I’m reading this book I bought by Anthony Bourdain…even though he deleted me from his Myspace friendslist(long story,different blog.)
It’s a journal-ish account that he says he wrote while filming his show by the same name(or is it called No Reservations? I dunno) for the Food Network.
On a personal name droppy note: he and I used to hang at the same dive bar on 9th Ave.Bellevue.Don’t look for it because it’s long gone.The owner took his show to Williamsburg and set up Duff’s[3rd and Kent] in a former check cashing joint.
I’d see M.Bourdain’s huge head looming over the rest of the patrons
and having
already read&loved Kitchen Confidential, I’d get a tiny thrill.But that was it.The Bellevue Bar saw lots of celebs in it’s time.Jimmy Fallon once followed me and my pals to my nearby apt and did bad things(I don’t wanna get sued so I’m being vague)in my livingroom.Name droppy,obnoxious,sorry.
That was during my downward spiral,thankfully over with.
I never did understand Mr.Bourdain’s friendship with the co-owner of Bellevue,Tracey
Westmoreland.
Mr.Westmoreland had a bar named Siberia…
Anthony writes in Kitchen C. how he’d head over to Siberia after work (when it used to be located in the subway stop of 50th and 8th) to pound vodka.He also wrote that he was a big druggie and at that time that area was rife with hookers and druggies and lowlifes of all stripes.Hence Westmoreland.
I’m not afraid of you,Tracey.I hear that Siberia’s reincarnation on 40th off of 9th ave. has/is/will be closed and the loft you used to crash in upstairs burned down.
Bourdain often lauds the gritty so therein must lie an explanation of the friendship.
Kitchen Confidential was a fabulous book but A Cook’s Tour has only about 60% of it’s
power.I’m still going to finish it in about half an hour.He’s a good writer and funny,too.He uses adjectives.
Kitchen C.was stellar because Bourdain ripped open a world that had been overly romanticized in the public’s mind.The chef,the restaurant,the food,the whole package seemed to be a fuzzy wuzzy, ideal place to be a part of.Hence folks by the droves signing up to cooking school thinking that some day they too will wear the neat cook’s coat and hat.And Dansko clogs.And those weird hound’s tooth checked pants.
Folks who didn’t have cook friends,that is, and didn’t see the long hours and the absolutely- have- to- be -there- no- matter- what- and- cook- like- your- life- depended- on- it- slog that that life really is. They didn’t see that a cook could put in these long long hours for a whole year and still get fired for no reason. Or for a despicable reason. A friend of mine(who is a cook) even quit his other good paying job to throw in witha restaurant so new he was helping to paint the walls.
He worked until 2am every night for a couple of months.Once the place was doing business,he was canned.
That’s the life of a cook.
I’ll tell you later why he or his poseur deleted me from Myspace.
I found this guest blog post by Mr.Bourdain. He ridicules Food Network chefs,praises or simply mentions others(Like Alton Brown,who is a dear and he better not be mean to him).