Dee Randall wrote:
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >
> > Dee Randall wrote:
> >> > wrote in message
> >> ups.com...
> >> >
> >> > Virginia Tadrzynski wrote:
> >> >> Fictional:
> >> >> "Mama" in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. No money, no government support,
> >> >> and
> >> >> she made sure her kids were fed. My kind of woman, she knew what was
> >> >> important.
> >> >>
> >> >> TV/Real(?): Tony Bourdain, hands down. The man is a trained cook who
> >> >> isn't
> >> >> afraid to eat damn near anything.
> >> >
> >> > Plus, when something Bourdain eats tastes foul (like the Iguana tamales
> >> > he eat in Mexico on the old Cook's Tour show), he says so. In fact,
> >> > he's arguably at his most entertaining when he's ranting about how bad
> >> > something is. And when Bourdain says something's great, it's
> >> > believable. Someone like Rachel Ray is useless as a source of info
> >> > because she has the same feigned orgasmic reaction to everything she
> >> > puts in her mouth.
> >>
> >> I can't remember which program it was, but he went to the restaurant
> >> "French
> >> Laundry" (I believe it was - it's considered by many the best restaurant
> >> in
> >> the U.S.) and was tasting each dish and commenting. My favorite was when
> >> he
> >> ordered the lowly "french fry" to see how it compared. He really had a
> >> long
> >> face when he had to admit how good they were. Bet he was back in the
> >> kitchen pronto asking chef how they were made.
> >
> > That was an episode I didn't see, unfortunately, but I read the chapter
> > in his Cook's Tour book about that meal at the French Laundry.
> > Bourdain says it's the only restaurant on earth that is so great he
> > doesn't mind not being able to smoke there. And then when it came for
> > dessert, Thomas Keller, the FL chef, knew Bourdain's tastes well enough
> > to create for him a dessert infused with tobacco!
> >
> I have only his book "Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines" which I take
> with me to read for waiting purposes and have not got through it --
> I see in that book, he has listed other titles,
> "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly"
> "Bone in the Throat"
> "Gone Bamboo"
> "Typhod Mary (an urban Historical)"
>
> Would you know which of these books the French Laundry experience was in?
>
> Yes, Bourdain's is really a smoker, and you can tell the toll it (and
> probably other things?) takes on him.

It's in his book A Cook's Tour, in a chapter called "West Coast." It's
one of the most entertaining chapters in the book. He gives a bunch of
CA. vegetarians the chance to convert him to vegetarianism ("Not one of
them could cook a ****ing vegetable," he concludes), then goes to SF,
where he makes note of all the prostitution, junkies, and homelessness,
and finds it strange that in such an environment he has trouble finding
a spot where he can smoke some tobacco. Finally he ends up with a
positive note, his dinner at the French Laundry.

Yeah, smoking's a lousy habit and it has taken a toll on Bourdain. Did
you see the Chinese episode of "No Reservations"? He tries bicycle
riding but doesn't make it too far.