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Tags: No Reservations / Television Travel / Food Travel / Tony Bourdain / Restaurants / Momofuku / David Chang / Eric Ripert / Jose Andres / → All Tags
Anthony Bourdain Directs a Food Porn
No Reservations was a clip show—er—special this week, as Anthony Bourdain put together a montage of his most orgasmic eating experiences. He approached it as kind of a greatest hits mix, visiting the most celebrated, and honestly, rather predictable eateries around.
Bourdain feasts his eyes on some taco porn at Jose Andres' Oyamel, has Eric Ripert whip him up an off-the-menu sea urchin-caviar concoction at Le Bernardin, gets gooey about the cheese board at Picholine and drools over David Chang's legendary pork buns at Momofuku.
But we were surprised at one far-flung stop. Tony revisited his favorite Vietnamese pho noodle shop, a Ho Chi Minh City hole-in-the-wall aptly named just Pho Noodle Shop. And suddenly Bourdain is a whiny, whimpering mess as he waits with ants in his pants, like a five-year-old, for his bowl of liquid fat to come. No snark, no measured approval, no witty one-liners, but pure unadulterated—genuine!—excitement. We've never seen him like this, and we're thinking we need to get to Ho Chi Minh sometime soon.
Fortunately, Tony is going back to Vietnam for another episode later this season. Definitely setting the Tivo for that one.
· Food Porn Travel Guide [No Reservations]
· Anthony Bourdain travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Vietnam travel coverage [Jaunted]
Photo: [Travel Channel]
Tags: Top Chef Travel / Food Travel / Reality Television Travel / Restaurants / Eric Ripert / → All Tags
Chef'Testants are No Match for Eric Ripert
The Top Chef'testants had a particularly tough time with this week's challenge--reproducing a dish from guest judge Eric Ripert's legendary seafood restaurant Le Bernardin. We were a little disappointed with the chefs' output (especially Leah, how did she not go home?!), but the episode certainly did get us salivating to try the real deal--Ripert's classic French dishes like black bass tartare, poached escolar, and pan-roasted monkfish.
So we're wondering--just how hard is it to get into Le Bernardin nowadays? Reservations are notoriously difficult to come by (on the first business day of every month, they become available for the month after that, and their phone lines get busy quickly), but it turns out you can get around that if you're willing to eat super-late. We just did an OpenTable search and found tables for two available tonight at 10pm, and Friday and Saturday at 11. Not so hard after all!
Of course, you still have to be willing to pay for all that fishy goodness. The lunch prix fixe is $68, dinner is $109, while the extravagant chef's tasting menu is $185 a head.
Oh, and bonus news for all you Ripert-heads: Looks like he's enjoying this TV thing. Ripert will get his own show, "Avec Eric," coming to PBS this fall.
· Le Bernardin [Official Site]
· Checking In At Jamie's Place [Jaunted]
Photo: [Bravo]
