The OtherArena

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

Season 6 Ep 13: Food Porn 2

Opening segment, which for all the play on words (and Ron Jeremy cameos) in the episode, shows that it's still all about food for Tony. Of his "comedy" shows, this is one of the best because it's more than just comedy. Sharp writing as always.

John

Midline Shift · Joined: 22 Apr 2010 Posts: 656

Good clip. My DVR didn't catch this episode for some reason. I'll have to track it down.

The recent Maine episode was good. One of my best friends is from Maine, and he chuckled when I asked him about the bean dinners. He likes to give me crap about being from a rural area but some of the stuff in the Maine show was as backwoods as anything I ever saw in the West-by-God.

Simon

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

The Maine show was good as well. I love the show. :)

Midline Shift · Joined: 22 Apr 2010 Posts: 656

The Liberia show was very interesting. I have a weird fascination with Africa (just finished a book on the Lassa Fever that Tony briefly touched on - Dr. Aniru Conteh is a personal hero of mine) so maybe I enjoyed it more than most. The advertised "unforgettable promise" was a little underwhelming if still a very nice gesture. Several football kits noticeable on the Liberians; I saw Barca, Milan, and some yellow and black vertical stripe that I didn't recognize, plus a white polo with neon green trim that had a ManU crest on it. Some of the food on this episode didn't seem particularly appetizing, but I always enjoy seeing the crazy (to me) stuff people make do with in other cultures.

In related news, I'm super stoked because my tickets arrived yesterday to see Tony speak in November. Maybe I can get him to autograph a big hunk of pork belly. :)

Simon

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

I need to pay attention to his speaking tours. They look really interesting.

The Liberia show was a bit difficult. The opening and exist were quite strong, especially the exist where he gets across his worry / lack of hope in the future of the country. It's something that he rarely if ever says about a place he visits. :/ In between... mixed. I get the feeling that it was a difficult trip.

John

Midline Shift · Joined: 22 Apr 2010 Posts: 656

On his blog Tony wrote that this was the most difficult show they've ever done. For obvious reasons - Liberia is hopelessly depressing even by woeful African standards. Hard to have too much fun in a place with a past that horrifying and a bleak future. In the blog Tony tries to emphasize 'hope' but as you say his lack of hope was evident in the episode.

Also, when the show has went to other impoverished places (say, southeast Asia or parts of Latin America) at least the food was good and gave him something to talk about. The food on this episode... not so much. That nasty sounding palm wine? Fufu? Cassava of every conceivable concoction? Nah kid nah.

I'm very excited to see him speak, if for no other reason hear about where he eats while he's in town. (I heartily endorse the pan roasted duck with foie gras at Coquette!) I also see that he has a new book out, which I didn't even know. Normally I'm content to wait for the paperback edition but I'll need to grab this soon to be prepared for when he rolls through here.

Simon

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

Oh hell... he's on the West Coast in September in Sacto and Escondido, but not LA. I don't know if the Escondido one is sold out... and that's a bit of a drive out of Long Beach into traffic on a Friday with a 8 PM start. Hmm... perhaps crash at my folks after since it's just back up the 5. :) I'll have to think about it.

John

Midline Shift · Joined: 22 Apr 2010 Posts: 656

Strong episode from Paris for the show's 100th. I'm struggling to think of an episode that I enjoyed more strictly in terms of the food. The grub from this one made me want to hop on the next plane to Paris. Seeing a legit food superstar like Ripert mark out for that young hotshot's food was really neat. And not only having a meal with Joel Robuchon, but another meal at Robuchon's restaurant with the cooking supervised by the man himelf? Good Lord. I think Paris could have been very difficult to narrow down to one show so I think they made the right call to go with a theme - the bistro movement. I'm actually a big fan of the fine dining that was getting ragged on, but even more than that I just love good food so if the bistros are getting it done then I'm all for it.

Looking forward to the next episode from Madrid.

Simon

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

I've got that taped and need to watch it. :)

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

Finally caught up to the 100th show, including the "Making of India" and "Looking Back" shows that give a good insight into how the show gets pu together and evolved. You know it pains them a bit that they can't use any of the Cooks Tour stuff, though they avoid saying it.

The 100th was quite good for the reasons you pointed to, Simon. Eric is the "star" of the episode, not because he stomps over Tony or Tony tries to build it around him. Instead, I think as they put it together they understood what they had in what an experiance this was for Eric even more than Tony. That meal at the young hot shot' place is one of the (many) top moments in the series. I know they had to close with Robuchon, but it was the young hotshot that peaked the show... and then Robuchon ended up being a very good addition to that: while being a king of fine dining, Robuchon's joint is not that far removed from what the young hotshot is doing. Sort of a contrast to what Tony thinks of Alain Ducasse. ;)

Good show.

John

Midline Shift · Joined: 22 Apr 2010 Posts: 656

I'm going to see Tony speak next weekend, so I picked up his latest book a while back and finally began reading it. The introduction tells of a meeting in New York with several of the most respected (and unnamed) chefs in the country, and a vivid description of feasting on the controversial and outlawed French delicacy ortolan.

There was a famous piece in Esquire many moons ago about ortolan, specifically as part of François Mitterrand's legendary last meal. It's an interesting read as a companion to Tony's story.

Simon

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

Simon: We want a review to annoying jdw for missing the one out here. :)

John

Midline Shift · Joined: 22 Apr 2010 Posts: 656

Great fucking show last night. Keep in mind that I'm probably like Meltzer gushing about Flair when talking about Tony, but I thought he was terrific. I'll post more after (hopefully) watching Chelsea kick the shit out of Sunderland.

Simon

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

Now I really need to pay attention to tour dates he might have in 2011. :)

John

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17026

Tony is judging on half the Top Chef shows this season. If you didn't catch the first few, Bravo re-runs them a lot so it's easy to catch up. In fact, the first two air first thing on Wed morning and again Monday evening right before the new episode 3.

But what I'm leading to is:

Bourdain's 'Top Chef' blog on Bravotv.com

If you like Top Chef or Tony, you want all of this. Spoilers on the first two shows, so if you have them sitting on the dvr, watch them first. But it looks like Tony will be blogging through the whole season, and these first two are typically Tony. :)

John