Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

A few weeks ago, I knew Anthony Bourdain mostly as the bad-boy TV foodie who eviscerated Top Chef contestants, and the guy responsible for the awesome mac and cheese at Les Halles. Now I know him as an entertaining writer and official cute boy magnet. To wit, a conversation I had on the subway while reading Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly:

Cute guy: I see you're reading Bourdain. And marking the pages. [He gestures to my heavily post-it-flagged copy of the book] Are you thinking of becoming a chef?
Me: Nope, I just like to keep track of what I'm reading.
CG: Too bad. Bourdain was part of what inspired me to become a chef...

Then we had a lovely conversation about how the book was advanced for its time (2000) by having very foodie themes before the trend really hit. Two minutes later, I got off at my usual morning stop. But yay for surprising book conversations--and attractive guys on the R train (trust me, it's rare).

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, the book.

Kitchen Confidential isn't the best organized memoir you'll find, or the most dramatic. What it does have is an honest love for the hustle and burn of the restaurant kitchen, and a "fuck it all" openness. Bourdain doesn't take himself too seriously (or at least he didn't eight years ago), and is very willing to talk about his humiliations as a young line cook, his unheroic recovery from heroin addiction, and the various reasons why you should never order fish on a Monday.

It's also a strange, roundabout tour of restaurant culture in New York City. Bourdain worked in just about every kind of restaurant with just about every kind of kitchen person--a UN of sous chefs, petty criminals (who just happen to be transcendent bakers), nutcases, brilliant chefs, and union shills. You've gotta hand it to a book that makes you feel so repelled by the kitchens of even high-end restaurants, but simultaneously makes you crave good cuisine no matter who's doing what with unrefrigerated seafood.

Side note: The book also spawned a short-lived sitcom with the same name and theme, but with a much more, y'know, sitcom-y vibe. Also highly recommended, but for different reasons. Anyway, I suggest checking it out on Hulu if you're so inclined.

Some tidbits from the top chef himself:

"I'm asked a lot what the best thing about cooking for a living is. And it's this: to be part of a subculture. To be part of a historical continuum, a secret society with its own language and customs. To enjoy the instant gratification of making something good with one's hands--using all one's senses. It can be, at times, the purest and most unselfish way of giving pleasure (though oral sex has to be a close second)."

"My naked contempt for vegetarians, sauce-on-siders, the 'lactose intolerant' and the cooking of Ewok-like Emeril Lagasse is not going to get me my own show on the Food Network."
[Respectful editorial note: apparently the naked contempt DID get him a show on Food Network, but I digress.]