"bourdain" news and stories

Another day, another list. This time, it's Anthony Bourdain's "13 Places to Eat Before You Die," which appears in the June issue of Men's Health. Bourdain's article shouts out restaurants and stores across the globe, from New York's smoked fish shrine Russ & Daughters to Spain's gourmand ground zero, elBulli.

Bourdain acknowledges that as "any seasoned traveler can tell you, the 'best' meals on the planet are the result of an ephemeral confluence of circumstances," and makes convincing arguments for each of his picks, which also include Kansas City, Kan.'s Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue, Tokyo's Sukiyabashi Jiro and London's St. John.

But even with the disclaimer and rationale behind Bourdain's choices, plenty are as likely to find fault with his logic (and apparently abundant frequent flier miles) as they are with a list proclaiming, say, the best pizza places in the U.S.

We have the text of the article so you can weigh in on Bourdain's hits -- and misses -- after the jump.

Did anyone else catch Tony Bourdain's No Reservations last night? I did. He went to Korea and I was slightly disappointed.

First, let's do a little recap of the episode.

Tony has been to several places in Asia, both for the show he did for the other network, and for No Reservations. He's been to Vietnam, Japan, China, and India. Nari Kye, a producer on the show, has been hounding Tony about going to Korea, her Mother Land, so he decided to go, and takes her along as his tour guide.

This week's New York Times Book Review is dedicated to food, but seems to concentrate on those whose lives have been about food. The books they focus on are not cookbooks, though a few reviews are included. Instead, the books are memoirs and compilations, reminding us that food is an integral part of life and, for some, it is life.

The Times has printed the first chapters of several food-related books this week, including two books, Two for the Road and The Nasty Bits, which we reviewed here. There is only one problem with reading through these excerpts, though it's not necessarily a bad one: after you read the first chapters, you may just have to hop in the car and drop by the nearest bookstore! Read them at your own risk:

• Two for the Road - The story of how the concept of roadfood came about
• My Life in France - The story of cooking, eating, France, California and Julia Child's life
• What to Eat - How to find things that you want/should want to eat in the grocery store
• The Nasty Bits - Anthony Bourdain's latest collection of essays from his life and travels

[Image NYT]

Source

The Epi-log, at Epicurious, has a lead on what music celebrity chefs are listening to. Chef and author Anthony Bourdain has a No Reservations playlist that you can download from Rhapsody. The mix is described as being "a dash of classic soul with some tasty pre-punk nuggets and flavorful jazz pieces" and includes songs like David Bowie's I'm Deranged, William S. Burroughs' The Last Words Of Dutch Schultz, and Memo from Turner by the Rolling Stones.

I'm not all that surprised to see the picks from Tony Bourdain, but it does make me wonder what other chefs listen to. Of course, I start to wonder about that only after I wonder how a chef got a playlist up alongside the ones from celebs like Ashlee Simpson and Lindsay Lohan.

Source