Sep 14, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min · 10 segments
Shhhh...this episode is confidential. The kitchen secrets divulged by bad boy chef Anthony "Tony" Bourdain will Rock Your World. Or will they? This breakout essay collection laid much of the…
Yes
Yes, and-
Uh-
I wholeheartedly agree.
That's what I was-
Yeah
... going to say.
That there are stretches of this book that feel like, "Oh, I saw that on The Bear," and you know, that's not fair to this book.
Um, but also, I think there's stuff in this book that is a little time capsuly in a way I probably should have expected for a series of nonfiction essays, creative nonfiction let's call it.
Um, but yeah.
It, I, it's hard to separate from my...
And it's probably o- to the point, like it's, it's hard to separate from your own experience of restaurants, of working in service or not, of popular depictions of food and food preparation-
Mm-hmm
... that, you know, Bourdain had particular opinions about, which we'll discuss, some of which are in this book, some of which, uh, he just would be happy to tell you if you ever had coffee with him [laughs] it seems.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and I am-
He was an opiniona- an, an opinionated feller, was Anthony Bourdain.
Yes, yes, and I had never read this book before.
I had seen some episodes of No Reservations.
Is that the second...
That, is that the first one? That's the first one.
Yes
Yes, and-
Uh-
I wholeheartedly agree.
That's what I was-
Yeah
... going to say.
That there are stretches of this book that feel like, "Oh, I saw that on The Bear," and you know, that's not fair to this book.
Um, but also, I think there's stuff in this book that is a little time capsuly in a way I probably should have expected for a series of nonfiction essays, creative nonfiction let's call it.
Um, but yeah.
It, I, it's hard to separate from my...
And it's probably o- to the point, like it's, it's hard to separate from your own experience of restaurants, of working in service or not, of popular depictions of food and food preparation-
Mm-hmm
... that, you know, Bourdain had particular opinions about, which we'll discuss, some of which are in this book, some of which, uh, he just would be happy to tell you if you ever had coffee with him [laughs] it seems.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and I am-
He was an opiniona- an, an opinionated feller, was Anthony Bourdain.
Yes, yes, and I had never read this book before.
I had seen some episodes of No Reservations.
Is that the second...
That, is that the first one? That's the first one.
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