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Ron Ruggless
Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo started out as two dudes from Florida who met in cooking school and discovered that two can be stronger than one in the hospitality world.
Each landed his first job with acclaimed chef Michelle Bernstein at The Strand in South Beach, Fla., and in years to follow the friends somehow managed to stay together wherever they worked, eventually landing in Beverly Hills, Calif., at the now-defunct Chadwick’s operated by Ben Ford, now chef-owner of Ford’s Filling Station, and Govind Armstrong, a chef-partner in Table 8. From there, Shook and Dotolo launched their catering firm to the stars: Caramelized Productions. But it was an appearance on the television show “Iron Chef America”—and perhaps their surfer-dude, rebellious personalities—that parlayed them into a Food Network “docu-series” called “Two Dudes Catering.”
Now, finally, the Dudes, as they have inevitably become known, are opening Animal, their first restaurant together, in June in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district. As the name suggests, meat will be on the menu—Shook is a huge fan of foie gras and Dotolo loves anything pork, though vegetarians will not be turned away hungry. Their eclectic New American cuisine at the tiny 49-seat venue will be derived from the best produce of the seasons, they said.
Aside from one investor, the two are going it alone as owners. They have sought the advice of Los Angeles restaurant consultant Jerry Prendergast, who describes himself as “a restaurant producer.” Prendergast has been involved in the development of concepts across town, from the recently reborn fine-dining bastion Bastide to the hot gastropub The York. The Dudes consulted on the menu for the latter.
Creating their own restaurant is a dream the Dudes have had for 10 years, Shook said.
“We set a goal, and we believed that two of us would be a lot stronger working together than doing it alone,” he said.
In the early days, that meant sharing rent on tiny apartments to make ends meet. Now it means “putting all the pennies we have earned on the line” to open a restaurant that truly reflects their approach to food, Shook said. The Dudes have no more plans for Food Network programming, but they remain camera-ready. Shook and Dotolo are involved in the creation of a new website called Eat, Drink or Die, scheduled to debut later this year, that will serve as a YouTube of sorts for food-related videos featuring both professional and amateur chefs.
The economic climate in Los Angeles is difficult, but Shook said their catering business is “slamming,” and their television appearances have created a following despite their almost Zen-like lack of marketing.
“People keep asking us things, like, ‘Do you have an exit strategy?’ and we’re, like, ‘Exit strategy! What’s that?’” Shook said. “We just can’t wait to get open because we know we’re going to be busy.”
