The Anthony Bourdain thread

(xp after glancing at that thread again) ...although from that thread I think both of you have this real hero-worship for Achatz (midwestern pride?) which while I think he's a great dude and a great chef, he often gets mentioned in the same breath as far-greater talents. imho, nn: i have never eaten at Alinea, but I ate plenty of his cooking at previous gigs.

Genuine question: who were the pioneers of molecular gastronomy in the USA? How far behind was Achatz / Alinea?

Hostess? Actually, I'm curious what the interplay is between giant processed snack company food science culture and haute cuisine. Do they respect each other from afar, or do they draft and trade personnel pretty frequently?

Wiley had a James Beard while Achatz was still working the line at TFL.

Haha I guess I'll need a wikipedia to understand that answer.

Ok my lovely American wife has explained "Wiley" "James Beard" and I've figured out The French laundry ( unless you mean Transport for London ....)

Sorry:

Wiley Dufresne (sp? America's best known Molecular Gastronomy chef) had a James Beard award for best rising chef while Grant Achatz was still working on the line (saucier? protein station?) at The French Laundry.

...although from that thread I think both of you have this real hero-worship for Achatz (midwestern pride?)

?

I've never eaten at Alinea, either, so there's no hero-worship on my part. I do really want to eat there, though, which shouldn't be too surprising since it's widely considered the best restaurant in the city in which I live.

It's also possible that over the years I have also misjudged Achatz's relative importance in the culinary scene, given all the attention that he has received in Chicago (but also elsewhere, e.g. the New Yorker profile). But that's because I didn't really become interested in this stuff until fairly recently. I had never heard of Wylie Dufresne until I watched the first season of Top Chef Masters last summer.

I have eaten there, it was v good. I was under the impression that Achatz was at the leading edge of the molecular thing in the US (if not the actual first), which is why I asked the question. Not that it makes any difference to the quality of the food, of course.

wd~50 in NYC opened a few years (03?) before Alinea to much higher fanfare (maybe due to east coast media bias lol). dufresne is much more visible, infamous for running around like a chicken with its head cut off during quickfire challenges on reality cooking program(me)s.

shasta recommend some food (culture/crit not how to/cook) books. not bothered if writer comes off as 'mean' or 'a douchebag' or if some of the people in it are 'assholes'.

for example zola's 'belly of paris' - should i read that? not a zola fan but who knows. anyone doing contemporary aj liebling or joseph mitchell writing about oysters and steak dinners type stuff?

i don't think i've ever read a food culture book other than kitchen confidential or fast food nation. i'm an eater not a reader.

Botany of Desire is Michael Pollan's lesser known book, but maybe his most engrossing.

i'm probably the only person whose response to omnivore's dilemma was a desire to take up hunting

That was the best bit... Mmmmmm wild boar.

where does your wife work again sr. schwantz? pastry chef no?

She now works as a mom, and is working toward a degree in family therapy. Pre-kids, she was executive chef at Bar Tartine, and she was sous chef at Incanto for a while. We should have dinner some time...

whoa! had no idea...

So wait, do you work in the business, or just love to eat?

i'm probably the only person whose response to omnivore's dilemma was a desire to take up hunting

I know someone who had a similar reaction from watching the movie Babe. She'd been a vegetarian for 10 or so years, but the movie's "it's just the way things are" speech resonated with her to quite the opposite effect - it *is* the way things are, so she got a hamburger right afterwards and has been a meat-eater ever since.

balls - new yorker food book has some good stuff in it?

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/140006547X.01._SX220_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

i'm probably the only person whose response to omnivore's dilemma was a desire to take up hunting

― balls

Have I got a book for you! The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine.

Maine episode

Haiti episode was solid

saw sean penn on the preview & decided to skip it

recent naples episode was awesome

I dunno, I heard the Haiti episode wasn't that good. Bourdain got in a taxi and the guy didn't even really speak English or French and they ended up in fucking Rosemont.

i liked the el bulli send off episode.

I didn't like the naples episode. :/

I liked the Cuba episode, as well as the El Bulli episode. Made me want to go spend a paycheck (or more) on dinner. I had leftovers instead, and am able to pay my mortgage. Yay!

Recent Bourdain quotes:
http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/29/anthony-bourdain-on-leonard-lopate-the-ten-best-quotes.php

http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/30/bourdain-louisiana.php

I liked the Louisiana episode--humor and music (cajun group Red Stick Ramblers were playing fiddles and singing when not cooking)too. Yep, the killing of the pig was pretty graphic. David Simon (Wire, Treme) was there.

that party looked like lots of fun imo- wkiw

He has a new show - The Layover, I think it's called? Seems like a less-prepped 24-48 hour visit to a city where they just try to throw together a show.

josh homme desert episode was kind of horrible. they should have shown the mountains of cocaine they went through instead.

Finally got around to watching the Kurdistan episode. Very interesting.

Anthony Bourdain and Jerry Stahl . . . separated at birth?

http://www.citylights.com/html/WYSIWYGfiles/image/jerry_l.jpg

I like when Bourdain hangs out with Josh Homme in Palm Springs.

On Alice Waters: "She's not a particularly good spokes model for her cause. She comes from an area rich in delicious things. She's comfortable, she has very elitist tastes that she has a very had time concealing. Actually, that's the part of Alice Waters I like. Her love of Provence and the Mediterranean sensibility is both charming and not helpful."

kinda liking the No Reservation reboot The Layover

I keep meaning to watch it

Anthony Bourdain already said it best: “When your signature dish is hamburger in between a doughnut, and you’ve been cheerfully selling this stuff knowing all along that you’ve got type 2 diabetes… It’s in bad taste if nothing else.”

(w/r/t Paula Deen)

I'm finding the Layover a lot more enjoyable than the average No Res episode. Thought SF in particular was way better

NYC, Rome and Montreal have been my favourite eps so far. Haven't seen San Fran or London yet though.

He definitely seems more into it. More drinking, less eating things he doesn't appear to love and saying "oh, that's good. yep, that's good."

he seemed drunk out of his mind in sf.. seemed like a pretty representative trip to me.

the beginning of this thread makes no sense

the layover is kind of like a focused run at a place instead of the "let's drive around and pontificate upon the deep history of this land from my american perspective" which I was really getting tired of.

he seemed drunk out of his mind in sf.. seemed like a pretty representative trip to me.

― strongly recommend. unless you're a bitch (mayor jingleberries), Wednesday, January 18, 2012 1:43 PM (2 hours ago)

tony does seem to get way more trashed in these shows.