Lutece

For those who enjoyed the Paris show and were wanting specifics about locations/phone numbers, there is a list of everywhere Bourdain went on this website:
http://www.movable-feast.com/

You may need to scroll down a bit to find the list.

Stellarossa

I was surprised by the LA episode; he was smoking like a rubber-backed carpet on a bonfire and no one seemed to mind.

Flyboy

Anthony heads to Iceland, starting right now.

francophile03

Is he really nice to talk to in person? His TV persona (to me) does not seem likeable. Maybe I don't get his humor also, but I didn't care for his show. I would've preferred to see a more traditional show instead like a Rudy Maxa type I guess. So I suppose Rudy Maxa is more my speed.

Lesfaye

Anthony Bourdain is hilarious, watched his Iceland episode last night. In the mud bath and he wrote HELP in his chest with the mud, my husband and I were in stitches. I was very excited when I heard about this new show last month, watched the first show on Paris, which was good, but this last one, the best so far, can't wait for more. The guy is a hoot and so refreshing, a lot of these travel/food shows never have a bad thing to say about any of the meals, they are all fabulous and you know that can't be true, he tells it like it is. His book is great as well!

cmt

Is he a travel "personality" or a cook? The description of him as a heavy smoker makes the thought of seeing him around food rather unappealing and the thought of his actually cooking while smoking truly repulsive. But I've never seen him and know nothing about him.

cmt

I looked it up, since the people who know about him didn't answer. He's an American chef/writer. He actually sounds pretty interesting, but the image of a chef smoking a lot is a huge turn-off to me.

Simone1

I saw him about a year ago on Food TV. He was in a special with his brother.

Apparently they were born somewhere in France (I can’t remember, maybe Brittany?) and they were taking a memory trip back to their childhood home. It was a very interesting program. It had none of the theatrics that I saw in the Paris episode. I don’t even remember if he smoked or not.

chepar

I like Anthony Bourdain and finally caught part of last night's Iceland episode. I thought it was really funny (albeit parts of it in a snarky kind of way).

Couldn't watch all of it (I go to bed pretty early) but I'll have to try to remember to tape the next episode.

cmt

The info I found said he was born in the USA. I've never seen him.

Simone1

I copied this from the Food TV website:

Episode TB1A09


Childhood Flavors
Arcachon France is where Tony's ancestral home and where he learned to love food as a child. He and his brother take a trip back to remember steak frites, waffles and fishermen's soup, and remembers how one oyster shaped his destiny.

Worktowander

Bourdain was/is the chef de cuisine at Les Halles in New York, is a contributing editor to Gourmet magazine and has had a long career at every level of the restaurant business.

For all of you who get squeamish thinking about sending back a meal, or those of us who worked in "the business" at one time or another, or just those who want to know why you should never, ever order fish on Monday, check out his first bestseller, "Kitchen Confidential."

For those with a food/travel double fetish, try "A Cook's Tour."

But be warned: If you don't like him on TV, you won't like his books. If you do like what you see, expect much, much more of it in print.

I love the guy.

Katerbug

Tony was a kick last night! January in Iceland-who arranged that? I laughed out loud at him. I'd never actually watched an entire episode of his, heard all about him. What a riot. He visited Mudbrick Lodge, near Nelson, South Island, NZ this Spring; we stayed at that Lodge Christmas 2003. LOVED IT!!!! I still email w/ the hostess! That episode airs Nov 7-ish! Watch it!

Geordie

I like him, if he doesn't like something he says it, for example this person in Mexico had spent hours preparing an Iguana for him to eat, after the first mouth full he said it tastes exactly as as it looks tough, rubbery and virtually inedible.

We have him on Satellite tv in a programme called 'A Cook's Tour' and he is a character, unlike some people, I remember a show where an American woman with long black hair and model like features who would visit French chatueax and their kitchens and have a meal prepared. Even before she bit into something her face would contort with pleasure, then you never saw her eat another mouthful. I hate this type of programme as you know its a low budget, paid for by the chateau to promote themselves to the American market.

There are many that are of this genre.

Geordie

USNR

Being somewhat culturally deprived out here in the Arizona desert, we had neither heard nor seen Anthony Bourdain before we caught his Paris wanderings this week.

Yes, we laughed and laughed. He takes a very oblique view of things and loves to poke fun at so many sacred cows, particularly French ones.

But his adventures with food in Iceland blew us away! What a mountain of inedible gunk, smelly stuff, and turn-off weather.

My wife put on the text on the screen so she could catch all of his "asides." Her comment: What an ego that guy has! I have to agree -- he has a great irreverence that is most engaging -- but his ego gets in the way of his message. I wish he would clean up his language.

By the way, have you been watching "The Contender"? About a New York restaurant and all its struggling people? It's engaging theater. It's emotionally exhausting. Why is everyone so abrasive?

MarthaT

Got hooked on 'Cooks Tour' last year and love 'No Reservations'.
Absolutely loved seeing Iceland in the winter. Having been there in the summer it really looks tempting to take a winter trip. No more than 3-4 days in Reykjavik though. Wouldn't see much else.
For the most part I love his humor and laughed at loud at some of his comments but I agree his ego does get in the way sometimes.

kybourbon

His webpage says he was born in NYC. I saw the episode last year from A Cook's Tour where he went to old haunts from his childhood in France. He made it sound like he lived there quite awhile.

He must have a cast iron stomach and intestines of steel!

HKP

Although I'll be watching other installments for the travel content, I continue to dislike not only his naughty-little-rebel posturing but the contrived feel of the pseudo-plots he seems to think will entertain us -- like getting "lost" out there (with his production crew), just a variation of the Green Fairy silliness of the Paris episode.

I wanted much more sense of what's good to eat in Iceland, not the condescending "aren't these people quaintly weird" stuff.

sera

Worktowander: Didn't he say don't order fish on Sunday? I could be wrong!

sandi_travelnut

HKP, you're in luck! You've just described every other travel/food show. His style might not be for everyone, but at least it doesn't get lost in the crowd.