Rating: 
Summary: lively and entertaining
Review: "Kitchen Confidential" is a lively, entertaining book written by a man who for well over twenty years has loved his life as a chef. It's a fast-paced, demanding, all-consuming job of long hours spent preparing and cooking food in hot, crowded restaurant kitchens. It involves dealing with food purveyors and "pirate crews" of food preparers, "waitrons", and other types of restaurant staff.Anthony Bourdain, who is a rangy 6'4"', clearly loves to eat; he all aspects of the chef's work, from selecting food to cooking and presenting it. His enthusiasm may re-kindle kitchen inspiration in women like me, who have been responsible for putting family meals on the table for decades. He reveals some behind-the-scenes secrets, like why it's not advisable to order seafood on a Monday, and of what those "brunches" may really consist---aging leftovers, concealed in viniagrette or pasta salad or other mixed dishes. He writes insouciantly of the frequent chaos in the kitchen, of drinking and drugging, of foul-mouthed and undependable co-workers, of rats who feast on avocados left out to ripen. His light-hearted touch may cause you to smile, but this is not a book to read directly before you leave for a festive restaurant meal.
Rating: 
Summary: Kitchen Confidential : Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Review: Chefs may know everything about the contents of this book, but few would have dared write it down so frankly. As Bourdain reminds us, 'good food, good eating is all about blood and organs, cruelty and decay'. Not since Orwell's Down and Out in London and Paris has there been such a frank look at the artists of the kitchen. This is the book for the chef, who has tied his drunk dishy to the sink in the hope he'll make it through service, or bailed out their second chef so they could come to work. Add to that forgiving all sorts of antisocial behaviour because the hours are inhumane and it takes more stamina than most normal people have naturally to be good at. It is the book for the chef who has forgiven and forgiven his most loved and most talented staff for every misdemeanour from coming to work stoned to going missing for a couple of days and much worse. It is the book for the good domestic cook who believes in near death experiences and wants to open their own restaurant. It is the book for every chef who has worked sixteen hour days plus for most of their lives, had good employers, bad employers, gone broke, made fortunes, worked with good people, bad people and marvelled at sheer driven genius that can put magic on a plate. It is about mystical synergy of the culinary magician who makes the perfect bread, can trick and cajole the perfect soufflé from the humble egg; it is about the chef who will work for days for the great dinner for hundreds without ever questioning why. It is for the chef with the dream of the most fabulous restaurant with the most fabulous food and the dream that tumbles with their money or someone else's into the ashes of their ambitions. Bourdain knows the adrenalin that gets you through an eighteen hour day and leaves you sleepless thinking of what next, or still arguing about food in some scruffy bar when the sun comes up, just an eye blink before you have to start work again. Bourdain has written about a lifestyle that few outside 'the family' would understand, will understand. Bourdain writes about the super tough women that survive in testosterone hell, who find their way to the top and stay there without thinking for one second they cannot cut the pace. Kitchen Confidential borders between Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the more modern Jello Salad by James Billincoe. It is a riveting, shocking read that will leave 'families' reliving some of their best and worst moments, and the public wondering if they should ever enter a restaurant again. No one is left untouched, but for those diners who still insist on 'well done' we refer you to page 69.
Rating:
Summary: I lived this book...
Review: Yes Bourdain is a bit crude at times, yes there are editing flaws through out the book, yes some things the man speaks of don't necessarily happen all the time in every restaurant in the world, but one thing that struck me about the book was that the man pulled no punches. I agree that the people who line up to bash this book obviously aren't in Bourdain's target audience. In TV interviews and magazine articles he comes off sounding as if he is doing the huge expose on the nasty, dirty underpinnings of the restaurant industry, but upon reading his book it is clear that this was a book written by a chef for chefs and cooks. My own "apprenticeship" was in a place similar to the seafood shack Mr. Bourdain describes in the opening chapters. Many of the behaviors and habits were true to my experience as well. After last night's service where our thermometer near the broiler pinned at 120 degrees, I'd like to buy the man a beer for not sugar coating a single thing about this crazy yet lovable business.
Rating:
Summary: read it while eating a seafood salad and a well done steak
Review: An enjoyable read which will make you an informed consumer when dining out. I worked very briefly as a dishwasher, potwasher (chief potwasher), and waiter (recommend and push the snapper), and even visited the Fulton St Fish Markets, and found this book entertaining. After reading the chapters about line cooks, weekend brunches, and the use of Thursday fish as Monday specials, I went out to eat on a Monday night, and guess what... all three dinner specials were fish and seafood dishes. You won't be grossed out after skimming this book, but you will definitely become an enlightened restaurant diner.
Rating:
Summary: Chef Bourdain . . . brilliant!
Review: The book was an absolutley staggering and fantastic tour through the professional kitchen. Now when peolple tell me that I should open my own restaurant, I tell them to go to hell.
Rating:
Summary: True-to-Life Kitchen Adventures
Review: As a seasoned veteren of the culinary trenches, one thing comes clear from reading the on-line reviews for this book: The people who didn't like it are completely clueless when it comes to restaurants and food! Yes, Chef Bourdain is arrogant, self serving, and foul mouthed, but that type of personality is simply a byproduct of the cooking industry. Massive egos, high stress, and horrific working conditions are par for the course. Whatever faults the author and the book may have, this is a knee-slappingly funny account of what really goes on in kitchens, and anybody who wants to be a chef should be forced to read this book before attending cooking school. Those of you benighted souls who have no interest in fine cuisine and four-star restaurants probably won't understand the truth and humor that underly Chef Bourdain's cutting prose.
Rating:
Summary: Fear and Loathing at the Stove
Review: This book is the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas of cooking. The author jumps around a bit from cooking tips and kitchen setup to his personal debauchery and adventures to restaurant management, but don't let it bother you. Lots of personality and ego contained herein. You'll want to eat at restaurants where you can see the kitchen. And he's right about ordering seafood on Sunday, too!
Rating: 
Summary: Real life in the kitchen.
Review: I could not put this book down.Having worked in the restaurant business for many years, I was taken by the way Mr. Bourdain captured the down to earth grittiness and fun of behind the scenes.A great read!
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for anyone who adores food and restaurants
Review: This is a fantastic story, blending blunt, often hilarious narrative with powerful insights into the core of the restaurant business, with some touching and bang-on insights on character. We learn about how the restaurant industry really works (which is great for those of us who eat in them frequently), and the invisible characters behind the kitchen doors come to life most vividly. For those of us who've done some time in restaurant kitchens, it's a great revisitation; for those who haven't, it's quite instructive. Regardless, the book remains thoroughly riveting and enjoyable from beginning to end, and, with all it's threads back to the human condition, Kitchen Confidential should be widely appealing. Bourdain comes through as honest and learned, and his story never fails to engage, amaze, and satisfy. One of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long while.
Rating:
Summary: Things to know BEFORE you go out and eat.
Review: Those without the stomach for this kind of true story should be warned that there will be restaurant horror stories that involve heavy drinking, drugs, sex in the dry-goods area, unappetizing and appalling industry-wide practices from some of the best-rated hotels and restaurants. The book tells you why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well done steaks and burgers get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not such a wise Sunday brunch selection. This book reveals what goes on behind the kitchen doors while you’re "enjoying" your meal. From the restaurants of Tokyo to the drug dealers of the East Village, from the mobsters to the rats, wild-but-true tales make the belly ache with both laughter and sadness. This book makes you pick up a good cookbook and cook at home...
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