Sunday, May 1st 4pm, Arlington Theater
Anthony Bourdain was joined by Eric Ripert in a UCSB Arts and Lectures Event. Anthony warmed up the crowd with amusing questions and answers. He started with stating that he would rather go to Justin Bieber concert than have Sandra Lee read him bedtime stories. He went on to explain that if someone were to drop a Nuclear bomb New York, she’ll would be the one crawling out with a knife between her teeth... He later described his tactics for keeping his daughter away from McDonald's. He said that he thought about taking the head off her favorite Barbie, covering it in chocolate, wrapping it in a McDonald’s wrapper, and leaving it on the table for his daughter to find. Eventually, he said, that he chose the more ‘tactful’ route. He would not-so-subtly hint about Ronald McDonald having to do with the ‘mysterious’ disappearances of many children.
He went on to say that Katz's Delicatessen was his favorite of all the delis in New York. He also said that his favorite place for food that he has been to for his T.V. show (No Reservations) was Cuba. He only got really serious at the very end, he left us with these words of wisdom... (For an up and coming sous chef: "...work at a restaurant for at least a year, even TGI Friday, before going to culinary school, because being a chef is a lot of work, and you are gonna be in the basement cleaning squid for years before you begin to get a reputation, so you better love it.” (And to everyone: "...always always always be on time and be the sort of person who others want to teach, because in most professions you learn from ‘apprenticeships’, so if you are rude, or don’t take recommendations well, then no one will want to teach you, so you will never grow.
Anthony Bourdain was entertaining, but unnecessarily crass. The language was at a lower level than I expected, making this event definitely not a kid’s event. He was funny, but trite. His jokes were endless in number, and he rarely said anything of substance. It was amusing, but nothing stayed with you.
3.5/5
