together a really great place to get to know. Hamid knows how to create and entertain. His hospitality is top notch and genuine. Let me give you some examples,

“Come in. If you don’t like it you don’t pay.” I heard an offer I couldn’t refuse, so I came in and asked for a beer. They had cold Estrelle Damm on tap.

When I told him I only had 20 euros on me and the paella was going to be 18 euros he said “no problem”. “but I already spent the other 2 euros on this beer and I want to drink more” the Dude of Food replied. Again Hamid replied, “no problem” and filled my empty beer glass. He then explained that “the paella is made fresh to order and will take at least 20 minutes but is only made for 2 people. It’s 9 euros each and the chef makes it for 2 people.” “No problem” said the Dude of Food. I reached in my pocket and gave Hamid the last 20 euro bill i had in my pocket.

Hamid took my bill and smiled, “we will take care of you” and he was true to his word. Hamid’s team prepared an awesome paella for 2 and filled my beer glass 4 times. The paella was served in a giant 14″ hot dish and was devoured by the Dude as soon as it had cooled enough to eat.

Hamid and his team took great care of me again when I returned for breakfast. They made me fried eggs with ham/bacon with some fried potatoes and coffee with milk. Hamid even left his bicycle for me to borrow. They offered to stay open past their normal 12:30a close if our crew wanted to stay and drink until 2am. The hospitality of Hamid just didn’t stop. Love that guy.

Located at Carrer Jonaquera 4 in Barcelona, and only a long block from the ocean near the Poblenou metro exit, The Dude of Food returned 6 times in the next few days and tried nearly everything on the menu, all being fresh and delicious. The future is bright for this rising restaurant star and if you are in the area you need to have a meal at El Mar-Amor of Barcelona.

(the sausage is made local and is delicious with eggs)

Thank you very, very much Hamid. You’re awesome my friend.

Great People in Donostia / San Sebastian – Bar Desy

When in Donostia / San Sebastian you will find many options of good restaurants, but not many small ones that match the greatness of Bar Desy. You can start your day there with a coffee and tapas or end your day there with a drink and tapas. Bar Desy is a father and son operation and is one great place to eat and meet locals. Bar Desy offers a well rounded variety of tapas both hot and cold from various fish items to meatballs.

The cod cheeks were pretty good and would make a great sandwich. Actually everything was really good but the fresh cod fillets, cod cheeks, squid with lemon, white wine and fresh bread were my favorite things besides the generous hospitality.

These guys take great care of their customers. Located at Ronda 4, a couple blocks back from the surf beach and a couple blocks over from the river. Bar Desy is a great place to get to know the tapas deal. The staff is as great as is the food.
Thank you very much Bar Desy family.

Bar Desy can be found on Facebook or by clicking on the photo or links.

“Wait until they discover Il Barroccio, in Florence.” the Dude of Food.

It’s true what they say about Il Barroccio on Trip Advisor and elsewhere on the internet. It is just a matter of time before folks will discover and be flocking to Il Barroccio . They are located just around the corner from a huge crowded plaza and under a jail window that once was home to Niccolo Machiavelli and is an easily found hidden gem.

On my first visit the Dude of Food asked to try “the homemade noodles wrestling with soft chunks of wild boar in a seriously delicious sauce”, please. I went back 3 or 4 times during my visit as these folks were good people and the place was great.

The boar sauce pasta dish looked unbelievable as it made it’s way over to my table. It truly tasted even better than it looked! My taste buds were over joyed. I followed the delicious pasta with a bath of decadent Tuscan red wine.

Photo of wine cart from inside restaurant.

Giovanni and Roberto are top notch folks and Il Barroccio offers food to match. If you are in town, the Dude of Food highly recommends any foodie to go here.

Motto grazie Il Barroccio.

San Gusme’s best restaurant – Sira e Remino in Tuscany.

The Dude of Food recently visited the gorgeous Tuscan region of Italy. Luckily, my aunt and uncle were in the area and invited me stay at their rented villa for a couple nights. The place happened 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 absolutely 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. The local team was loudly rooting for a national team.

Our group began this heavenly experience with lots of wine followed by salads, anti pasta, then more wine followed by pasta and incredible sizzling meat trays. There wasn’t a thing that wasn’t perfect about this entire place, staff and meal. The prices were far from greedy. The quality and portions were ultimately generous. This meal will be remembered for life.

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

“Favorite Pizzeria in Firenze” says the Dude of Food

If you happen to be visiting the incredible city of Florence, Italy and are hungry for a piece of pizza then get yourself over to Pizzeria del Duomo next to the Duomo church. This is the place! The staff is hospitable, they make great food and have tables out front in the plaza to sit and enjoy your slices. Be sure to try the meatball pizza. I love this place and went to visit daily. Motto grazie.