Anthony Bourdain is the host of the Travel Channel's 'No Reservations' in which he travels to cities all over the world and shares, quite candidly, his food experiences at various recommended food joints. He is also the author of the book 'Kitchen Confidential', his memoirs and stories from his years of working in the restaurant business.
The title of this blog was from a recent episode on his trip to Chicago, where I am from. A city very close to my heart. So, I happen to agree, because Chicago is also very close to my stomach and hot dogs, well hot dogs, we do right! Just don't put ketchup on it!
The hot dog joint he visits in this episode is called Hot Doug's and a must go to if you are in Chicago. (I have never been there myself, but it is first on my list next time I go home.) Again, the quote: "Chicago has, hands down, a better hot dog than New York City." He loves hot dogs, ar any "meat in tube form." If you don't know, Bourdain is from New York, so this was a difficult thing for him to say. Oh, and he is truly a New Yorker.
Bourdain is a rough-around-the-edges, opinionated, straight shooter, who has no qualms about speaking his mind. That is what I love about him. Kitchen Confidential gives an honest depiction of his experience as an executive chef, life in the kitchens of restaurants (good and bad), and his encounters with excessive drinking, drugs, and outright debauchery. The book can be dirty, outlandish, and disgusting, so here is your warning. But, it is truthful and funny as well. The man has experienced life.
I will admit, I am envious of his current postion in life, maybe not the road he took, even though that road got him where is he today. In an Amazon review of his book, Sumi Hahn referred to him as 'a Jack Kerouac of the kitchen', which I thought is a pretty descriptive analogy. Bourdain's road led him to his career in which he can endulge in his healthy passions - writing, traveling, and eating! The man gets PAID to enjoy these wonderful verbs! Write, travel, eat!! Oh, I get that.
In his book and on his show, his brutal honesty exposes his true passion for food. His storytelling is short of amazing, and his show brings him to all corners of the world and tastes of cuisine most people have never even thought or heard of.
Sometimes he is crabby, sometimes he curses, and sometimes, he will complain. He is open-minded about trying different foods and has a expansive and attuned palate. He can enjoy a messy hot dog in Chicago or the finest caviar in Paris yet enjoy them equally, yet different. Anyhow, as Anthony as been known to say, sometimes it is better to just shut up and eat.
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