The Anthony Bourdain thread

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.

SF was beyond any point I remember seeing him on camera before, though! He was like your embarrassing drunk friend who has to talk to everyone and comment loudly about how great things are when they made it to the late night diner.

What was funny was that apparently Danny from Mission Chinese didn't really know him and kept giving him looks like, 'Dude, you're fucked up,' as he escorted him around. It looked like a fairly good visit for him but I kind of preferred it when he didn't go to the right places before.

he gets very grinny & smiley when he's drunk (don't we all haha)

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.

― mh, Wednesday, January 18, 2012 3:07 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

any time he would visit a communist or former communist country his inner milquetoast liberal would emerge and irritate the shit out of me with his constant handwringing - apparently all the capitalist dystopias in africa and se asia that he visits don't have regimes worth commenting on

The Cambodia one was pretty good in that regard...? Maybe the exception that proves the rule though

Don't remember handwringing in Vietnam either, but the No Res episodes kind of blur together

Yeah I'm havimg trouble remembering specific eps

He's been to Vietnam a couple times, iirc

where's his parade?