Television No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain

in the last few nights i have been covered with anthony bourdain material by chance. i caught him on pbs in an about a chef show (where he made sure that it was know he is not, by his or other standards, a great chef but that he is a great food personality), top chef, top chef food blog, his own blog, and this show- no reservations that i have been dvr-ing since last season.

so, no reservations is the baby of the endearing asshole. tell it like it is with a bite- chef, traveler, author, and so on- anthony bourdain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain

while i would love to see more cooking in this show, i do love it.
when i first started to watch i was still under the impression that bourdain could actually cook. i knew him as a chef and someone that would eat anything. in fact on his webpage, www.anthonybourdain.com, you can see video of him downing a still beating cobra heart with only its own blood and bile as a chaser. but the show is not a cooking show, at all really.

no reservations is more about being in different parts of the world, seeing the sights that aren't too touristy, biting critique and wonderfully articulate commentary (and some not so beautifully put parts), eating the local food (most times freshly decapitated) and watching bourdain basking in his love of fat. any fat. especially pig fat in every form.
it is on monday night, 10 pm, travel channel

http://travel.discovery.com/tv/bourdain/bourdain-season3.html

great show
I only catch an episode here and there but it seems like he has one of the best jobs on television.
travel the world, visit some of the best kept secrets of the country and eat some of the best food it has to offer.

that's the life!

I feel like I'm watching a really 2 dimensional guy when I see no reservations more than once a week. The "story" is always the same, I can't stand when he tries to be sincere and sentimental, and I don't like wasting time on gross out food.

I'm just saying, you woudl all enjoy me doing the show more than you enjoy it now.

i wouldn't really say he eats alot of gross out food, other than the time he went to namibia.

so you're saying that the gelled, fermented shark flesh from Iceland wasn't gross out food?

the show is flat compared to his actual character. it isn't something that could not be done by dozens of other people. the best part is he knows this and wonders, loudly to reporters and interviewers, how he got this job and why he has been able to keep something this easy and excellent going.
but i like seeing other worlds out there and the food. it is just a bonus that bourdain is showing them to me.

atlas said:

so you're saying that the gelled, fermented shark flesh from Iceland wasn't gross out food?

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i didn't say he didn't eat any gross out food. btw, he didn't like it anyway.

i guess it's more about where he is. if he's visiting a place that eats alot of nasty stuff then he ends up eating some nasty stuff.

....like the time he went to nw mexico or the pacific nw....i don't really recall him eating anything nasty.

the geoduc ceviche from the pacific NW could be called gross, or all the salted cured meats at the end. I wouldn't be complaining though.

yeah, i guess those geoduc(is that how it's spelled?) are kinda funky.

and i forgot about about the "underground" dinner party. if i recall correctly they were eating some weird things.

stinkfoot said:

yeah, i guess those geoduc(is that how it's spelled?) are kinda funky.

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it's spelled "geoduck' and pronounced 'gooey duck'

alasdair

Anthony Bourdain, IMHO, has done more for chefs as a profession than any other ex-chef/TV personality. You can argue that Emeril has done a lot for the food culture of America until you're blue in the face (and you'd probably be right.) But Bourdain tells it like it is. For real. And while this is turning out to not be about No Reservations (which I think is a pretty good travel show), I think it's somewhat relevant to the discussion.

Yeah, he eats some "gross out" food, but I don't think it's just for show. Who knows... fermented sharks fin could be good, for all I know. That's not really the point of the show though. It's about being immersed in a culture while you have the opportunity to be in their country. It's about eating well, and not having fucking hamburgers or bad hotel room service during your stay. It's about eating well and eating... interestingly.

Bourdain, to me, is a chef's chef. He's not afraid to eat a beating cobra's heart in Vietnam no more than he's afraid to eat a dirty water hot dog at a street cart in NYC. It's about expanding horizons, even if it means taking the occasional nosedive into disgustingness.

I say, eat it all. What have you got to lose? Yeah, you might throw up a couple of times. So what? We've all thrown up after that last beer or shot of Jager. Why not yakk after trying something completely foreign to you? Who knows.... it may be delicious.

I think Anthony Bourdain is really annoying actually, but his show is pretty cool I guess, he always goes to interesting destinations.

has anyone read kitchen confidential?

wanderlust said:

has anyone read kitchen confidential?

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Fantastic book. Check out "Nasty Bits", which is a collection of his shorter works, including a short fiction piece.

TV: No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain

Anyone seen this show? Anthony Bourdain is living the life I would want if I was a rich bastard; except he gets paid to go all over the world, eat awesome food, smoke cigs, do drugs, and drink; that's one lucky dude. This is a fantastic show.:D

We've got a discussion going on it already, so im merging your thread with it.

i love this show and Anthony Bourdain. i like the way he mentions his past drug experiences

BUMP

I'm not a regular viewer of this show, but I thought the newest episode in Cuba was really interesting. It's such a beautiful country, the classic cars, the architecture, the beaches and landscape. It seems like an amazing vacation destination.

I think its getting a bad rap in here. Awesome show, but I have a penchant for travel shows. Except for Zimmern that is.

He's lived a pretty full life for being in his 50's
I dont care for (gooeyduc's) either, but the way they cooked it on the beach wouldnt have been
half bad !