Originally published in the Reader's Den from 11/01/10 - 11/23/10.
Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Please feel free to comment or bring up anything relevant to the book in the comment section.
“I’ve long believed that good food, good eating is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized 'crime,' food, for me, has always been an adventure.” (Page 6)
This quote ends the opening remarks of Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain’s 2000 bestseller. Even now, years after its release, it is difficult to obtain from the library because of its longlasting popularity. The culinary memoir is told in a friendly and humorous manner, with sprinkling of bad language and off color remarks to keep things interesting. There are plenty of stories that will leave you afraid to eat out, order seafood of any kind on any day of the week, and a host of other tidbits and horror stories from the kitchens Bourdain has worked in. There are also remembrances of colleagues filled with respect and fondness and a good deal of interesting insight into the restaurant industry. Even though Bourdain might scorn me as a vegan, I enjoyed this book, mostly because Bourdain seems to love what he does and the enthusiasm is catchy.
The books contents are divided into parts of a meal: appetizer, first course, second course, third course, dessert, and coffee and a cigarette. For the First Course, we read about Bourdain’s awakening of his love for food during a childhood trip to Europe. He slurped down his first oyster as his brother and parents looked on with a hesitation and was immediately hooked on the thrill. He got his first job in the industry as a dishwasher at a touristy fish shack called the Dreadnaught in Provincetown and immediately became envious and admiring of the misfit and wildchild cooks there. This appetite for trying new and exciting cuisine has sustained and supported him for more than twenty five years in successful restaurants, books and television shows.
The second course outlines “what strange beasts lurk behind the kitchen doors” as well as several don’ts Bourdain has learned from working in the industry for so long. While he freely admits that good food “is about risk,” he also can’t overlook some truths he’s found out along the way. Below you'll find some of his anecdotal rules for eating out.
Regarding seafood, most restaurants are offloading their poorly selling and old goods for Sunday brunch and for specials on Mondays according to Mr. Bourdain. Best to confine your seafood consumption to Tuesday through Thursday. If it's served with a fragrant sauce, chances are they are hoping to disguise something. Mussels you are better off not ordering at all. He does make a concession for places he knows are careful and discerning, like Le Bernadin, the restaurant of fellow Top Chef judge Eric Ripert.
Other recommendations include ordering what seems to be popular with other diners or what the restaurant is known for. Ordering the risotto at a steakhouse might not be your best option for a meal. He posits that the broiled mackerel and calf liver special look “good on the menu” but might have been sitting around for a while. And the cleanliness of the bathroom is directly proportional to how clean the kitchen must be. Also, Sunday brunch is served by the B level cooks and "hollandaise is a veritable petri dish of biohazards" and Canadian bacon is trotted out only on the weekends, otherwise it can have a long, lonely life on the kitchen shelf. That's something to keep in mind this weekend...
Despite these cautionary tales, Bourdain still loves to take the risk with food. How about you? Do you like taking the risk? Will you change your eating out habits because of these tips? Do you find his off the cuff style off-putting or have you been converted?
The third course chapter of Kitchen Confidential recounts Tony's series of jobs after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America. From the fading glory with a view of the Rainbow Room to the Apocalypse Now atmosphere of Works Progress, then later to the slow failures of Tom's and Rick's Cafe, etc. Along with an increasingly fat paycheck, his stories of the various kitchens he worked in include lots of objectionable language and an atmosphere not unlike prison with macho posturing and threats. He jumped from one restaurant to the next, building up colleagues and industry secrets. During what he calls the "wilderness years," he goes on interview after interview and struggles with depression and drugs until he finally decides to climb out after being given the opportunity to work at Coco Pazzo Teatro for a man named Pino Luongo, a man whose enthusiasm for food rivaled Bourdain's own. His time at that restaurant seemed to rekindle Tony's desire for a real life in the industry.
The chapter called Dessert, chronicles a day in the life at Les Halles, where Bourdain was executive chef at the time. He details the business down to the nitty gritty, how things run smoothly, his reliance on good staff, and what everyone does on daily basis. From taking stock in the morning to deliveries in the afternoon and the dinner rush when its "Fred and Ginger time," and the chefs do a rapid dance in the kitchen to get the plates out on time. Each position is respected and its importance in the kitchen is also explained from the runners to the sous chef, who, "in an ideal situation, is closer to me than my wife."
Finally, in the last chapter, Coffee and a Cigarette, Tony pays homage to some of the more respected celebrity chefs and shall we say, more conventional management techniques. Bourdain admits that although he's written a book on what does and doesn't work in a restaurant kitchen, he says that his own brand of macho chaos (blasting Sex Pistols on cassette, cramped, crowded kitchens and encouraging locker room behavior) works for him, other successful kitchens run very differently. He says, "I've left a lot of destruction in my wake and closed a hell of a lot of restaurants." He may be akin to Hunter S. Thompson in the kitchen, but he's an entertaining and clever writer. By the end of the book, I felt like I knew him, his voice is clear and distinct.
I enjoyed the book, how about you? Did it change your willingness to eat out at a restaurant? Have you ever worked in the food industry? How do Bourdain's experiences compare with yours? Please share any comments you have below. Thanks for participating.
