Sbandati Personal Chef Services

Sbandati Personal Chef Services

I want a personal chef. I need to figure out how to make some money so I can hire a personal chef to make my meals in my house all the time. That's how I'm feeling after having Dr. Juri Sbandati from Sbandati Personal Chef Services cook us the best Italian dinner I've ever had.

Seriously, the best Italian dinner I've ever had. The best. I'm going to hit up the "Italian restaurants" in Bend this year so I can write up some good comparisons so when I do my Best of 2008 it won't looked rigged. But its already a lock that Sbandati Personal Chef Services will receive the Best Italian in Bend Oregon award. Call me unfair, I don't care. I've been called worse.

Ok, enough sucking up. We started off with imported Mortadella with rustic bread and three year aged Parmigiano Reggiano which was served with 25 year old balsamic vinegar.

The parm and balsamic was a great combo and balanced out the saltiness of the Mortadella. The 25 year old balsamic had a syrupy consistency and I couldn't get enough of it. I want to pour it all over my bod....wait, never mind.

After some wine we sat down to a serving of Penne alla Chiantigiana - Penne pasta with a Chianti red wine sauce, tomato, sausage and fennel seed sauce.


Sausage and pasta...yeah you know I'm going to like it. After I finished my plate we were sipping our wine and chatting away and next thing I knew...next course. I had actually forgotten that there was more food and was quite content with the appetizer and the Penne.

But sure enough, next came the Maiale in Crosta di Pane - Pork tenderloin wrapped in a roasted baguette served with a field greens and pear salad drizzled with that same 25 year aged balsamic.



OH mamma, the pork was so tender and juicy. The baguette was like a salty, warm pretzel that just soaked up all the pork juice. Even the salad was good and you know I don't say that often.

It was about this time that I brought up the fact that I worked in a cheesy restaurant back in the day and my manager was a 5'2" Italian named Claudio. He use to reach up and grab me by the back of my neck and curse me in Italian when I messed up. I told this to Juri and Kinley and actually was able to recite the words that Claudio taught me.

Juri and his wife Kinley's eyes lit up in shock as the words rolled off my tongue. I've used those same words in traffic jams or in long lines at Safeway (why soooo long lines Safeway....why?!?!). All this time I've sort of thought that Claudio was just messing with me and calling me things like "Your face looks like a Salami" or "You think a you know a everything" but he was really cussing at me and in some pretty harsh words. Thanks to my man Claudio, I now know some GREAT cuss words in Italian.

Testa di cazzo - Google it.

Back to the meal. We had tortino di Monteveronese (cheese souffle) for dessert.

Now you can see actual photos as to why I said this was the best Italian meal I've ever had. Absolutely delicious all around and the company was awesome as well. It was great to have Juri describe the dishes in his heavy accent and to hear some stories from his lovely wife Kinley about their adventures here in Bend.

One such story cracked us up. Soon after Juri came to Bend via Italy, he heard a knock at the door. With Kinley at the store he went ahead and answered it. Friendly neighbors had been dropping off cookies and other baked goods welcoming them into the neighborhood so when he saw the two girl scouts at his door dropping off the cookies that Kinley had ordered, he thought it was just another friendly neighbor. They don't have girl scouts in Tuscany. The two girls stood there waiting for their check and Juri says "Thank you, I make a you Lasagna" with his boisterous Italian accent.

Kinley is rolling up the driveway and sees two girl scouts standing at the door and their mother's are across the street letting the girls do their thing. She's in slow motion waiving her arms like in some action movie "Noooooooo." The poor girls standing there confused as Juri tries to explain that he'll bring them lasagna to their house in exchange for the cookies.

It all worked out fine and an animated Kinley tells the story much better than I just wrote it up. If you have the means, I highly recommend looking into the personal chef services of Dr. Juri Sbandati.

You'll have to contact them for pricing information as I'm not sure if they have a set fee or if every party is priced based on menu and number of guests but you can expect somewhere around $70 a head. Again, you'd want to talk to them about pricing.

Sbandati Personal Chef Services
1466 Ne Revere Ave
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 610-6278
Sbandati Personal Chef Services

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