Rating: 
Summary: An Insider's Book - Why You Might Not Like This Book
Review: Tony Bourdain's work unpretentiously describes the world of cooking as seen by a cook. His gruff prose and semantic swagger match perfectly the world he describes, often reading like a collection of choice transcripts from kitchen conversations. If you want insight into a world you don't know, if you want the lowdown on what those immigrant are doing to your food while you enjoy candle light and conversation, or if you want information on how to become, yourself, a culinary master--this is not the book for you.
If, however, you've spent any time at all behind the swinging doors--as cook, expediter, dishwater, or even waitron--even for just a short time--you'll love it. You'll see a lot of people you know, you'll relive luxurious and painful experiences. You will laugh until you cry.
This insider-chic is not, however, Tony's one big flaw. That flaw, rather, is the foolish notion that his life outside of the restaurant is uninteresting. He left me hungry for more information on his drug problem (and, no, I do not consider this non-pertinent to his culinary career) and more about his wife, Nancy.
Rating: 
Summary: Takes you behind the swinging doors!
Review: Having worked in many restaurants at many different levels, this book does a great job of sharing the crazy behavior of the people who prepare food.. the pressure of a saturday night at a popular restaurant is something you must live to experience, but the author does a good job of portraying what it is all about -- and why people are drawn to this line of work.. a very funny and enjoyable read
Rating:
Summary: Great fun. Could not put it down.
Review: I heard about Kitchen Confidential and read the reviews when it first came out. I really became interested when Anthony Bourdain's show, A Cook's Tour, started on the Food Network. As a teenager, I wanted to go to cooking school so I was very interested in Mr. Bourdain's experience at the CIA. Great book, a must read if you are a fan of his show.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, Fast, and Witty
Review: Anthony Bourdain has written a "tell all" of sorts of the inner workings of the restaurant business. Packed with colorful people he's worked with over the years at times you'll feel like you're reading about characters from the HBO prison drama "Oz", and not sous chefs and bread makers for some of New Yorks finest eateries. Bourdain seems as comfortable with the pen as the knife, and his stories are funny,insightful, and sometimes downright shocking. Tips on what days not to eat fish, and why brunches are never a good thing round out a particularly great chapter, as well as his recounting of a "day in the life". For people who've never worked in a restuarant this may be eye opening, to those who have they'll be nodding their smiling heads in agreement with how much they relate to.
Rating:
Summary: A Cook's Life
Review: Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential is an unflinching look at life as a cook. Mr. Bourdain is the head chef at a French Brassiere Les Halles in New York City. The book takes us on a journey through his culinary life. He first discovered the true power and sexual experience of food as a teenager on the coast of France where his father's family was from and where he spent his summers. It was there that he ate an oyster that was just plucked from the water and the sensation that it cast over him has never left him. Mr. Bourdain gives out all the secrets of the restaurant industry on items like never order fish on Mondays, the way cooks prepare meat well-done and the like that will shock some readers. But the reason Kitchen Confidential succeeds is that Mr. Bourdain himself. He graphically and openly discusses his personal life which is a myriad of hard drug use, drinking and other personal failures. The reader connects with him on a personal level and book moves from a mere expose on the restaurant industry into a story about one man's struggles with his demons and how the love of food and making a life out of it provided redemption.
Rating:
Summary: beneath the surface of fine dining
Review: As with many things, there is what we see on the surface, and there is what lies underneath. Here is a book that is sharply written about what happens behind the scenes in a typical restaurant. If you are faint of heart, you will probably want to skip this one. However, I _love_ eating out at restaurants and thanks to this book I now have an even deeper appreciation for what goes on there.The author pulls no punches. Detailed and graphic are his descriptions of the many perils of chopping, slicing and the occasional finger tip lost. In addition, the frightening description of a experienced chef's hands... covered in burns, scars and callouses from a lifetime of grabbing hot things and slicing a centimeter in the wrong direction... and the author's desire to have hands "like that one day". A most enjoyable part of the book is the detailing of his first encounter in a high-energy, upscale restaurant kitchen and the pressures that go along with working in this military-like atmosphere. Do your job quickly and without error or the drill seargent (executive chef) will be all over you in his loudest and meanest tribute to "Full Metal Jacket". Get this one and read it for laughs and the occasional jaw drop. I did and don't regret it one bit.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great read
Review: This book will make you think differently about your restaurant dining experiences but not necessarily in a bad way. In particular it will make you appreciate all the effort that goes into putting together a top class dining experience. Yes, there are some nasty stories about rats and bacteria but this is probably nothing you hadn't already suspected if you're a foodie like me. There are a few terms that a non-US reader might be perplexed by - red sauce for example, which isn't a term we know in the antipodes. Definitely a good read for anyone who enjoys food preparation or dining out.
Rating:
Summary: A great read!
Review: This book read like a novel and I enjoyed it from beginning to end! It was very enformative as well as entertaining. If you like to cook--like to eat out you will like this book. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: Funny and clever
Review: What a funny book, His journeys and everything else he does, I was floored!
Such a good book, Just to hear what he actually is doing for the food makes it worth while;)
You will enjoy this book!
-S-
Rating: 
Summary: something's missing
Review: Having worked as a chef for last fifteen years. I truly enjoyed this book, Anthony's passion for food is definitely there and that connected with me. I liked the darkness of the delve into the core of the prep halls and kitchens. The stories made me laugh and I definitely related to everything that Anthony had said. My major problem with Kitchen Confedential was that I'd just finished reading The Slacker Confessions and well, that's a tough act to follow. Tommy Campbell's a stand-up comedian who wrote his book after cooking and doing other jobs for ten years. Well, you can tell it's written by a pro-storyteller who knows how to keep you turning the pages and laughing like a madman. Anthony is quite a good story teller, and Kitchen Confidential shows that with some good ones, and a few solid laughs. Yeah, I recommend it, but inside a kitchen and beyond, I found the real heart of the American job was made into comic genious by The Slacker Confessions. Check out Kitchen Confidential if you want something more mainstream and accepted, but if you want to go for the real deal then treat yourself to the honest laugh of a liftetime and check out The Slacker Confessions.
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