Kitchen confidential was a great book but his second, A Cook's tour was maybe my favorite book of all time. When I read it I remember being transformed to the places he was, the smells, the tastes, the emotion he felt. I ended up traveling to San Sebastián Spain a few years after because of how it made me feel reading about it.
Not long after culinary school I was working in a kitchen with a 6 day work week that ended with a brunch on Sunday. It was the dreaded shift after an already full week. We would leave Saturday around midnight after getting our asses kicked then having to be back in around 7:00am.
What kept all us young cooks going through the day was knowing that our favorite show was on after our shift. That show was Anthony Bourdains a Cook's tour. The book we had passed around like a dirty magazine had now been turned into his first show on the food network. We would empty the walk-in of whatever wouldn't make it till service on Tuesday, go to the store and stock up on booze, then head to my buddy's house to have a party and watch the show.
It's crazy to think of now 15 years later with Netflix, Apple TV, and the Internet having everything at your fingertips. Back then we were a bunch of broke ski bum chefs and only my buddy had full cable with the food network. If you missed the party you didn't know if or when you would get to see the show.
Funny how something like death can make you feel sadness but also trigger great memories like this that haven't been thought about in forever.
Rip Anthony Bourdain
During this episode you could have heard a pin drop.
