I didn't understand this. Being a Denverite I don't consider this "heartland" or "midwest" and I don't know anyone here who would think that way either. I was happy to see Tony reverse his thoughts about Denver (he's really ripped on the food here before) but he did a whole episode in Montana for ********s sake and he can't do one on Colorado for ********'s sake? - I can attest that Biker Jim's sausages is the bomb. The snausages Tony had are on the every day menu. I eat there every Wednesday because it is WTF Wednesday and you get the really great and interesting limited dogs. Today I had the Emmentaler and Neurenberger brats. - The fancier Frank Bonanno who Tony ate with is indeed a culinary master and the biggest name in Denver cuisine right now. Frank owns four restaurants here. The one on the show, Mizuna, is excellent. My favorite, however, is Bones. It's his version of an Asian noodle house. The appetizers alone are to die for. Especially the suckling pig steamed buns, the escargot potstickers, the roasted bone marrow and the unagi eggrolls. Last time I was there Frank actually cleared our dishes and we got to talk to him about his restaurants. Thinking of all that made me have to pull up their menu to post it: http://www.bonesdenver.com/images/pdfs/menu.pdf Sorry if I sound like a shill but his food is worth it.
Montana is definitely worth a whole episode. If it was just a food show, maybe not. But Bourdain is about more than just food. Anyway, thought the Liberia episode was great! Going to a type of place that none of us will ever be able to go to added an extra dimension. Even he said it was the most remote village he'd ever been in. Drinking naturally fermented juice straight out of a palm tree? lol These types of shows never go to Africa enough. Great stuff, Anthony!
I love Montana and wasn't trying to bag on it. But just like MT, CO could have a show done on it and not just about food. I'd love to see Tony try to climb a 14er. I agree. The Liberia episode was one of his best in a while. Really interesting and not just about the food, but the people and history. Plus, he was completely out of his element.
Loved the Kerala episode. The action scenes with the Indian movie star was hilarious. And now I know where the word "backwater" comes from.
Great episode on his visit to Dubai. The food a mixture of many things Asian because of the tremendous influx of foreign workers looked really tasty. The two young U.A.E. brothers that welcomed Tony to dinner at their restaurant and their home had some really wonderful dishes. The white rice with Saffron and Pistachios looked so tasty along with the lamb.
This was probably the only episode that didn't have street food in it. Hard to imagine any country without street food culture.
The new episode on Rome was terrific. Tony's wife is funny at times. She calls him out for being a bullshitter. LMAO
I just loved the way it was shot as well. Initially I thought, oh geez, black and white, but they pulled it off quite nicely, especially with giving only the food a bit of color. Plus it seems like they shot a lot of the episode on DSLRs which allowed for some very nice shots.
Yeah, but the street food in NYC is ghastly! So I wouldn't say there is much of a street food culture here. Of all the shows Tony did in the USA, I don't remember him eating much street food. I'm pretty sure he didn't go near street food in the NYC episode. Speaking of which, a couple months ago I went to that restaurant than Tony met Bill Murray at (on the Hudson river). It was pretty awesome!
He's done several NYC episodes, and I'm pretty sure he went to the sidewalk vendors by the Red Hook soccer fields with Andrew Zimmerman. And in the Bay Area episode, he did street food at the Market Street farmer's market and a truck in Oakland. Though I do get your general point - street food in the US, at least the decent kind, tends to be the exception that proves the rule. They're usually either in ethnic enclaves, away from the mainstream, or more recent white collar-turned-food truck types. It's not like tacos in Mexico City or ramen in Tokyo.
Yeah, when I thought of street food, I automatically thought of the food trucks or carts in NYC. And by carts, I mean hot dogs. But I can tell you that living in Flushing, you can get some pretty good stuff on the streets. All Chinese but damn tasty and cheap.
On last night's program, Tony in Paris along with Eric Ripert to celebrate his 100th show. Really good episode.
I have a quibble, and really, really minor one, when he clearly loves the food that much, I miss the travel show aspect (and Tony's grumpiness).
Yeah that episode was very food focussed. But then again its Paris. From a travel standpoint there probably isn't anything new to tell anyone. I'm looking forward to next week -> Madrid. Now that's my kinda city!
I agree with Bocafan it's Paris. Not much that we can gleam from the travel aspect given the location. I for one have no issues for this episode to be entirely food focused. There is much on TV regarding the travel aspects of Paris. I must say that Eric Ripert comes across a a truly nice person. Would love to actually meet him and speak to him about food.
That's true - I think I missed his discomfort more than anything, and I guess the "Fooding" restaurants were his "travel show" spots. Yeah, he's a judge on the current season of Top Chef and I've enjoyed the way he's critiqued the dishes.
Good lord almighty, I couldn't care less about the plight of fine dining in France. I actually turned off this episode in the middle because it was so boring and navel-gazing. It was also about the third hour of AB that I'd watched in a row so I was just sort of over him for the evening. I figured I'd watch the rest of the episode another time but then last night I ended up deleting it from the DVR because I just didn't care. Still don't. He seems like a great guy and I love that even when he hates someone's food, he's nice about it. Such an improvement over that Toby douchebag. And I love the way that the cheftestants just light up when he likes their food.
Did you see the follow-up episode where Tony and the producers talked about the series? One of the first things Tony said was that fans of the show are split almost 50/50 who either love the food aspect or the travel aspect and they all get pissed when it tilts too far in one direction. - Personally, I like both but lean towards the food since I'm a foodie. I thought this Paris episode was great since I want to try all these places in Paris. When I was there in 2002 the restaurant culture was so different and I couldn't afford to eat at the Micheline restaurants.
Maybe you have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen to enjoy that episode. I tuned most of it out as well but my gf loved it! Next week's show should be better. What with it being filmed during the World Cup in Spain. Hope he also goes to one of the medieval towns outside Madrid (Segovia or Toledo, ideally)
BTW, what is this "Brooklyn style" that the Fooding folks talk about? I've never heard the term used to describe anything other than pizza.
I assume you mean restaurant kitchens. I made a decision early in life that I would never, unless I had no other choice in the world, work in a food service industry of any kind. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about how I feel about Paris and food: I very much want to go to Paris and eat good food. It's just that I would prefer more casual bistros and cafes and couldn't care less about fancy-pants places. I hope he doesn't go to El Bulli again. Although I have to say that if I was planning to fly across the Atlantic and then spend a month's rent on a dinner, that would be an awesome place to do it.
