193182 Fri Dec 28 09:57:06 -0800 2001 11 18 Manhattan 0 1030968 Just started reading the book. For those of you who are familiar with it who is bigfoot? Any background info? For those of you who are not it is a fascinating account of the interworkings of the restaraunt industry written by Anthony Bourdain of Les Halles. Fri Dec 28 09:57:06 -0800 2001 0 vegas 1 1030984 I don't know who bigfoot is because i stopped reading the book after the first two chapters. I was turned off, although many ifind it to be a funny insight into the biz. i am in the rest. biz, and although rumour has it that many chefs have HUGE egos(like actors), I prefer the ones that don't. OR, I will eat at their restaurants if the food is exceptional and leave their non-cooking books on the shelf for others. The beginning, where Bourdain describes his initial experience in the kitchen and the "antics" of a chef who was cooking for a wedding,and ended up having s-e-x with the bride turned me off. I'm all for a laugh, but I guess this isn't my type of humour. I will eat at Bourdain's restaurants and leave my laughs for MAD tv. MAYBE, maybe I will pick up the book and try again, what do you CHOWHOUNDS think? P>S SAFE HAPPY NEW YEAR and CHOW down! Fri Dec 28 16:45:12 -0800 2001 1030968 0 le bouquin 2 1030985 Just in case you didn't notice, the esteemed Mr. Bourdain is a chowhound reader and poster. Fri Dec 28 17:03:56 -0800 2001 1030984 0 Nina Wugmeister 3 1030994 I could be wrong, but I dont think Mr. Bourdain wrote the book for people in the business. That is no insult to anybody, but the book never even entered my lists of possible reads. We in the business have seen all and more of the same as the book purportedly describes. The book neither disgusts nor shocks anyone who has worked in the restaurant business. I read excerpts in the New Yorker, disagreed with some of it, shrugged at some of it, and realized it was one person's perspective of a notoriously difficult industry. Most people in the food business dont love the burn-out, insanity, drink-and-drug culture, long hours, open sexuality, aggressive, testerone filled, adrenalized culture, even as they add to it. It is the people outside the industry who like to hear about it. Mr. Bourdain talks about what most people in the business like to forget. That's my 2 cents, having only read excerpts. jake Link: http://www.nycooks.com Fri Dec 28 22:14:27 -0800 2001 1030985 0 jake pine 4 1031134 I've never read Kitchen Confidential, but I have read so many reviews and comments that I feel I have read the damn book... What I have read, however, is the excerpt in one of those Best of 2001 collections (Best Food?). The piece in the book is the part where Bourdain describes a day in the life. I'm a sucker in general for "typical day" reports, but this was real good, and great insight for an outsider like me into how a resturant operates. Rob Thu Jan 03 13:06:03 -0800 2002 1030994 0 Vital Information 5 1031298 In one of my college classes, we have to write a 12-page report on this book. So far, I've made it up to the "Food is Sex" chapter. I dunno. It's an easy-to-read book, but I wish there was also a female who would write something like this. This industry is male dominated and it would be a lot better for the females to get an idea of what we have to look foward to. Thu Apr 10 16:02:26 -0700 2003 1031134 0 Talina 2 1031118 I found the book interesting at the begining but as the writing became more and more egotistical I was a bit turned off, but still intrigued enough to finish it. I REALLY enjoyed his musical references, they really created a mood and feeling I could relate to. His show debuted on the Food Network, I think last night? Anyone see it? Thu Jan 03 08:35:17 -0800 2002 1030984 0 Michele Cindy 1 1031013 jeez...lighten up..just finished reading said book..and have been dragging it about reading excerpts, entertaining the troops..my 13yr. old foodie stepson has been trying to run off with it...just sit back, read it and enjoy the ride..it's a hoot.. Sun Dec 30 11:41:32 -0800 2001 1030968 0 mindy 1 1031032 I was cooking in the Village during the time that Mr. Bourdain was there, and he describes the restaurant scene in the early 80's pretty accurately. I know who Bigfoot is, and anyone who knew or frequented Buffalo Roadhouse, Montana Eve, the Riviera Cafe would also know who Bigfoot is. That's the only hint I will give, other than the description of the man was pretty close to what I remember of him. On the other hand, I was interested by the book, but turned off by the author's incredibly grandiose sense of himself - also the crudeness that seemed to be there for shock benefit, but not necessarly to the story. Mon Dec 31 10:54:49 -0800 2001 1030968 0 Sharon Flory 2 1031301 who is bigfoot? please tell me.... at least, do you know what establishments he's associated with? Thanks, Mike S. Sun May 25 17:22:15 -0700 2003 1031032 0 mike 1 1031131 I read Bourdain's novels before I read KC, and I think he really hit his stride writing KC. Taken as a book, i.e., entertainment, not journalism, I think it's hilarious and should be taken as the idiosyncratic rant that it is, not as an expose(acute). For the genre, Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London sets the standard, with even more sociological whackiness. That said, Bourdain can turn a phrase. Thu Jan 03 12:24:27 -0800 2002 1030968 0 lucia 1 1031132 Has anyone yet read Harrison's latest chowodyssey? Saw a review in NYT that was off-putting and made the book sound like a macho pigfest, but I have difficulty putting any faith in professional reviewers. Waiting for more input . . . lucia Thu Jan 03 12:35:42 -0800 2002 1030968 0 lucia