The Anthony Bourdain thread

jinky: best. gatefold. ever.

"Where's the giant bowl of queso?"

uh

I don't want to get into a whole Mexican thing, because we've done it before a whole bunch of different times, but lookit: I occasionally felt like Chicago's Mexican was lacking compared to the tasty southwestern stuff I grew up on (which is a whole different kind of food in the first place), but honestly, compared to almost any place else in this country, it is generally decent and nothing to complain about. Honestly. Seriously. Up until I found a good southwestern-style place here in New York, I'd have killed for even the kind of stuff you can get at Flash Taco.

(I would also submit -- from personal experience! -- that if you're really used to Texan or "southwestern" Mexican, you can get to a point where someone gives you certain types of authentic Mexican food and you're like OMG this is terrible, given that it's a big country and many parts of it are not gussying up their dishes with as much first-world richness and stewing and cheese as parts of ours.)

haha xpost! -- the parenthetical bit above = "where's the giant bowl of queso" EXACTLY

yeah, if i can get some tacos with tasty carne al pastor, cilantro, onions, and spicy salsa, then i'm happy. no queso necessary.

(i realize that the tex-mex thing is totally different, and i'm not that familiar with it)

You're making me so so hungry for things covered in red sauce and melted cheese.

That whole southwestern-vs-authentic thing once led to a really embarrassing conversation between me and another ILXor, about a local restaurant:

ME: Everything seems really weird and thrown-together there.
HIM: It's pretty much just authentic Oaxacan style.
ME: No way, they just throw that runny white cream on everything!
HIM: I believe that's known as Oaxaca Cream.
ME: Well they're definitely using some kind of cheap, bland cheese.
HIM: Yeah, that's called Oaxaca Cheese.

i hate that white cheese

so do they really provide big bowls of cheese at tex-mex places?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/65/Queso.jpg/400px-Queso.jpg

I have never seen such a thing.

I've never seen anything like that in my life.

Not saying I wouldn't down the whole thing, just saying.

so basically Chicago mexican is more authentic than Austin/SATX mexican?

Queso is amazing.

so basically Chicago mexican is more authentic than Austin/SATX mexican?

well, "authentic," like nabisco said.

My mom makes it as an intermediate step to homemade mac'n'cheese, it's basically your roux with sharp cheddar and whatever else melted into it. Then she has to beat us about the hands with her wooden spoon as we try to scoop it up with chips before she puts the pasta in.

But sitting, possibly lukewarm, on a restaurant table? I can hardly imagine.

I am also a fan of the giant hollow puffy fried corn tortilla smothered in queso. (Which is short for chile con queso, not to be confused with queso blanco, which is the stuff I could seriously live without.)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2891374366_b89ab3436f.jpg?v=0

not like i don't like cheese, but that seems kinda unnecessary. mexican food isn't exactly healthy to start with, i don't need a giant bowl of cheese too.

Well, when they put it in front of you, just try not eating it.

Texas is all about the unnecessary

I think I would be totally fine with not eating that. But I can be picky about cheese products.

I would totally eat that.

I can't believe how many people haven't had queso! Surely most of you have at least had, like, a jar of crappy queso dip from the supermarket? Cause it would be sad if processed nacho cheese was as close as someone had come.

Anyway: it's not an authenticity battle, I'm just saying that when you're used to awesome American-regional versions of Mexican food, other versions can throw you, for a second. But yeah, I'd say that the bulk of decent Chicago Mexican falls into one of two camps: (a) the tacqueria-style basics, and (b) sit-down restaurants, catering to a good share of actually Mexican patrons, serving actual Mexican entrees -- you know, not just enchiladas and stuff but the seafood dishes and fried things and whatnot.

There's plenty of both in Chicago that's pretty good, and this is even ignoring "nice" places. But it's true, if you're used to Southern California style, or New Mexican style, or Texan style, or something like that ... some of these might seem blander or drier or less mind-blowingly delicious, I guess?

The queso home game is a bowl of melted velveeta mixed with salsa. It ain't art, but it's quality slumming.

Anyway, someone let me know when Bourdain goes to Ethiopia, please

Well, when they put it in front of you, just try not eating it.

yeah, you obviously don't know me at all.

he will never never eat the queso
oooooooooooo

if someone puts it front of me i pretty much have to eat it all

I think that's what Kenan meant -- like, you just try not eating it.

My mom will often bust out a block of Velveeta mixed with a can of Rotel tomatoes, melted in a crock pot and served up for an event of some sort with a bag of Tostitos. This dish is referred to as "Rotel". My mother-in-law was known to do a similar thing with a can of Hormel chili instead of the Rotel tomatoes. Authenticity, regionalism, whatever be damned - I'd eat both of them.

I love Rotel cheese dip, esp. with a strong shot of sriracha added.

velveeta and canned chili, which sounds awesome in a drunkfoods sort of way, becomes incredibly disgusting after about five chips worth. had it at a party last year, was at first psyched. then not.

My Texan friend likes to mix a small quantity of Velveeta with real cheese just so the queso has a better consistency.

I think that's what Kenan meant -- like, you just try not eating it.

this.

wouldn't have to

I was in Russ & Daughters today getting lunch, and the folks behind the counter told me that there's a No Reservations airing tonight where he goes to Russ & Daughters. !!!!

I had a pumpernickel with plain cream cheese and Gaspe salmon. (One of the only lunches I'll willingly pay $9 for, since it's SOOOO GOOOOD. Any other lunch over $6 is mad overpriced.) We'll see what Mr Bourdain eats tonight. ;-)

No Reservations is great television. Even when it's lying it's telling the truth. The Vancouver episode was so ineptly done that it accidentally revealed the truth about the city: it's based on stock footage of people snowboarding and doing "outdoor activities," a film industry nobody really cares about, and bullshit quality of life rankings in International Magazines.

Good episode except he kept saying non-ironic over and over. WE GET IT!

That was Bourdain at his Morbsiest.

I had never thought of it, but Bourdain is pretty Morbsy every week. But almost always in a "charming curmudgeon" way.

I hug them both.

Come on! Katz's is OK but dude, SARGE'S! You'd think being a midtowner, even if all the way left instead of right, he'd know better.

I crave Sarge's so bad at all times. I make sure to go every single time in NYC.

Sarge's. 36th and Third. Sit-down. Huge menu. Flawless matzoh ball soup. Best pickles and cole slaw on earth. Best pastrami in New York. (That's from our old friend Paul Eater--does he still post?) Open 24 hours. Almost nobody I meet in New York has heard of it or been there, because it's in midtown where there is basically nothing. I want to live there. Every one of you reading this owes it to yourself.

I don't think I've ever seen him take such giddy delight in anything as he does the Chinese meal.

ooh, def. checking that out. not too far from workplace and my immediate vicinity's lunch options are kind of a culinary wasteland so this is good to hear. thx matos!

i've faulted him in the past for being too idiosyncratic in his takes on places, but a few of the recent ones feel a little too greatest hits-y. i mean, i admit i'd rather watch NY and DC than, say, Ghana and Vietnam, and i can't really fault him for knocking off an easy episode at home with the young kid over a cold winter, but it does seem like he might be getting a little too comfortable in the job.

36th and Third is what, 3-4 blocks from the 2nd Ave Deli now?

where is the outcry about the Upper East Side content in this one?