Dear Tony-
I watched you all day yesterday and woke up to search for you this morning. Yes, I am stalking you in the creepiest of ways. I follow you wherever you go, like a good Dead fan, ready to be washed in your cranky wisdom.
I love you. Well, I love the you that the Travel Channel lets me see. Tall, lean and lanky, check. Tousled salt and pepper hair, check. Sparkling eyes, cracking wise. Check, check. Hawaiian shirts or punk tees, jeans and flip-flps. Most comfortable barefoot on a beachy bar stool. Check. At home wherever you are in the world. Yup. You could be my man.
Your delight in the buffet that the world provides is contagious. I now am planning to go to Uruguay for the beef and the beach, Barcelona for farm-grilled onions and chemistry set food, and anywhere there is a street market with luscious innards stewing in a drum. I admire the way you eat dick *cough* animal penis anywhere you find that street-cred viagra. I feel empowered to try new, scary foods (though not as scary as your channel-mate’s menu on Bizarre Foods - live tree worms? yikes!)
Most of all, I love the way you go to ground when you arrive in a country, finding out how the regular people live and eat. You never condescend. You are always respectful, gracious, interested. Somehow, you seem to prefer their company to the multi-star Michelin set. This may be a trick of editing, but the result is, you are an antidote to the other high-living snobs on that channel.
I recognize my life in your casual mentions of hard partying and your time in the trenches. I also started out in the restaurant biz and have those same stories to tell. I also prefer the dirt street to the tree-lined avenue. I have a bullshit monitor that slinging food gives you for life. You are my doppelganger, though you are obviously having more fun than me!
We need to get together (if your wife doesn’t mind). I want more than anything to travel with you, and follow the sun towards the next amazing vista. Yeah, I’m a little older than you, but that never stopped me before. I’m game for anything you are. Uh, maybe not sky-diving. Definitely not Saudi Arabia. They probably won’t let me in the Kyoto tea-houses with you to be entertained by geisha. *Sigh* Well, drop me a line, dude, ok?
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Comments
::squidge::
He's #1 on my Top 5. The Man understands.
If you haven't already, read his books. He's even better uncensored and it feels like he's talking to YOU.
(thumbified by a fellow FanGirl)
And as I also ate an animal penis and travel around alot, I feel a special bond. Sigh.
There's NO ONE on TV anymore I have that kind of passion for... Maybe Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow on occasion. :-)
Rated for passsion!!!!!!
Lea, ok, so, what DID it taste like?
cartouche- this is 3 degrees of separation! Can you set me up?
I agree that Kitchen Confidential is a must read (I'd wish to be a chef, if I weren't the sort that counts fingers after every onion chopped).
In a similar bookie foodie vein, read "Heat", by Bill Buford, his journal of apprenticing to Mari Batali, and then his subsequent food journeys.
Steph - luckily, there's a 'No Reservations' marathon this weekend, so I am happily distracted from the cold.
Brian, you are on! Ladies, we have our opening.
Juliet- ah, you just harshed my mellow. No, really, I just want to find a guy just like him. And, where did you have that burnt sp salad? And it was good? I thought about submitting Asheville for the viewer contest, but it's too vegetarian for him, I'm sure.
I_M - he does have adventurous taste!
UK- he must have a groupie following in the thousands!
As for the sweet potatos. It was this really nice loft style cafeteria, can't remember the name of it right now. I'll have to search up the article I wrote, but it was run by this lovely woman originally from Vermont. I also ate at the restaurant run by that model for Burt Bees Woman. And I stayed at the Biltmore, which wasn't bad. But you're right, Bourdain would probably only be interested in the best BBQ competition or something. Asheville's cool though. There must be something, and if you pitch it as some kind of trek through the Blue Ridge, it might work. I love all those general stores, very camera friendly.
He's not rigid, there is nothing predictable about him.... God he's SEXY as hell. You'll have to fight me for him, woman! ;-)
UK - you seem to be as hooked as me, or more! I just watch the re-runs religiously.
Hey Juliet, I don't think I'd like him if he were that nice - bad boys are my weakness. I don't recognize the restaurants you name, but it sounds like you had a great time here and got it paid for too? I do love Asheville, but maybe it's getting a little too uptown; I saw a bumper sticker the other day - "Asheville - Paradise Lost."
Now I'll have to put some thought into a possible female equivalent.
I lurrrrv this man too, and even wrote a post about him and his yumminess (nowhere near as thorough as yours!) over at FC a while back.
Great minds think alike, ardee, they really do! :D
*sigh*
Way, way up goes the thumb.
Bees - I saw your piece on FC! Yeah, it's a long-term love affair.
Verbal - Amazing. You did in 11 words what I had to write 6 paragraphs to convey. Wow.
Loved when he came to Cleveland and went surfing in mid-winter.
Voicegal - I must have missed that episode! surfing in Cleveland? I'll have to check Netflix for that one!
Annie - That was a great one, though it'd be hard to choose my favorite.
Vikki- I agree with the traits that you mention, especially the teddy bear gooey center he shows occasionally.
Not with Tony Bourdain though.
And lest we forget, there's a new season starting Monday. Appears to be hotly anticipated by most who have commented here.
But holy cow, I'd travel and eat with him in a heartbeat.
Queen - whoa, I missed that episode. I think that one belongs on Bizarre Foods, which is sometimes fun and most times gross!
Rich - I have just seen a spippet of the Beirut episode, but I've heard it's got a different brand of realism. I keep waiting for it to re-run, but I may have to get it on Netflix.
Love Bourdain as well. I'm addicted to "Top Chef" and the best shows are when he's a guest judge.
NOTE: Diane, whenever you're prepared to leave that Oscar-winning brute Josh Brolin - I'm here for you my Darling!
How can he resist this? Let us know when the wedding is, Ardee.