IGX

I've had mixed feelings about this guy or at least his television persona and on the one cooking show that the wife and I watch, Top Chef, where he's been an occasional judge, he's been a bit of a dick and would deserve a slap if the cameras weren't running. With that being said, I've watched a few of his various shows on the Travel Channel such as The Layover and No Reservations...not regular viewing but I've seen more than just a few and thought they were well produced and narrated. But I will say this show on CNN, Parts Unknown, is really a beautifully filmed, narrated, thoughtfully constructed series. They just aired the first episode of Season 4 on Sunday in Shanghai and I was mesmerized by it...fuck I don't know anything about China but I did learn just a little bit from this show. He seeks out various players in the local community...in this episode he talked to a university professor educated in the U.S., a local multi-millionaire, a regular guy English teacher, and a well known, at least within his area of expertise, computer hacker now running some kind of social media based start-up. The conversation is topical and interesting but not too heavy or political and they're of course eating and he'll mostly do a voice over when talking about the food. He does a great job of weaving in history, current events, local customs, and some streetscape walking and flyover style filming. I'd highly recommend checking it out. If this motherfucker doesnt' have one of the best jobs in television/media I don't know who does.

And trains at Renzo Gracie's Academy in NYC when he is in town.

I like all of his shows. Recently watched "The Layover" in San Francisco. He was pretty wasted in a lot of the scenes and pulled it off well. There are always some good tidbits of insight into regions or humanity in general in his shows. I also love the one he did from Liberia. You could smell the fear but he hung in there.

I wanted to hate him and his hipper than thou NYC snark but he won me over.

I haven't seen this new show (no TV) but I've always been a fan, ever since I read Kitchen Confidential, which is dead on about the restaurant business in NY.
I also have a friend who worked with him at the Supper Club and says he's a great guy. However, something's been bothering me...
I'm pretty sure in a previous thread about him, someone mentioned a Top Chef episode where he backed down to an Italian guy after the guinea threatened him. Anyone remember this? I think I might know who the ginzo chef was.

GBM I may have been the one to mention that. The wife and I watch Top Chef and on that particular episode Bourdain was being a little too personally snarky and the chef was Fabio Viviani...he said something like, if the cameras weren't running they'd be having a different conversation. Or words to that effect. And yes, Bourdain was being a dick.

Maybe that explains why Bourdain took up Jiu Jitsu.

Ed Zachary wrote:And trains at Renzo Gracie's Academy in NYC when he is in town.

I saw a thing on TV about how his wife does BJJ and Muay Thai there but he said he did some Judo as a teen but these days he leaves that kind of stuff to her.


Maybe he changed his mind? Where did you hear he trains?

Shapecharge wrote:GBM I may have been the one to mention that. The wife and I watch Top Chef and on that particular episode Bourdain was being a little too personally snarky and the chef was Fabio Viviani...he said something like, if the cameras weren't running they'd be having a different conversation. Or words to that effect. And yes, Bourdain was being a dick.

That's a relief. If it had been a guy named Dave Ammorelli, who likes to call himself "Ammo", I would have had to disavow Bourdain fandom forever.

Darth, I think he started training with his daughter. I've seen pics on facebook and Instagram.

Yeah Darth he just started in the last year.

DrDonkeyLove wrote:I like all of his shows. Recently watched "The Layover" in San Francisco. He was pretty wasted in a lot of the scenes and pulled it off well. There are always some good tidbits of insight into regions or humanity in general in his shows. I also love the one he did from Liberia. You could smell the fear but he hung in there.

I wanted to hate him and his hipper than thou NYC snark but he won me over.

Agreed about the San Francisco Layover. I've seen all his shows (some more than once) and I've never seen him that wasted on film before. Not even the shows he does in Eastern Europe with Zamir.

Ed Zachary wrote:And trains at Renzo Gracie's Academy in NYC when he is in town.

When I hear a celebrity trains (which usually means 'dabbles') in BJJ, it doesn't change my opinion of him.

(Now, if he reaches black or even brown, I will respect that that is a lot of hours on the mat.)

Hell a legit purple belt is 3 to 5 years. That's a lot of hours on the mat.

Dabbles, trains, meh. He talks good about the art and does the classes with regular guys.