Kitchen Confidential, Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. By Anthony Bourdain



What can I say about Kitchen Confidential and Anthony Bourdain that hasn't already been said. Anthony is a raw, opinionated, course, and unapologetically himself. Whether talking about his 25 years of pirate adventures in the restaurant industry or his disdain for many of the new breed of "Hollywood" chefs, he does not try to sway you to his opinion, but instead he is as brutally honest of the truth as best as he sees it. Nor does he claim that his is experience in the restaurant world is the only way kitchens are run. In the chapter called "The Life of Bryan", Bourdain talks about Scott Bryan who he says made all the right decisions. A man who is doing the exact opposite of what Bourdain experienced in his career. Scott runs a tight kitchen. Clean and well organized. His staff is professional and polite. Something Bourdain had never experienced in his well-traveled career.

This book was highly entertaining. Course, vulgar, disgusting at times, but entertaining none the less. Bourdain takes you on the adventure of this life starting with his first experiences as a child that let him know that food could be so much more than just chicken figures and french fries or a means of sustenance. But that food had power. That is could inspire, astonish, shock, excite, delight, and impress.

This book is not only extremely funny but is informative as well. Giving the general public tips such as never to order fish on Mondays, avoid Sunday brunch, never ever order meat well done, and that if you ever see a sign "Discount Sushi" to run the other way as fast as humanly possible.

For most of his career it was about "Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll" and then maybe some more drugs and alcohol. For most of the 70's and 80's that is what it was about for him. But he has cleaned up his life from those things. They no longer have a hold on his life. Though he still enjoys his liquor. Bourdains life is not a shining example for youths and those wanting to become chefs. (If you looking for that example, maybe look at Scott Bryan) This book was revealing, very funny at times, but should be taken with a grain of salt.