false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168422043m/33313.jpg 33313 27 Most diners believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain in <I>Kitchen Confidential</I>, that elegant three-star concoction is the collaborative effort of a team of "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths," in all likelihood pierced or tattooed and incapable of uttering a sentence without an expletive or a foreign phrase. Such is the muscular view of the culinary trenches from one who's been groveling in them, with obvious sadomasochistic pleasure, for more than 20 years. CIA-trained Bourdain, currently the executive chef of the celebrated Les Halles, wrote two culinary mysteries before his first (and infamous) <i>New Yorker</i> essay launched this frank confessional about the lusty and larcenous real lives of cooks and restaurateurs. He is obscenely eloquent, unapologetically opinionated, and a damn fine storyteller--a Jack Kerouac of the kitchen. Those without the stomach for this kind of joyride should note his opening caveat: "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection.... But I'm simply not going to deceive anybody about the life as I've seen it." <I>--Sumi Hahn</I> 4219 book 2000 Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (updated edition) total:13833|5:3693|4:6344|3:3182|2:514|1:99| 13833 54519 17754 2334 4 14 true false Mon Apr 07 05:32:36 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 27 18:11:17 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 05:31:11 -0700 2008 No Reservations, left me with with the sense of a true asshole who sneered down his nose with aging punk-rock disdain at people and things he deemed beneath him, and, honestly, it seemed like most people and things were beneath him. For some reason...more...]]> 1 5 false false Fri Mar 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 08 11:21:54 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 07 19:03:39 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 7 false false Thu Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 21:04:32 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 21:06:14 -0700 2008
So, I've finished reading Anthony Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential, which is basically about all the crazines...more...]]> 3 5 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 19 11:18:30 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 19 11:19:21 -0800 2007 ...more...]]> 5 12 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 04 12:45:59 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 12:59:39 -0700 2008 I remember first discovering Anthony Bourdain on the Food Network many years ago. It was 3am and I was unable to sleep and here was this brooding, hot piece of ass chain smoking and touring Russia.
I never remembered his name but ...more...]]> 3 3 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 30 22:25:39 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 01 20:14:03 -0700 2008 Kitchen Confidential would have packed more punch for me if I had read it when it was first published (in 2000). Much of what Bourdain was revealing about the restaurant industry became pretty well known in the years after he wrote this book - at least to people who had any interest in ...more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 15 12:51:27 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 17 19:51:15 -0700 2008
I'm left thinking about a few things. I'm pissed off at yet another profession women ar...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat May 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 31 22:16:59 -0700 2007 Sat May 16 18:09:22 -0700 2009 2 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Jun 07 22:33:30 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 22:45:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Jul 17 07:29:43 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 20 10:08:50 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 07:04:32 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 01 07:13:25 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 02 13:22:47 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 13:32:53 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 2 false false Fri Jul 18 21:58:31 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 04 11:54:27 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Sep 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 19:56:58 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 18:36:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jan 13 15:21:20 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 15:21:42 -0800 2009 I was disappointed in this book. I had heard great things about it, including how scandalous it was. I had envisioned a scathing expose of the restaurant industry and all the disgusting things you didn’t want to know. Instead, it was just the story of Anthony Bourdain and how gross and miser...more...]]> 3 2 false false Wed Jun 25 08:45:39 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 08:58:32 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Mar 03 16:33:18 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 03 17:05:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 13:09:50 -0800 2008 Wed Apr 02 11:56:24 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Mar 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 16:06:51 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 06 14:42:46 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 06 13:05:44 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 06 14:09:08 -0800 2008 Kitchen Confidential has nothing to do with the likes of Delia Smith or Nigella Lawson; the best way to describe t...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=33313