Rating: 
Summary: Secrets revealed- the dark world of a restaurant kitchen!
Review: Anthony Bourdain, self-proclaimed "thrill-seeking, pleasure-hungry, sensualist, always looking to shock, amuse, terrify and manipulate, seeking to fill that empty spot in my soul with something new," gives a sampling in this book of his life as a chef. He begins by explaining his first experiences really noticing and appreciating food at a young age on a trip to France. Bourdain goes on to explain how him and some hoodlum friends find themselves in the food business, and get involved in quite the trashy lifestyle. Then he has a realization that he wants to be a chef and heads to the Culinary Institute of America. He goes on to tell about the dark recesses of the restaurant underbelly, including struggling at the bottom of the "food chain" in many restaurants, making and learning from many mistakes, and revealing the the true nature of the rough crowd that thrives in restaurant kitchens. Some of the highlights include chapters on how to cook like the pros (where he gives some good tips and advice for all of us in the ignorant populace), what to be warry of on restaurant menus and what type of restaurants to avoid (including his soapbox speech on vegetarians and why they are "the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit" - I am a vegetarian by the way and you can tell that I am so offended), and of course the hilarious chapter on why people who want to own restaurants are sick in the head. The first paragraph of this chapter is a classic. This book does contain quite a bit of foul language. Also, a few sections of this book can drag on with a ton of detail about absolutely everything that goes on in the kitchen, but all in all this book is quite amusing. There are many more highlights that those I pointed out, and I do recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the realities of the restaurant world.
Rating: 
Summary: Are you SURE you want to be a chef?
Review: I admire Anthony Bourdain. Because I consider myself such a dilettante in so much of what I do, I have a lot of respect for people who are absolutely focused, to the point of monomania, on achieving greatness in what they do. Working in a Bourdain-run kitchen would be easy: all you have to do is be invariably punctual, absolutely reliable, committed to the same high standards he is ... and then work yourself to death to achieve them. Bourdain's story is entertaining, fast-paced, profane, funny, iconoclastic (at least if you like celebrity TV chefs), revealing, occasionally nauseating, deeply personal ... and probably a lot more fun to read about than to have lived through. You won't look at restaurant food the same way again. Sure, you may be more suspicious about what it is you're really being served. But more importantly (to Bourdain anyway, I suspect), you'll have greater understanding and respect for the people who prepared it. The seamy underside of the restaurant world is the most headline-grabbing part of the book, but the real value comes from the author's own experiences, his revelation of the life of an NYC chef, and his obvious love of great food prepared well. At the same time, though, it seemed to me like there's a little bit of bait-and-switch to it. Bourdain spends the whole book talking about the manic, hard-rock, drug-driven, frenetic, foul-mouthed, take-no-prisoners world of the professional chef, laying it all on the line for us: this is what it's really like. And then, in one chapter, he pulls the rug out from under himself with his profile of Scott Bryan, another New York chef who, Bourdain admits, is night-and-day different from our author, and also more knowledgeable, more respected, and more successful. It's to his immense credit that Bourdain is absolutely up front with us about why Bryan is a three-star chef and he isn't. I plan to read Bourdain's other non-fiction work and his two novels. This soul-baring book has put Anthony Bourdain on my list of authors I definitely plan to keep an eye on.
Rating:
Summary: Two parts food, three parts testosterone
Review: KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL is the story of drug-taking in the stockroom, knife-fights in the kitchen, and lovemaking behind the bar. It's supposedly an expose of what really goes on in the surprisingly gritty world of restauranteering, where life is more violent and dangerous than meets the eye. It's an entertaining, hilarious and engaging read. Is it completely 100% accurate? I'm not qualified to answer that, but I feel emboldened enough to state that I don't really care much. The result is far too satisfying to worry about little details like accuracy. Anthony Bourdain has paid his dues; he leaves you in no doubt about that. Starting with a love of food that began during his childhood, he tells the story of his slow rise from a variety of seedy and shady slop-houses to the ultimate in chefdom: a paid gig advising a French chef on the proper way to serve French food (albeit in a restaurant in Japan that wants a New York flavor). As one might expect, it's Bourdain's bizarre associates who provide the book with many of its memorable moments. From a co-worker who has to be fended off at knifepoint, to the various drug-addicts who appear to populate every kitchen known to humanity, these people just cracked me up. There's an entire chapter devoted to a guy called Adam Real-Last-Name-Unknown, who is, in all fairness, an absolute madman; one could easily imagine an whole book about this guy and his brushes with the law, his bakery experiments, his regular overdoses, etc. Tellingly, this Adam guy is fairly representative of the memoir as a whole. Bourdain's book bounces his around various dingy kitchens, looking for places to alternatively cook or intoxicate himself (he laments his short stay in Baltimore, a city he loathed, seemingly because he didn't know where to score drugs). This is not a memoir for the sensitive reader, and not just for the reasons of finding out what's really in the soup you just ordered (although the book does occasionally wander into this territory). Most of the time, I was laughing like a loon, even if the thought that I might have eaten in places like these made me cringe. Again, while I kept getting the feeling that he was exaggerating his story, he does disclaim that this book is fairly accurate, that he wanted to write a book that anyone in the industry could pick up and instantly identify with. Perhaps he's right, and that the restaurant business is infinitely seedier than I could have imagined. And, if so, I'm at least glad that it provides us with a memoir as wildly entertaining as this one.
Rating:
Summary: The beast's belly awaits the reader-but it's a fun trip!
Review: Where does one begin to comment on this wonderful, many faceted book? Do you comment on Bourdain's early years working in New England fish restaurants whose number one competitor was Mario's Restaurant that turned out six hundred meals on an average night or do you jump forward to the book's last days when he is told by the owners to oversee the establishment of a new restaurant in Tokyo? This book is truly a culinary journey and more interestingly I believe a "Coming of Age" in an industry that can vacillate between the life on a road crew in the Arizona desert or the intensity and concentration of a symphony orchestra-the sublime to the ridiculous. Besides the extraordinary insights into restaurants,
food preparation and management from the other side of the kitchen trenches, Bourdain gives his readers a funny and trenchant look at the marvelous personalities that have peppered his career. Who could ever forget Bigfoot-the ownership steward par excellence or Steven-Bourdain's right hand sous chef or New York's best baker-Adam-Real Last Name Unknown. The section about Adam alone is worth the cost of the book-even if, and that would be a severe mistake, you read nothing else of this wonderful work. Read this book because it's funny, wise and allows a peek into a foreign world but a world whose edges are familiar to anyone who eats.
Rating: 
Summary: Discount Sushi ??
Review: This is a difficult book to rate for my amazon colleagues. One's view of "Kitchen Confidential" may depend on a few outside factors: Those who are "foodies" AND live in New York City should enjoy it. Those of us (New Yorkers included) who like their meals plain and simple may not. Non- New Yorker/non "foodies" should save their money. A major point to be made is that this is NOT a tell all tale, so the word "confidential" may be a tad misleading. The author does, to his credit, include some eyebrow raisers about when fish is not fresh, dangers of well done meats, Sunday buffets and "discount sushi". (There is an oxymoron!). Darker hints of sanitation, purveyor practices and the Mafia (this is New York, after all) are somewhat glossed over. These revelations are hardly scandalous! I most enjoyed the early part of "KC", when Mr. Bourdain was getting started, finishing cooking school and surviving his first job in Provincetown, MA. That kitchen was a jungle and the author had yet to become a big shot. His move to New York may have resulted in a swelled ego. As a NYC native, I've heard so much of this before! Tales of life in big time kitchens such as the Rainbow Room, etc are nothing new, even tiresome. A definite drawback to "KC" is Bourdain's personality, which frequently shines through as forceful at best, but more often just plain boorish. A second drawback is the helter skelter/jumping around during the latter (New York) portion of "KC". Perhaps the author adopted this style purposely, to give readers a feel for life in a tough, competitive life in a tough, competitive town. Perhaps also, as "Patient Spider" noted above, the publisher was rushing to print! This reviewer is confident that all readers will agree on one point: "Kitchen Confidential" is ESSENTIAL READING for anyone seriously thinking about becoming a professional chef OR about buying their own restaurant. Personality and writing skills aside, the author rates 5 stars for career guidance. For "KC"'s other attributes, a star or two must be subtracted.
Rating:
Summary: those crazy cooks
Review: I just finished this book and really couldn't put it down, but at the same time I thought the author came off as really pompous: 'I've had the most interesting life and I just feel like talking about myself.'
I've worked in restaurants before and to tell you the truth, I really wasn't all that shocked by the behavior of his degenerate kitchen staff. Guess what? Kitchens all over the world are plagued by these oddball screw-ups, so tell me something I don't know! And it was rather annoying how the author kept throwing out names all over the place. I got the feeling he was trying to make me feel inadequate because I have never heard of some of the famous chefs he refered to. Well, mission accomplished. I wonder who this book is directed at? It obviously is an ode to the restaurant industry. But I think people who haven't worked in the industry will no doubt pick it up and be lost at sea.
At times I could not ignore the Lou Reed-ishness of this guy: A bad, don't-mess-with-me attitude but at the same time he's hoping people will read his book and propel him to greatness... but it was well-written and interesting, just like any Lou Reed song.
A pet peeve: Pay a good editor to weed some of your commas out; there are only so many of them in the earth's atmosphere.
Rating:
Summary: Great stuff!
Review: This book recapitulates the life of Anthony Bourdain, a New York City chef. Bourdain describes how he decided to become a chef, and his training, from washing dishes for a Provincetown surf-and-turf, to studying at the Culinary Institute of America, to boot camp with Bigfoot, an unnamed New York City restaurateur from whom he learned how to survive in the big leagues. He introduces us to the backrooms of a busy restaurant kitchen, where we meet the people who prepare the fabulous food, learn about their tools and slang, and begin to get an inkling about the daily responsibilities of a head chef. Thanks to his French heritage, Bourdain had learned to appreciate superb food as a youngster, and his parents had the resources to send him to any college he chose. Bourdain, however, likes to live on the edge, and his desire to live life to the fullest and push the limits soon led to multiple drug dependencies and heavy alcohol usage that kept steady employment difficult to maintain for a time. Remarkably, though not detailed exactly how in this book, Bourdain managed to beat his addictions, and has gone on to become not only a talented executive chef, but also a successful novelist and writer in his spare time. How anyone could even find spare time in a chef's life as he describes it is unfathomable- -Bourdain obviously thrives on stress and challenges. The pace of the book is relentless- -it's one of those volumes that you can race through in a single day, not allowing anyone to interrupt you. Bourdain's language is not for everyone though- -he accurately records the words that are said behind the kitchen doors, so if you are squeamish about sex or take offense easily, this book is not for you. This book confirms the importance of knowing who is cooking your food. After all, food is something you put inside your body, so it is a real act of trust to consume something that someone else has prepared. It's remarkable that many people are quite content to let total strangers prepare their food. Why would anyone frequent fast food restaurants where most of the cooks are teenagers with no talent or interest in food preparation, doing it all for minimum wage? At least in kitchens like Bourdain's, although some of the cooks may be oversexed drug addicts with filthy mouths, only those who can consistently achieve high cooking standards manage to stay on. Bourdain also reminds us to use our heads when placing our orders. After all, when you tell the waiter what you want, the food isn't just going to appear on the plate out of thin air when the cook snaps his fingers. If the fish market isn't open on the weekend, then Monday isn't a great day for ordering fish. Today's luncheon special may indeed contain leftovers from last night's menu. Some items take longer than others to prepare- -hence shouldn't be ordered at five minutes before closing. This book provides a fascinating perspective on what it's like to study at the CIA, how an executive chef spends his time, and what may be happening behind those closed doors at your favorite restaurant.
Rating:
Summary: Much more than "No Fish on Mondays"
Review: Reading Tony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" for restaurant tips is like reading Hemingway for travel pointers---by focusing on the mundane, you'd be missing a lot. Bourdain is not only a fascinating character, he is also one hell of a writer, and maintains a delicate balance between outrage and outrageousness at all times. He's one of my favorite writers, period, and I've never paid more than $50 for a meal in my life. Not that Bourdain doesn't write expertly about food and especially the emotional and sensual joys of eating-he's among top modern food writers like Ruth Reichl and Jonathan Reynolds in combining expertise and literary skill. But unlike many upper-crusty food journalists, he also gets into the polyglot and hedonistic culture of the kitchen, an often hysterical portrayal that rings true to this former dishwasher. If you've ever spent time in a restaurant in any capacity, you owe yourself this book.
Rating:
Summary: Too real, too funny...
Review: After 25 years in the restaurant business myself, this laugh out loud tell-all brought both tears as well as lots of memories. Almost made me want to go back into the fire. Anthony Bourdain does not even remotely stretch the true, from what I've experienced. For anyone who was, is now or is just contemplating working in the madness that is the food service industry, PLEASE read this. My favorite chapter: "What I Know About Meat." Keep 'em coming, Tony!
Rating:
Summary: This is a good book but has some negative sides
Review: kitchen confidential was a great book about the life of anthony bourdain but most of it was not about the life of chefs. in my opinion it was funny but i think he put to many things that were negative about the culinary business. there are some references about him being addicted to drugs and doing them. and it also had some sexual refferences and sexual things that happened. yes there are some very funny parts in the book that are some funny ideas if you were ever to try them. anthony made a great book but he put to many negative things in it about his life in it that might reflect what people might think secondly about the culinary business.
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