Anthony Bourdain (1956–2018)

Anthony Bourdain is unapologetically who he is and people tend to love him or hate him for that. To be honest, I’ve never watched any of his TV shows. A few years ago I read and loved Kitchen Confidential and that’s what made me want to pick this one up. I wasn’t a big fan of the first half of the book. He seemed to be justifying what he’s done since he became famous and I didn’t really care. In the second half he finds his balance and sinks into a bit of reflection and advice. It show more had a much better flow and tone.

I loved the section where he discusses how the recession affected restaurants, both in good ways and bad ways. He gives the average customer a little insight into the behind-the-scenes work that goes into running successful operations. There are pitfalls or challenges that I never would have thought about.

Regardless of the BS that inevitably surrounds his persona, Bourdain wins people over with his honest observations and his unfettered passion for food. He loves it equally in its most elaborate and simplistic forms. He conveys that with every word that he writes. He’s not a fan of the political shuffling that the public eye forces him to navigate, but his love of great food has never faltered.

His writing style works for me because he is sardonic and testy. Honestly he’s a cranky asshole and he never tries to deny it. His observations are steeped in sarcasm or disdain. He’s honest to a fault and that makes him a lot of enemies, but that doesn’t seem to bother him and I respect that. He’s just as loyal to his friends and he is vocal against his foes.

BOTTOM LINE: Read it if you loved Kitchen Confidential and you also like Bourdain’s “in-your-face” cantankerous style.

Side note: I would HIGHLY recommend listening to this one which is read by the author himself.

“I am not a fan of people who abuse service staff. In fact, I find it intolerable. It’s an unpardonable sin as far as I’m concerned, taking out personal business or some other kind of dissatisfaction on a waiter or busboy.”

“There’s something wonderful about drinking in the afternoon. A not-too-cold pint, absolutely alone at the bar – even in this fake-ass Irish pub.”

“If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel – as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them – wherever you go.” show less

Here's another book that I'm a prime candidate for, because two of my favorite things are food and gossip, and here, Anthony Bourdain doesn't hold back on either. When he describes food, he really gives it his all, something I'm starving for in a food book. Exhibit A is the opening description of eating ortolan, traditionally with a napkin over his head–recognizable from season 1 of Succession–including the bird bones drawing blood from the inside of his mouth while eating. Plus, whereas show more in Kitchen Confidential everyone he was giving a rundown of were kind of nameless, faceless characters who were generic to the restaurant scenes in different parts of the country, in order to draw back the curtain on things that were universal to the world of restaurants, or New York, or New York restaurants, in this book, they're people with instantly recognizable names and faces, and he's classifying them all as either heroes or villains, and I can't get enough. This book is like a very slow, very laborious, drawn-out version of a tabloid or my favorite Instagram celebrity gossip account, Deuxmoi. He's always judicious about it, though. I'm curious about why he didn't have anything to say about Toby Wolf. Even though I'm beyond disappointed to hear him re-use the phrase "like Marilyn Manson and Betty Crocker had a love-child" after he said it in an episode of Top Chef he guest-judged on–it's...not even that funny; maybe he forgot–I seriously love the way he talks, thinks, and writes about food...and the people who cook it. I feel like he was an actual food philosopher; he spends almost all of his time wrestling with what's good and what's evil about food, and I don't think I realized that until he was gone. Of course there are some things he's really off about, but he also seems like he was capable of recognizing when that was the case and changing course. show less

In the preface, Anthony Bourdain starts a sentence, "When I look back on the last five years since I wrote the obnoxious, ever-testosteroned memoir..." He's talking about Kitchen Confidential and the implication of the sentence is that the former book could be described that way, but this one...

Snort! This is a full sibling, replete with boasts of scars and burns, swagger about meals physically painful to eat, bluster about the criminal tendencies of co-workers, brags about oral sex from show more servers, gloating about the Herculean marathons of drink and food that would stun mere mortals, and sheer macho exultation about "getting it done" in an overworked kitchen when the whole evening gets in the weeds. There's enough testosterone in this to power a pro sports team's steroid collection.

But, for all that, there is also an undisguised love of food and food adventure that takes over the memoir and makes it simply fun to read.

If you've read KC, you know what you're getting. If you haven't, but think you might enjoy some uninhibited recollections about eating well all around the world, then give this a try. show less

I dated a fellow who worked in the restaurant industry for a number of years, and if I hadn’t I would never have been able to accept the truth of the overheated subculture revealed in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. The lives behind the kitchen doors are like the social hierarchy of another universe. The true nature of the sweaty, profane, oversexed, marginalized, slash and burn staff that puts a meal on someone’s table would be a revelation to most diners. If you have ever show more bussed a table, poured a drink at a bar, been stiffed on a tip, had a perfectly fine meal sent back, been ripped off by your supplier or dated the hostess, Bourdain will bring back memories. show less