Are they actually removing the show because he died? Is that a thing people do now?
No, they paid for a license and it expired. Happens all the time. Just poor timing.
Looks like it’ll stay for now:
Great. I’ve got the entire series downloaded to watch at any time, as I find it a great background show. No Reservations and A Cook’s Tour, too.
That was Noma, right? Yeah, I liked that episode too. If you were to look just at the descriptions of the dishes, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s all unbearably pretentious, but once you see how and why they’re putting these weird ingredients together, it makes interesting and creative sense.
@Demolira — Thanks for posting that Netflix tweet. Good to see they’re keeping it awhile longer.
Having dined at Noma (just before they shutdown for the recent hiatus), I think they take concept too far and let it supercede taste. There are a lot of innovative, Michelin-starred restaurants in Copenhagen that walk the line better between taste and concept. That said, tons of credit to Noma for being pioneers in the space.
Wow, you actually made it into Noma? Very impressive, that’s a tough seat.
I didn’t know Anthony Bourdain had such a close personal and professional relationship with David Simon (The Wire, Treme, etc.).
Thanks for posting that. What an amazing person. Nice to learn a bit more about him.
I am reading Kitchen Confidential. I am loving it. I would have enjoyed him making me a meal.
So sad.
So his suicide hit me during the middle of a business travel week. I am extremely sad, still. Anthony was, to me, an amazing storyteller. Someone who brought out the truest part of any place and any people he showed on TV during his two long running shows. But I had never read anything by him.
I picked up the audio version of Kitchen Confidential over the weekend and dove into it this week, and it’s voiced by Bourdain himself! It’s amazing so far. I love his descriptive use of language and how he is so good at it I feel like I can see things as though I was there. The people, the places, the sights and smells, all of it.
I miss him even more now.
He actually regretted positioning some of what he called “meathead kitchen behavior” as a positive camaraderie recently with the whole #metoo movement. He talks about being anally sodomized with spoons and such as a joke and shrugged it off, assuming that others would be able to do the same. But anyway yeah, a very entertaining book.
I keep a reading journal, because I’m weird like that. I started it about twenty years ago, mainly as a way to keep track of what I was reading and to try to teach myself how to write about what I was reading. I don’t think the latter thing really happened, but it’s cool to go back and see what I had to say about things I read many years ago.
As I said up-thread, I’ve been reading Bourdain’s book The Nasty Bits for a few weeks now. I was about three-quarters of the way through it when he killed himself. Finishing the book was pretty painful. But necessary. I thought I’d share what I wrote in my reading journal here, because many of us are fans of his.
Okay. So.
Anthony Bourdain is one of my favorite personalities in the food world. I’ve loved his shows and read at least two of his books. He is frank, brash, smart, acerbic, and passionate. You can also tell from the way he reacts when someone is good to him that he is loving. In point of fact, he says this in the book: “…as anyone who knows Gordon [Ramsay] knows him to be a complete cupcake.” I loved that little reveal. And I’m betting it applies to Bourdain as well. As dark as he is, when you see him eating on a little plastic chair in Vietnam or being invited into the home of a family for a meal, he is so gracious, and grateful. He seems like a giving dude, as tall and tough and worn as he looks. You just get the sense that under all that New York armor there is a gentle soul.
I was three-quarters of the way through this book When Anthony Bourdain killed himself.
This is one of those I-woke-up-one-morning-and-WHAT-THE-FUCK! moments. It fucking sucks, and it kicks you in the gut. I knew he was dark, but I did not see this coming.
The book is good. I’ll be honest…it’s not great. It’s a collection of his articles and essays., some of which I’ve read before in magazines or wherever. His weaknesses as a writer show more here, but that’s okay because his voice is so strong. So distinct. The real pleasure of the book is at the end–after you endure his somewhat embarrassing bit of Christmas restaurant fiction–where he has included a “Commentary” section. In this section, he talks about, and sometimes apologizes for, what he included in the book. He talks about being too hard on this person, and sticks to the biting criticism he wrote for another. This little section at the end, where he evaluates himself, sometimes harshly, sometimes regretfully, and yes…even sometimes in a self-congratulatory way, is the real gem of the book. It’s a small section. But it is frank and revealing and is a great way to wrap up the work. It lends…warmth.
Fuck I’m gonna miss him.
Those are the kinds of notes I write to myself about what I read. This journal is something I hope my kid will enjoy someday, as he considers the workings of his dad’s brain.
Here’s a couple pages from that “Commentary” section I talked about in the entry, just to give you a sense of how that worked. I just love his honesty. His rawness.
Forgive my self-indulgence. Finishing reading a book is almost always an emotional experience for me. This one, much more so. Obviously.
-xtien