kitchen confidential by anthony bourdain

Bourdain uses the same 'take-no-prisoners' attitude in his deliciously funny and shockingly delectable book, sure to delight gourmands and philistines alike. Last summer, 'The New Yorker' published Chef Bourdain's shocking, 'Don't Eat Before Reading This.' Bourdain spared no one's appetite when he told all about what happens behind the kitchen door. He'd probably hate to hear it, but Bourdain has a tender side, and when it peeks through his rough exterior and the wall of four-letter words he constructs, it elevates this book to something more than blustery memoir.'Kitchen Confidential' reveals what Bourdain calls 'twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine.' Most of the book, however, deals with Bourdain's own maturation as a chef, and the culmination, a litany describing the many scars and oddities that he has developed on his hands, is surprisingly beautiful.

Gossipy chapters discuss the many restaurants where Bourdain has worked, while a single chapter on how to cook like a professional at home exhorts readers to buy a few simple gadgets, such as a metal ring for tall food. Until then, I have four words for you: `Shut the fuck up.' '' He disdains vegetarians, warns against ordering food well done and cautions that restaurant brunches are a crapshoot. His advice to aspiring chefs: ''Show up at work on time six months in a row and we'll talk about red curry paste and lemon grass.

Bourdain is no presentable TV version of a chef he talks tough and dirty. He has attended culinary school, fallen prey to a drug habit and even established a restaurant in Tokyo, discovering along the way that the crazy, dirty, sometimes frightening world of the restaurant kitchen sustains him. The latter was born on a family trip to France when young Bourdain tasted his first oyster, and his love has only grown since. His fast-lane personality and glee in recounting sophomoric kitchen pranks might be unbearable were it not for two things: Bourdain is as unsparingly acerbic with himself as he is with others, and he exhibits a sincere and profound love of good food. Chef at New York's Les Halles and author of Bone in the Throat, Bourdain pulls no punches in this memoir of his years in the restaurant business.

Kitchen confidential by anthony bourdain