Bookslut Reviews “Kitchen Confidential”

Posted on September 16, 2007
Filed Under Television | 13 Comments

Remember Fox’s Kitchen Confidential - a TV tip of the cap to Anthony Bourdain’s memoir of the same name? No? That’s OK - neither does the rest of America. And I’m sure the higher-ups at Fox would rather erase any semblance of the failed show from the collective memories, Men in Black-style.

From BookSlut.com’s review of the show:

When Kitchen Confidential popped up in my Netflix recommendations earlier in the summer, I was a bit confused — mainly because I barely remembered that the show even existed. Based on the memoir by Anthony Bourdain, and one of Fox’s last efforts to create a show that might keep poor dear Arrested Development company, the Darren Star-produced half-hour tracked the adventures of Jack Bourdain (Bradley “Will on Alias” Cooper), recovering addict and master chef. The crew of his restaurant included Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Asian dude from Harold and Kumar, and an incredibly hot British guy; the production values were top-notch and the food on screen looked scrumptious. You could almost forgive that the show wasn’t actually that funny.

Well, maybe you could, but America sure didn’t — the show was canceled four episodes in, released on DVD two years later.

Indeed. And with good reason. I watched ten minutes of an episode back when Fox was first hyping it and I wanted to poke my eyes and ears out with kabob skewers. It was positively awful.

On Extreme Cuisine, Bourdain Notes: “Chewing some antibiotics is a small price to pay.”

Posted on September 9, 2007
Filed Under No Reservations | 10 Comments

From a recent FOX write-up on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations:

NEW YORK — Anthony Bourdain suffered quietly as he dined on wart hog - encrusted with sand, fur and fecal bacteria - in the African country of Namibia.

Bourdain, host of the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations,” finished the meal knowing he would become terribly ill. But who was he to complain as a VIP guest of the same arid landscape where Angelina Jolie delivered Brad Pitt’s baby?

Spitting out nasty bits of wart hog would be rude to the locals he was dining with.

“The chief is there in front of his whole tribe offering you his very best,” Bourdain said. “Show respect. I’m lucky to be there. I’m lucky to see that. I’m lucky to have that experience. Chewing some antibiotics is a small price to pay.”

Does that not sum up the best mentality towards food and life in general?

Is Anthony Bourdain A Sellout?

Posted on August 25, 2007
Filed Under No Reservations, Television | 12 Comments

Over at BlogCritics Magazine, Holly Hughes is questioning whether Anthony Bourdain has sold out:

In case you haven’t noticed, however, we live in a media age, and I can’t blame Anthony Bourdain for selling out as soon as TV came a-calling. It’s not like he was a Nobel Prize-winning poet, anyway – he was just a chef, folks, and not a particularly distinguished one at that. At least his first foray into the televisual realm was on the Food Network: the 12-part A Cook’s Tour, which played off on his willingness to eat gross local specialties from around the globe. Fair enough, and he did write a very entertaining book to go with it.

I dismiss the idea honestly. What is “selling out” anyway? Is it becoming popular? If so, it’s a bit ironic - and more than a bit hypocritical - that each and every one of us aspires to success and perhaps a bit of infamy in our line of work; yet when someone else accomplishes the same goals, we trash them for “selling out”.

Yes, on rare occassions, Bourdain’s taped doing things that he admits he’d rather not do (dancing, riding a bicycle through the bustling streets of Buenos Aires, etc.), but these are clearly the exceptions rather than the rule.

Simply having a television show is not selling out. Sacrificing who you are and what you’re willing to do for money is and I don’t believe Tony’s done either of these things. He’s still the same crass, rough around the edges, traveling foodie who’s unwilling to pull any punches. Have you heard how many times Bourdain swears and yells on his show? It’s not as though he’s sanitizing No Reservations content for family-hour cable television.

Says Holly:

Luckily, the visual style of these Travel Channel shows has found an equivalent to Bourdain’s prose. The handheld camera, the quick-cut editing, the ambient soundtrack, put us right in the thick of his culinary adventures. Bourdain’s voice-overs are astringent, self-mocking, wry – a perfect antidote to the gushing prose usually found in travel documentaries.

You mean the kind of gushing prose found in travel documentaries of … sellouts? No Reservations is the antithesis of same. You can’t have it both ways.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Beirut)

Posted on June 16, 2007
Filed Under No Reservations, Television | 5 Comments

“This unforgettable and terribly sad episode of the normally high-spirited travel-food show came out of Bourdain’s visit to Lebanon last July.” The Sydney Morning Herald has the full story on this momentous episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

Les Halles, New York - Closed?

Posted on April 11, 2007
Filed Under Les Halles | 1 Comment

The NY Post is reporting that Les Halles has been closed for the last two weeks due to apparent health code violations. Get the full story here »

More Nasty Bits from Anthony Bourdain

Posted on March 17, 2007
Filed Under Books | 2 Comments

Powells.com interviews Tony about his latest book, The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Useable Trim, Scraps, and Bones. Check out the full interview here.

Bourdain in South Beach

Posted on March 7, 2007
Filed Under Video | 1 Comment


Tony goes unplugged and uncut at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

TVFN Response to Bourdain?

Posted on March 3, 2007
Filed Under Television | 1 Comment

"Not officially, but. Over at Dr. Vino’s blog, it seems we may have something as close as we’ll get. Dr. Vino does not wish to reveal his source, but … " More via Ruhlman’s blog »

Bourdain Throws Down

Posted on February 25, 2007
Filed Under Television | 1 Comment

"I actually WATCH Food Network now and again, more often than not drawn in by the progressive horrors on screen. I find myself riveted by its awfulness, like watching a multi-car accident in slow motion … " More via Ruhlman’s blog »

Bourdain in South Beach

Posted on February 24, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

From the PalmBeachPost.com: “When Anthony Bourdain arrived on stage for a Saturday afternoon session at the Food Network’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival, he was fittingly introduced as the “Howard Stern of the food world.” In a sense, this is an acknowledgment that, like the Food Network celebrities he loves to skewer, Bourdain has become a branded personality. He’s the anti-Rachael Ray — a scrappy chef who revels in the gritty underside of the culinary world.”

Here here! Check out the rest of the story on Bourdain.

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