the dude of food – Page 4 – THE DUDE OF FOOD

Johnny’s OFF LICENSE Liquor Store, Rome

Located at Via Veio, 4 , near the San Giovanni metro station in Rome, Italy is the greatest beer and wine store around. The staff at Johnny’s OFF LICENSE are super knowledgable about the processes and tastes of their products and offer an awesome selection, especially beers.

You can drink on the streets in Rome, so you go in and buy yourself a coldie and simply enjoy it out front while talking with other beer professors. Much local knowledge can be learned from respectable folks at these street meetings, i.e. restaurant recommendations, train and bus info, etc.

These guys at Johnny’s OFF LICENSE are a hospitable bunch and even gave me a beer book to read while traveling. (3 Sheets to the Wind, Pete Brown)
This place is a must if you are tired of feeling like a tourist at the hotel. Tell them the Dude of Food sent ya.

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 Patheon I stopped at the Habana Cafe and had an awesome and affordable lunch.

Located on Via del Pastini 120, around the corner from the Patheon, 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.

The Dude of Food likes Georges Burgers in Santa Monica

http://georgesburgersla.com/

You are on the westside. The traffic is a bitch. The air is not as hot as the valley that you escaped from. It’s overcast and you don’t surf anyways. There is no parking by the beach. It’s a mess. The Dude of Food knows the best thing you can do is go get some food at Georges Burgers on Lincoln Blvd and head back home. Georges Burgers is located at 3101 Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica, CA 90405

You can call in your request ahead at 310-452-0445

They serve breakfast all day too!

Thank you George’s Burgers.

“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. 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.

The Dude of Food tries to infuse tequila

After a visit to the Border Grill in Santa Monica on Easter sunday where I was introduced to this cool new flavor, the Dude of Food decided to try to recreate this awesome taste. Famous chef and restaurant owner, Susan Feniger, knows food and her staff impresses. The bartender on sunday made us try this tequila infused with cucumber and jalapeno peppers and it was delightful.

Today I went to the store and bought some agave tequila, cucumbers and a pepper and put it all together. In a few days I look forward to a cool refreshing taste.

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 micheleada recipe. It adds the perfect amount of spice. Truth be told, the Dude of Food also likes Red Rooster from Louisiana hot sauce. They both go great in my micheladas and on my grits, greens, smothered chicken, gravy, stuffing and waffles.

The Dude of Food does the LA Michelada test.

There was a long time that the Dude of Food would not ruin a beer with tomato juice. Then I grew up and learned something. After a trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico a few September’s ago my mind was forever changed. It was the time of the annual Revolution Fiesta and San Miguel is where it began.

The place goes nuts.

To make a long story short I love a homemade michelada and it appears that many others do as well since the big brand brewers are beginning to see the light. These 2 were chosen because they were both brewed in Mexico and imported to the US.

The Dude of Food decided to compare the Tecate Michelada DIABLO to the Modelo CHELADA. I have had a few of these Modelo CHELADA’s and they are OK. When compared to the Tecate DIABLO though, a world of difference unveils itself.

The DIABLO is softer with a more subtle tomatoey and mildly spicy finish. Compared to the Modelo CHELADA which hits the tongue a bit cleaner and crisper, albeit less tomatoey and the finish falls of quickly.

After tasting separately, what the Dude of Food ended up doing was to mix the 2 equally and drink them that way. The crisp beginning and the tomatoey spice finish were a great combination.

Any responses should be submitted to the Dude of Food – weallgottaeat(at)gmail