Dudes: Helping out with Israel's war effort - review

Daniel Raymond, owner and chef at the Dudes restaurant in Netanya, was called for a month’s reserve duty before the war started.

“I almost lost my business, and when they wanted to call me up again after the war started, I managed to persuade them that it would ruin me and they let me off. The army’s very considerate sometimes.”

Dudes is a very popular eatery just off the main square in Netanya, where Raymond, who came to Israel as a child with his parents, presides over the cooking, waits on tables, chats to the guests, and oversees the smooth running of the place from 11 a.m. until late into the night.

Until you eat at Dudes, you can have no idea how many variations a simple hamburger can be presented in. (Apologies to Winston Churchill, who famously said when criticized for ending a sentence with a preposition: “That is something up with which I will not put.”)

The complexities of a simple hamburger

There are 11 different burger meals listed on the blackboard in Raymond’s place, too many to elaborate on them all. But a few samples are “Hawaii” with pineapple, jalapeno, and something called “facon,” which you can figure out is crispy, pink, salty, and kosher; and “English,” which is facon and fried egg.

The hamburgers themselves are all the same, made with fresh glatt kosher beef from Beit Yosef, which Raymond then turns into burgers. The difference is in the toppings for each basic burger.

The latest addition to the menu is the “Henry Putana,” named for his friend, a lawyer who just happened to come to eat while we were there. It’s one of the burgers we sampled and has spicy tomato sauce, a cold cut of beef and garlic confit, also homemade. We both agreed it was a triumph of a burger.

The next dish was called by the somewhat offensive name “Jew Dog,” and was inspired, Raymond tells us, by something served at the famous Reuben’s in London. It’s a fat, juicy sausage and the bun is filled with fried onion, sauerkraut, and slices of roast brisket. (We learned the same day that the famous kosher restaurant on Baker Street had burned down – again. They need neighbor Sherlock Holmes to come and investigate.)

By this time, we could barely move but Raymond brought yet another of his dishes, “Frenchie,” a burger accompanied by caramelized onions and onion mayonnaise. “It’s my most popular burger,” he says.

Every burger comes with fries on the side. For years Raymond used the ones imported from Holland but when they became prohibitively expensive he switched to a local brand. They were really good, hot and crispy, the way fries should be.

There are five sauces to choose from to enhance your burger – BBQ, chipotle, garlic and onion, siracha (a hot chili sauce), and something called “mayoketch,” which is self-explanatory.

There are two kinds of beer – an Italian and a Jamaican. My companion tried them both while I had my usual shandy, which Raymond said is very English of me.

“It’s been a difficult few months,” says Raymond whose in-laws are from Kfar Maimon in the South and who had been evacuated until recently.

Raymond also does takeaway if you can’t get to Dudes in person. He’s a dedicated, hard worker – but with a mischievous smile that adds to the charm. We are definitely going back to Dudes sometime soon.

• Dudes
• 4 Karminyan St., Netanya
• Tel. (09) 765-3110
• Open: Sunday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-midnight; Thursday, 11 a.m.- 1 a.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.-2 or 3 a.m.; Saturday, after Shabbat until 1 a.m.
• Kashrut:– Netanya Rabbinate
• Wheelchair accessible

The writer was a guest of the restaurant.