Product Description

A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine—now with all-new, never-before-published material

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #496 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-09
• Released on: 2007-01-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com
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 Kitchen Confidential, 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) New Yorker 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." --Sumi Hahn

From Publishers Weekly
Chef at New York's Les Halles and author of Bone in the Throat, Bourdain pulls no punches in this memoir of his years in the restaurant business. His fast-lane personality and glee in recounting sophomoric kitchen pranks might be unbearable were it not for two things: Bourdain is as unsparingly acerbic with himself as he is with others, and he exhibits a sincere and profound love of good food. The latter was born on a family trip to France when young Bourdain tasted his first oyster, and his love has only grown since. He has attended culinary school, fallen prey to a drug habit and even established a restaurant in Tokyo, discovering along the way that the crazy, dirty, sometimes frightening world of the restaurant kitchen sustains him. Bourdain is no presentable TV version of a chef; he talks tough and dirty. His advice to aspiring chefs: "Show up at work on time six months in a row and we'll talk about red curry paste and lemon grass. Until then, I have four words for you: 'Shut the fuck up.' " He disdains vegetarians, warns against ordering food well done and cautions that restaurant brunches are a crapshoot. Gossipy chapters discuss the many restaurants where Bourdain has worked, while a single chapter on how to cook like a professional at home exhorts readers to buy a few simple gadgets, such as a metal ring for tall food. Most of the book, however, deals with Bourdain's own maturation as a chef, and the culmination, a litany describing the many scars and oddities that he has developed on his hands, is surprisingly beautiful. He'd probably hate to hear it, but Bourdain has a tender side, and when it peeks through his rough exterior and the wall of four-letter words he constructs, it elevates this book to something more than blustery memoir. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
If you've ever wondered how that boeuf en croute got to your restaurant table, this tape tells all. At warp speed, reflecting his high-energy personality, Bourdain covers chef's training, personalities, food prep, cooks' lifestyles (boozy and erratic), his own history (druggy), and the art of running a successful restaurant. He doesn't stint on the gritty details or the four-letter words, so be prepared. His French pronunciation is surprisingly poor for someone who has lived in France, but his Spanish (highly recommended for communicating with the kitchen help) sounds ok. Presently the executive chef at Brassierie Les Halles in New York City, Bourdain delivers his description of one busy dinner hour at the frenetic pace required for survival there. Give this one a taste; you'll be amused, educated, maybe a little horrified, but never bored. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Read before you board the pirate ship
Not a cook book, but a fine read for anyone interested in fine food; and required reading for anyone considering a career in the back of the house. You will laugh out loud at some of the antics of Tony Bourdain and his cadre, and shudder in horror wondering if you were victim to some culinary pirate's marauding. Adventurous eaters will find something here too. This is an easy read you will gobble up, especially if you enjoy fine dining.

Chef tales...
Casserole of narcissism, vulgar references, drugs, sex, and food - keep away from children. On the upside, sprinkled between the swearing and largely uninspiring autobiography are plenty of interesting passages about the profession, and the industry. You have to give credit to Anthony Bourdain for the in-your-face tales of his experiences, though it certainly makes you hope that `Kitchen Confidential' is more of an autobiography rather than an accurate description of the profession.

B+
In this culinary memoir, Bourdain has a pitch-perfect narrative style that is compelling in its complete and utter honesty and brashness. He doesn't hold back in the least; curses and sexual references spill forth from every sentence. He is full of charisma and expertise in his industry, and pulls back the curtain to show us the backbones of our restaurant business: the dishwashers, cooks, waiters...all of it is laid bare for us to look at. It is his very expertise that makes some of the chapters dry - his wording can get technical and uninteresting. The best parts are when Bourdain speaks so eloquently that we realize that food is more than what we put in our mouths - he has completely turned my personal philosophies and ideas about food upside down. I will never again eat at a restaurant without thinking of all the backstage drama taking place just feet away from my table. He has tempted my palate with ideas of truffles and wines; I want to become more daring because of his writings. A master in the kitchen, and now of the written word.