If you see a mass of us taking up rusty spatulas in anger, fear not. You are not the target. Unless you are Anthony Bourdain. The highest paid food blogger in the world. If you weren’t watching, tonight was the season opener for No Reservations: Grenadine Islands. Congratulations Uncle Tony, you win. You are King of the Food Bloggers, you pellet-headed weasel. I hope the sand in your shorts grinds your tender bits to dust.
I must say, the new camera work is choice, though. 5D’s? 7D’s? Not sure what they are shooting with, but the super sharp focus-pulls give the scenes a hipper snap. P.S. What’s up with the dance club montage closing scene? Did your marketing group notify your staff that the new hot demographic are disenfranchised Justin Bieber fans trying to hunt down a rave party?
Next week’s show focuses on the Heartland. Obviously, they folded in Austin. (Really?) I guess middle America means “not San Francisco or New York”. No matter. Perla’s, the trailer crowd and others get the NoRes nod. Stay tuned. Respecting the craftsmanship aside, don’t think for a minute that if I had to name a medium-rare donkey steak after someone, Tony would be represented on the menu. Keep soaking up those rays Tony.
No Reservations : Travel Channel : New shows Mondays at 10pm
He may be a weasel, but we just had two of the best meals of our lives in Australia thanks to Tony and/or his staff. I can’t wait to see the Austin show but Heartland …? ::weird::
Somebody need to give him shit, but, truth be told, I like his show. Envy is probably the issue. Tell me more about the dinners!
Haven’t watched the new ep. yet. Kelle isn’t a fan due to his typically snarky, derogatory comments towards vegetarians. He does occasionally enjoy a vegetable or two, but mostly he’s a carnivore. I love the show. Looking forward to his Austin scenes. If only I liked Perla’s more. Not that I dislike it. I was just a bit put off by pricing. It’s like you and your analysis of cocktail prices on the town. I’ll give it another go.
rolling austin into a “heartland” episode is weak, but i don’t think bashing bourdain for skipping the non-SF non-NY part of America is really fair. He did an entire Cleveland episode, after all. Ditto Baltimore, Buffalo & Detroit.
Also, Bourdain down a peg or two wouldn’t be any fun at all. Also, he did the only book signing in a bar I ever enjoyed (triple rock in mpls) and managed to politely bullshit an answer to my drunken question about vietnamese food.
We were just in Melbourne and tried two of the places Bourdain featured on No Reservations. One meal was $300, the other was $50. Both were OUTSTANDING.
The Royal Mail Hotel is Australia’s French Laundry. It’s in the middle of nowhere — Dunkeld, Australia, population 400. Base of the Grampian Mountains.
I’ll spare you the seven-minute youtube clip; here’s the 30-second version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbdEbTNoccU&feature=related
(Might be the best meal of my life; definitely Top 5.)
The other stand-out meal was Chinese food. (Chinese food!)
Sichuan House is a walk-up dive in a Chinatown alley in downtown Melbourne. I blogged about it — only took a couple of photos but am especially proud of my fiance’s shot of our chilled, sliced pig ears and the mapo tofu.
http://anotheraustinfoodblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/you-say-szechuan-i-say-sichuan-house.html