Bourdain On Saturday? Pre-Show Eats...

[mbasnack]

Anyone headed to Lowell to see him speak on Saturday night? My BF/DC got me tickets and we're interested in making it a total Chowhound experience by going to dinner first.

What's worth hitting in Lowell beforehand? I grew up near there but all I can come up with is chains...There must be good ethnic eats, no?

[RoyRon]

Hands down my choice would be Tepthida Khmer. Excellent Cambodian food (don't miss the Beef Loc Lac if you eat meat) and the service and atmosphere are very nice too. try one of their soups to share. I like the one with shrimp, pineapple and tomatoes. Sorry but don't remember the name. I also like their version of Drunken Noodles but I always order the "special" version which is a combination of seafood and meats. This dish isn't really traditional Cambodian but it is damn good.

[TomH]

We did end up at Tepthida Khmer before the show. It was great although the servers definitely seemed overwhelmed when the place got to about half-full. Had the Beef Cha K'nehi, Beef Loc Lac, and a chicken dish in a coconut milk curry with potatoes (I forget the name). Overall the meal was great, beef was tender, very potent ginger flavors in the K'nehi, and my wife loved the chicken dish. Even with the stir crazy service we would definitely go back.

[powerfulpierre]

Thanks for the follow-up report. We had the same plans but unfortunately had to cancel due to illness. T-K is still on our short list to try.

[engineergirl_11]

pho88 is definitely your best bet. i have yet to find a better vietnamese restaurant in lowell or boston

[ac106]

I am going with my wife but she isn't really into SE Asian. I am though. Can feel a fight coming on :)

I do hope its longer then 30 min. While the tickets were reasonable, I will feel sorta ripped off if that's as long as it is.

Another thing: are they filming a No Reservations in the area? I have never seen it mentioned on his blog or wikipedia but they did a Travel Channel spot one time and mentioned visiting Boston and I think he gave lectures during the filming of the Singapore episode...

[mbasnack]

Tickets are $39.50, $49.50 and $75.00 ($75.00 VIP ticket includes a meet and greet with Anthony after the show).

Tickets may be purchased in person at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium box office located at 50 East Merrimack Street in Lowell, by calling the box office at [phone] or online at www.lowellauditorium.com. Anthony will speak for 60 minutes followed by a 15 minute question and answer session.

http://blogs.eagletribune.com/pop/200...

[Eatin in Woostah]

The Q&A went for an hour and 15.

[tdaaa]

I'm interested... how was the talk and Q&A?

[Eatin in Woostah]

I don't know how objective I'll be, because he is secretly my TV chef boyfriend, you know. But the talk was very fun. Exactly what you'd expect - some Food Network chef bashing, lots of talk about being a good guest when in other countries, and some great advice on how to find great food. Two pieces of advice really stand out:
1. If you're in a foreign country and there are more than two people who look like you in the place, leave immediately.
2. If you want to get good local advice, go to Chowhound and post that you were just in "x" town and went to THE BEST diner/date spot/etc. Immediately, you'll get 30 posts telling you what an idiot you are and where you really should have gone. Then go to those places.

Some Q&A questions were decent, but many were just people swooning and asking for books to be signed and where he was going for drinks after. One person asked him to endorse her new line of dessert hummus. Not kidding.

[PaulB]

Did he say when his line of branded knives will be for sale in the Travel Channel gift shop?

[mbasnack]

I felt bad for the poor guy. He made the mistake of agreeing to sign one book and then got swarmed by folks-- basically forcing him to be the bad guy and say "no" to the 50 following requests.

We ended up being seated in balcony, where speakers were apparently not working...so for first 15 minutes all we heard was mumble-mumble-EXPLATIVE...audience below laughing. Finally, we got up (with about 3 dozen other folks) and marched downstairs demanding new seats.

Was a great evening and cemented my love for Tony-- and he did promise that if No Res gets a 7th Season he'll do an episode in New England/Boston.

[ac106]

Hater

[Splendid Spatula]

I couldnt' decide if this was supposed to be desert hummus, which kind of works, but no, it is really dessert hummus. wow

[tdaaa]

#2 is funny - I recently posted in NY looking for a romantic midtown dinner spot and got lukewarm response... I am going to try this next time.

[hiddenboston]

I've heard great things about Tepthida Khmer.

I'd love to go to this show. I did notice that there are still tix available. Is it true that the show is only a half hour long? I read that somewhere, I think.

[galangatron]

se asian is definitely the way to go

i recommend pho 88 (vietnamese), red rose (cambodian), phien's kitchen (laotian), senmonorom (cambodian), and phnom penh restaurant (cambodian). i used to like new koh kong but they closed and are now heng heng 2

if you do go to tepthida khmer make sure you ask for the dinner menu. the lunch menu is limited and, for some reason, full of thai dishes

[TomH]

I have been doing some searches for the same reason. A couple of places that keep coming up are Pho88 and Tepthida Khmer. Southeast Asian seems to be the way to go!

[momoftwo]

I used to follow a blog called Gourmet gal that covered the merrimack valley with heavy emphasis on Lowell. She has changed to Bistro Broad and covers a much "broader area" if you have a chance you might check out some of that. I would recommend Moonstones in Chelmsford, near the Lowell Line on 110. It is a sister to Cobblestones (lowell) I have been once fro drinks and apps and everything was delicious. they have a website.