Book Review: Kitchen Confidential

[lemon boy]

Well, I promised it sometime ago and just haven't had a chance to bang it out but here it is:

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Where can I begin? Okay, here it is: HOLY CRAP I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Anyone who has EVER spent any time working in a kitchen (especially an upscale one) will instantly know that Mr. Bourdain speaks the truth. Unvarnished and awesome.

Anyone who's never spent a day in a kitchen though, know this: it may not be geared toward giving you a happy feeling about going out to eat (he does go into wonderful detail about the depravations a kitchen staff can get up to) but it is a great look a subculture that like as not you probably interact with at least once a week.

This is not a how too book (there are some tips), nor is it a book designed to recruit new chefs (and really, you'd have to be an idiot to want to be one), neither is it a book for foodies (gasp), rabid francophobes (yeah, prolly not) but it is for folks who've been around a kitchen and for folks who really like to eat good food.

A lot of the book describes various individuals and situations that he's known; 95% of which are laugh out loud funny. While the characters are "real" people (apparently) it is almost more comfortable to think of them as merely composites. Especially Adam-Real-Last-Name-Unknown (Mr. 3day coke-smack-vodka bender idiot savant of the bread world). It is life in a kitchen the sex, the drugs, the food, the booze all of it. Plus, lots of little snapshots of his life the images of which will burn themselves in your mind. The scrawny kid eating his first raw oyster in front of his appalled family. The giant swashbuckling black man putting this little shit cook whiteboy in his place I'm rambling. This is an AWESOME and deeply satisfying book. Bourdain is a really gifted writer who has a great feeling for the english language and spanglish (aka: kitchenese).

Note: this book is chock a block full of cursing and moral turpitude.

The wife already has A Cook's Tour en route.

Fantastic (and fast) read. 3 out of 4 lemons.

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Yeah yeah yeah, books music videos FUCK OFF EH!

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A note on the Lemon Scale. 3/4 is high praise indeed. Four Lemons are reserved for those works that truly transcend this world. A one Lemon book is still completely readable (I figure why waste time reviewing for you books that are less than that so the "bottom" of the scale is still quite high).

[Superstar Punani]

MUSIC, BOOKS, MOVIES JONG!

[Foggy_Goggles]

Just let me know whenever you want this thread to degrade to "Atrocities I seen in restaurants and Bars".

First Chapter: Band Aid in the Soup

Last Chapter: The Dick Stir

[lemon boy]

go big...

[Shin-to-Win]

Agreed . . . great book. Great stories and adventures in the kitchen. That guy is a mess though, serious addiction issues.

[Viva]

I just started reading The Pig and I by Rachel Toor. The book's about Rachel's various pets and the mens she's dated over the years and how the two compare/compete. I had a fling with Rachel as this book was going through its final editing, so, alas, I am not mentioned. Maybe in the sequel?

[vinzclortho]

agreed, a super sweet book for those of us who have worked in kitchens. Alot of the French dishes he talks about...uhhh I had no idea what those were. But the adventures, the booze, the drugs, the sex, the good times and bad times and hard work of being a kitchen employee were sweet to read about. Makes me miss cooking!

[Snow Ranger]

Agreed. This is a great book. Made me want to switch professions.

[natty dread]

Cook's Tour is great too. Mmmmm fresh, still beating cobra heart, from a cobra killed tableside. And then 2 more courses from the same snake. Yum. And if you're into sushi, his description of the tokyo fish market is awesome. Thomas Keller is a genius, as you will see.