The Anthony Bourdain thread

It's one of those rare and still dirt-cheap regional cuisines, like Mexican food in Houston.

haha I now regularly go with my girlfriend's family to the Allen/Delancey Congee Village whenever I visit. It really is amazing.

(but srsly, visit one west coast)

ok ok I need a guide to the Mexican food of LA, maybe. Last time I was there I was too busy kvetching to eat much.

I'm watching his episode on Laos now, and it's kinda heartbreaking.

(but srsly, visit one west coast)

Yeah. Seattle has awesomely delicious chinese, japanese, and vietnamese. Seven Stars Peppers, for one, has the best hand shaven noodles I've ever had anywhere. My favorite dishes there from a few years ago:
chong gin chicken
house special chicken
hot pepper fish
sizzling rice shrimp special
hand shaven noodles beef chow mein
hand shaven noodles shrimp chow mein
baby bok
choy and mushrooms
mongolian beef

I ended up Tivo-ing this episode last night, so I still haven't seen it; hopefully this evening.

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2009/10/ten_things_anthony_bourdain_an.html

awesome. Love the cupcake hatred.

I don't know who David Chang is, but I love everything about that article.

great nyer profile of chang: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/24/080324fa_fact_macfarquhar

Hating cupcakes? What's the point of that?

there is a proliferation of cupcakeries these days

When I can get super fancy cupcakes at the small town farmer's market in northern Idaho I imagine the saturation level is probably exasperating in big cities. It doesn't mean they're not good, but still.

are ppl forgetting that cupcakes are fucking delicious?

i mean this seems like a good problem to have imo. OH NO THERE ARE TOO MANY GODDAMN CUPCAKES, WE WILL HAVE TO EAT OUR WAY OUT OF THIS.

Actually cake is fucking delicious. Cupcakes are for children's birthday parties and moments when whimsy matters more than taste or texture, because they're basically all exterior from a baking standpoint and are nearly impossible to keep from drying out.

i don't hate cupcakes, but it is a thing. also the last few weddings i've been at have had cupcakes instead of a cake.

yup. good idea, too, wedding cake is usually ass.

Wedding cake is usually ass for the exact opposite but sort of same reason that cupcakes are non-optimal: it's hard to get that enormous mass of batter cooked evenly without the edges being dry. Cakes that are made in medium-sized segments and joined together are better, cos each can be of a size and shape to bake in a sensible way (in a normal oven).

why we gotta do normal sized cake vs tiny cakes, of course regular sized cakes is better

Yeah just sain' that cupcakes are okay to hate, if you want to do that, because they put silliness over actual food quality. If you want to enjoy the silliness then go ahead, but it makes an understandable reason to hate them, if you care about a different set of priorities.

Laurel, you've been having the wrong cupcakes, I need to bake you some and fax them over.

also the last few weddings i've been at have had cupcakes instead of a cake.

Yeah, this is a thing now.

My problem with cupcakes is that I don't like buttercream frosting.

I need to bake you some and fax them over.

YSI plz!

for those who deny that the cupcake trend has gone too far:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/12/meatloaf-bakery-chicago-illinois.html

The hipster cupcake proliferation is kinda redic but I’ve had some damn good ones.

But, last week we finally entered the big time with Lakeview’s Meatloaf Bakery. While it sounds like the drug fueled dream of a character in some big ticket Hollywood movie, it’s the real deal here in Chicago—a storefront emporium that sells no less than eight types of gourmet meatloaf in appetizer form (aka "loafies"), full loaves, and, yes, the meat cupcake, aka "meatloaf baked in cupcake forms and piped with mashed potato frosting."

To me, the idea seemed an absurdity on every level. Why would I pay for something I could ask my mom to do for free?

"Mommmmm! I need you to whip up some meaty cakes for me!"

do you ever feel like some people are fronting with this OMG I LOVE BACON CUPCAKES shit nowadays

I was at a stand-up comedy show about a year ago, and one of the performers got a huge laugh just by saying, "So I decided to open up a hip new bakery."

David Chang serves complete garbage imo. Been to 3 of his restaurants (1 has since closed), mediocre ameri-asian fusion.

Bourdain's personality/writing >>>>>>>>> cooking based on my 2 samples of LH back when he was in the kitchen.

which of his restaurants closed?

Hating cupcakes is lame.

I like Bourdain but he has these little eccentricities that I hate, like his weird obsession with tiki shit.

And aging rockers.

Bourdain and Chang are two guys who don't seem to be particularly into dessert, so hating cupcakes is not very surprising even beyond the root hatred of culinary fad cycles.

i like a good cupcake! place down the street from my gf's house makes rad ones:

http://www.kickasscupcakes.com

i mean, i'm not big into sweets at all, but if someone makes a good cupcake you can be damn sure i'll eat it.

I like aging rockers and do not partic like dessert, so I'm okay with all this cranky-ass fuckers.

Bourdain's personality/writing >>>>>>>>> cooking based on my 2 samples of LH back when he was in the kitchen.

i don’t think he every really hyped himself up as anything more then a serviceable chef.

Being away from austin for 4 years, I've noticed cupcakes everywhere. I don't really understand it, are there that many people that are craving just cupcakes? There are trailers that only sell cupcakes. I don't think I'm ever just wanting a cupcake.

this profile makes david chang sound like an awful and sad human being

I don't really understand it, are there that many people that are craving just cupcakes?

It's part of the same trend that has bars serving tater tots and restaurants doing "gourmet" macaroni and cheese. In other words, capitalizing on childhood nostalgia with "comfort foods."

people need to stop frontin, cupcakes are delicious. And you can eat them without a fork, which is v. difficult to do with other cake products i.e. regular cake.

You know who else doesn't like to eat things with forks? Small children.

sometimes a man needs to eat cake on the go, and for that cupcakes are a godsend.

this profile makes david chang sound like an awful and sad human being

Yeah, isn't he great?

Disappointed that Shasta didn't like his food. I wanted to check it out some day.

i just want to clarify that as far as i can tell, laurel is the only person who has come out as anti-cupcake on this thread.

i mean i can see if you're not into cake in general but why would you ever hate on cupcakes specifically. like what, you want a whole cake that you can cut into slices? i'm one guy--wtf am i going to do with a whole cake?

Cut it into pieces apparently?