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Summary: What a wonderful read this is...
Review: I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a book more! From the first page to the last, this brutally honest testament of a life as a chef is an absolute "can't put it down" page-turner.It's wicked, funny, touching and fascinating. I went on errands with my wife, so that I could read to her while she drove -- it's so good that you want to call up strangers and just start reading pages to them -- any page will do. The best writing is honest writing -- and it doesn't get more honest than this. What a geat read. I'm sure that Les Halles, where he works his craft, will be "booked" to infinity because of this book -- as it should be. Anyone who loves food will devour this with greed...and wish it were longer.
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Summary: I laughed so hard, I forgot (on purpose) to eat! Yes! Yuk!
Review: Oh, you are really going to enjoy this book...while you're reading it, that is. Then afterwards you'll be torn between the memories of the hilarious antics Bourdain describes in his book...and memories of the disgusting things that go on every day in restaurant kitchens. Believe it or not, it IS worth reading! (And take it from a former restaurant manager, it is, unfortuately, true - the after-hours shenanigans, especially!) Bourdain has put together a truly gonzo collection of restaurant tales that aren't all depraved...but, like his restaurateur/chef subjects, most of them are! Kudos to him for a book that is this honest while being this hysterical. If you have the, um, stomach for it, this is a book you'll remember fondly. Well worth digesting!
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Summary: Tales from "Behind the Kitchen Door"
Review: I purchased "Kitchen Confidential" expecting a tell-all expose on what REALLY goes on behind the kitchen door in the average restaurant. And the book absolutely delivers on that level. An added treat is that the book is also the often hilarious tale of Anthony Bourdain's personal journey from misguided youth, who took a job at a restaurant only after friends he was sharing a Summer getaway with during college got tired of him not covering his share of the expenses, to the executive chef at a fine French eatery in NYC today. The story of the single event that caused Bourdain to aspire to become a chef is almost worth the price of the book alone. The most interesting chapter of the book is the "From Our Kitchen to Your Table" section, where Bourdain confirms many of your worst fears about restaurant dining. Some things I took away from this chapter include the advice never to order fish on a Monday (it is most likely at its least fresh state, having been delivered the previous Thursday to cover the weekend orders), never order your meat well-done (you are pretty well insuring that the chef is going to treat you to the absolute worst cut, figuring you won't notice the difference since it will be dry anyway), and don't be so sure that the bread the waiter or busboy brings when you sit down went straight from the oven to your table (it likely was recycled from another table who didn't eat it). Bourdain is an engaging writer with a great wit. I was rarely bored during my reading of "Kitchen Confidential". If, however, you are one who is easily offended by coarse language, consider yourself forewarned that this book has a lot of it. I personally wasn't offended by the language, but I did find myself occasionally annoyed when Bourdain would go overboard in describing what a wild and crazy lifestyle he's led. Bourdain would often go on and on about all of the drugs he's done, how much he drinks and how tough and macho he acted in this situation or that situation. There is something inherently off-putting about someone constantly boasting about what a "bad-boy" he is. To Bourdain's credit, he can also be self-deprecating, particularly in the humorous story about how a dumb misunderstanding on his part during a job interview caused him to lose a great opportunity at an upscale steakhouse. Bourdain also devotes an entire chapter to a fellow, more successful, chef and explains the differences between the two of them that make this so. Overall, a very entertaining book that is easy to recommend.
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Summary: Good thing I wasn't eating while reading...
Review: ...or I would've choked from laughing so much and so hard! I really enjoyed Bourdain's edgy and humorous look at what goes on behind the scenes in restaurants. Especially funny were his early days in this environment as he struggled to learn his craft and get a clue.
Although Anthony Bourdain is vulgar and very much over-the-top [I loved every line, and even picked up some new and colorful expressions to use in my own kitchen!] in relating his experiences, I never felt like he was putting the reader on, especially since the book ends with a description of a VERY LONG day in the life of a chef.
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Summary: Funniest I've read in 15 years - A Loud Mouthed Classic !
Review: Read this book one summer by a pool in Key West and people around me thought I was crazy as I burst out laughing 7-8 times. The stories are crude, arrogant, racist, sexist and saturated with addictions from nicotine to the hard stuff. Overall, a great read if you can take the abuse and understand that it's meant to give a glimpse into the back alley deals and inner workings of the restaurant biz.
If you even have a twinkle of an aspiration to open a restaurant some day, it's a must read on what to AVOID and who NOT to hire! Even better when read with rum flavored libations, under a few palm trees.... but that's just my opinion!
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Summary: Wow. . . . I wanna eat at Les Halles!
Review: Great book and a fun read.
So what? Everyone knows that there are few kitchens around that are truly sanitary. Everyone knows that most kitchens take shortcuts in their work. Don't you in your job?
Thought so.
This is simply a fun book to read. Full of adventure in the world of cooking. I really enjoyed every page. Anyone who likes food will like this book. A must read.
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Summary: written like he is talking to you..
Review: I think this book was very well written. If you are reading it for inside knowledge of culinary techniques and serious kitchen methodology - you have picked up the wrong book. There's a lot of other books here you could read for that. I think this is an excellent book for anyone considering restaurant work because its very telling- lots of long sweaty hours of you working when everyone else is relaxing with their glass of wine. its more of an expose, I would say of what really goes on in a restaurant kitchen.
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Summary: Repetitive and without point..
Review: Anthony Bourdain is the (abeit less-witty less-varied) Howard Marks of the culinary world. And he knows how bad he is. And will tell you over and over again because you are expected to be entralled by 300+ pages of this.
He is so happy to remind you of the amount of drugs he has taken and his love of kitchen chaos, and this work comes to serve little actual purpose outside of a self-indulgent recount of his numbing adventures. Honestly, this piece could have easily been condensed to a chapter on his misadventures and a chapter for the rest.
There are very few tips, even fewer stories worth recounting and the work is framed around an incoherant chronology.
I do give Bourdain complete credit for his writing, which is actually wonderfully varied, intelligent and impressive. This is possibly the only positive to this dullish piece.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Great
Review: This book is so informative, entertaining and funny that I plan to buy all of Tony's books. Thanks for making me laugh so hard! I can't wait to get back to NYC and visit Les Halles again.
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Summary: Terribly Arrogant
Review: Anthony Bourdain is the annoying guest at a party who bores those willing to listen with the intricacies of his job in unnecessary detail. I was one of those guests willing to listen finishing the entire book deciding it was worhwhile for only one chapter. The chapter to which I am referring, is written behind the wizards curtain. The reader learns why not to order fish on Monday and that the rolls in most restaurants are recycled. These are gross revelations and I am better for knowing them. After this stop which occurs early on in the memoir, the author laborously details his rise to the acme of culinary expression. Some of the accounts are humorous but only in the way one would chuckle at the exploits of fraternity hazing. Snorting lines of cocaine, chain smoking, and mysogyny are funny only in a pitiable sense. These stories may seem like self deprecating apologies but they are not presented with such compunction. The author is proud of his indomitability, his hands scarred with kitchen abuse. He even claims in the last sentence that he wouldn't have missed the experience for the world. The author is certainly proud of his own nastiness and that of his cronies; if others do not understand they can get out of the kitchen. He presents his daily routine as a chef in exacting detail in a chapter titled expectedly enough "A day in the Life..." In this chapter he allows the reader a glimpse in to the draconian requirements of his job implying that it is beyond the scope of normal expereince worthy of publishing and admiration. What is lost on the author is that many jobs are replete with comical characters, unendurable routine, and moments of frenzied activity. I am sure the waiters whom he loathes would have just as interesting a tale to write. However, like the waiters I feel alienated by Anthony Bourdain and prefer to stay out of the kitchen.
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