Anthony Bourdain sounds like someone I wouldn't necessarily want to know or meet (nor have I wanted to go to Brasserie Les Halles), but when he's not phoning it in, the dude can write:

It is a measure of how seriously crack-brained, rapacious and evil the Deep Thinkers at Food Network must be that I find myself--yet again--in deep sympathy with their stable of stars. Last night, during the breathtakingly awful, interminable cruelty that was The Food Network Awards, I even found myself feeling bad for Rachael Ray. YES, friends. Rachael Ray. If nothing else, Rachael's BIG now. Network talk show-- doing- well- in- ratings- Big. Own magazine Big. Friend-of-Oprah Big. So, how must it have felt for her to stand up there in front of what appeared to be a halfway empty room of stunned, near comatose trout and feign enthusiasm while presenting the award for "Best Appliance"?

Do Emeril and Bobby--who, whatever you think of their shows--BUILT that fucking network, deserve to be pimped out with such casual disregard? Does anyone deserve to run the Gauntlet of Shame that was the "red carpet", forced to waddle past the California Raisins and Tony the Tiger and a bunch of other corporate Big Heads? The overmuscled fuckwit from DINNER SLIGHTLY DIFFICULT delivered the best line: something like "This is the greatest night "ever!" If that was his greatest night ever, I suspect he would say the same thing while being publicly butt-slammed by the San Diego Chicken.

Go read it all.

Comments

[Valerie]

Kitchen Confidential is a really great book.

[Vidiot]

I liked Kitchen Confidential a lot, but it was what made me not want to know the guy or eat his food. But it's well-written.

I was far less impressed with "A Cook's Tour" or most of the blog posts/essays/etc. that I've seen. And his novel "Bone in the Throat" is pretty bad. Basically, when he's writing as himself, he's a more than decent writer. When he's trying to be the Robert Young Pelton or Carl Hiaasen of the culinary world, then he does crummy work IMHO.