Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
 | P.S.Harper Perennial, 2007, Paperback Customer Rating: 574 reviews Recommend |
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A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine—now with all-new, never-before-published material
Most diners believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential, that elegant three-star concoction is the collaborative effort of a team of "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths," in all likelihood pierced or tattooed and incapable of uttering a sentence without an expletive or a foreign phrase. Such is the muscular view of the culinary trenches from one who's been groveling in them, with obvious sadomasochistic pleasure, for more than 20 years. CIA-trained Bourdain, currently the executive chef of the celebrated Les Halles, wrote two culinary mysteries before his first (and infamous) New Yorker essay launched this frank confessional about the lusty and larcenous real lives of cooks and restaurateurs. He is obscenely eloquent, unapologetically opinionated, and a damn fine storyteller — a Jack Kerouac of the kitchen. Those without the stomach for this kind of joyride should note his opening caveat: "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection.... But I'm simply not going to deceive anybody about the life as I've seen it." — Sumi Hahn
Title: Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)
Sales Rank: 418 in Books
Author: Anthony Bourdain
Publisher: Harper Perennial, Updated edition, 2007-01-09, Paperback, 352 pages, ISBN: 0060899220
Package Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches, 0.6 pounds
- Brings Back Memories
- It has been over 20 years since I worked in the restaurant business, but reading Bourdain's book brought back a lot of memories of what the business and the many characters who inhabit it are like. I found Bourdain's book to be very entertaining and reflects much of what I remember about the world of food preparation and service. Bourdain's management style is quite different… More reviews
- Oh the Memories!
- I love how Anthony Bourdain can add sophistication to the grueling and raw life hidden behind the walls of our favorite resurtants. I worked in a kitchen growing up and it's amazing how universal some of his stories and lessons truely are! I LOVED IT! More reviews
- A great read!
- It's amazing where writing talent is found. I originally discovered Bourdain via his "Les Halles Cookbook" -- one of the funniest cookbooks I have ever read. And then slowly, I began to remember -- hadn't this same guy written an earlier book, much more scandalous?
Well, this is that earlier book. You may not care for the tales it tells,… More reviews
- All Irritating Attitude
- Either the writer is an arrogant, obnoxious, irritating, attitudinal jerk, or he wants us to think that he is an arrogant, obnoxious, irritating, attitudinal jerk. Either way, I couldn't be bothered to finish this book. Sorry I bought it and thereby increased the guy's income.… More reviews
- Yes and No....
- Maybe because I am a chef I did not find the book hilarious as would probably a person who is not in the business. But, there were times when I found myself laughing out loud. Unfortunately, not enough times. I also found myself skipping paragraphs and a few pages. I did not find it boring but it was too cutesy of writing. I enjoyed how it showed… More reviews
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