Claudia Greco

What amused me the most is AB getting such a buzz about being invited to a maharaja's palace - and having the prince cook for him. (Okay, so his chefs did the prep work and brought it out to him, but still . . .) Loved the suit, too. AB is still struggling with his unstarched-untabbed-collar-and-not-fully-knotted-tie issues, though - but since he can usually wear the hell out of anything else (his jackets deserve particular mention, as do most of his Ts), I have to give him a lot of style points. (Suits, for him, are like skirts for me. Sheer, unadulterated hell. I understand!) There is a picture of him on Google images in a tux, giving out the media ward at a James Beard dinner a few years ago. So if you liked the suit, you'll really dig the tux.As for the vegetarian food, I think AB made the same point about vegetarian food in Thailand - it's so good, intense and complex, you don't miss the meat. Hope the Hindu astrologer/holy man is dead wrong about AB's future private life, though - I felt for AB. I really did (!!)

Spooken like a true New Yorker, Jason!

No, cracker is not a racist term, although I didn't use it to be flattering. It was used exactly in its correct sense - yokel. And, yes, I do have white Southerners in my family - none of whom are yokels. Thought it might be a little more restrained than "ignorant, bigoted a______s" or "#$@2#%%&*!!!" (And, yes, we have a few of those up here, too - but the New York terminology for those folks is fairly unprintable in a civilized, netiquette-driven forum like eGullet.)

That petition is a typical, knee-jerk, flag-waving, low-rent xenophobic cracker response to something that was not only a man's right to free speech, but what turned out to be a thoughtful and sensitive piece on the divisions not between not just two countries or skin colors, but economies. I, for one, am taking a very perverse pride and enjoyment in the fact that Tony has now not just merely put some people off, but has profoundly inflamed them. He has said important here, and no one can accuse him of being standard-issue snarky, edgy or gonzo; it just proves he's doing something really right - and more profound that just a food/travel show (which is reason enough to celebrate, don't get me wrong.) The very strength of our Constitution lies in the freedom we enjoy to criticize that very government, to disagree with it, to debate - and, occasionally, to challenge it. Criticism in and of itself doesn't undermine a government, and only a person of narrow mind, stubborn ideology and rigid, self-righteous belief would regard people like chef Bourdain or Hunter S. Thompson - or any of the other great gonzos in the world - as a threat that has to be taken out. It is his very hyperbole that makes him so watchable and readable, and anyone who think they might have their tender little sensibilities ruffled watching NR should just stick to Martha Stewart and BassMasters. To quote Tom Wolfe (The Right Stuff) - "pudknockers."

They've been airing them at 4 am for a while - I think I have all but three of them on tape. (Stuffed Like A Pig got cut off with about a minute to go, so I missed Tony's nightmarish battle with the three day-old tete de veau [veal head]).

as in angry angry email?? ← Nope, more like angry if not down right racist, comments over at the Travel Channel forums. Well, I don't know if he's getting email but I've seen some of the posting on the forums over there and that was more than enough for me. But that place has been a haven for trolls - no matter which show board on the Travel/TLC/Discovery channels forums you read. ← Yes, I had to stop reading the Travel Channel forums because some of what I read was . . . mutant-generated, for want of a better word. I felt a lot less shell-shocked among the more erudite and open-minded eGullet foodies -- even the wonderfully raucous and king-hell crazy ones! ("and, dah-lings, joo know who you are!")

I was very moved by the Border episode - and you're right, the timing was perfect. To show the problem of Alfredo as a HUMAN dilemma, not a political issue or an abstract concept, was heart-rending. You, an American, can go back and forth at will, and Alfredo can't even see his mom to visit?I know the your "carnales" have always been an important issue for you, Tony, but your work is truly evolving - although you addressed the issue in your Puebla/Oaxaca episodes of A Cook's Tour, it was fom a cooking standpoint. The Border episode really had a deeper dimension to it, and I think it was certainly as deep as the Malaysia "journeyman" episode. I had thought that, while Vietnam changed everything for you - and changed YOU - to date, Malaysia was your best work. But I have to revise that opinion -- this was really meaningful. One thing, though -- no one in their right mind would expect you to give up cigarettes, but you riding without a helmet is the most frightening thing you've ever done. I hope it was just for the Easy Rider close-ups?

Oh, Lord! Don't get him started! If it is something he can chew and swallow, he will want to give it a try, ha! ← Fortunately, I believe they've given up cannibalism in Papua New Guinea - a lot more people are Christians, and even the more remote tribes have had enough expose to Christianity and . . . ummm . . . polite discouragement from the government to refrain from eating human flesh. Although . . . . Tony drinking that fermented Peruvian yuca drink from the skull of a dead vegetarian MIGHT hold some appeal. Maybe if they offered it to him with a little paper umbrella? A little cross-cultural fusion thing? (!!) If he goes, I think Tony can look forward to a lot of yam and a primate entree related to lemurs - "cuscus" (yes, sounds like couscous"), I believe it is?

All the more reason to avoid the girly drinks, then - especially the bucket-sized one you downed in Las Vegas (!)

I loved the Sicily show! Just goes to show you that it is not just your prejudice, likes and dislikes that come to play when the show is aired. Ours too. I love everything Italian and am particualry fond of Sicily and it's Arab influences. So, maybe things did go wrong there, but I watched this show when it ran and when it re-ran and it is one of my favorites...close second is probably Montreal although China was fantastic too... ← Food Man, I'm with you on the Sicily episode. Although I personally would have liked to have seen more reindeer and Sami from the Sweden episode, it's obvious that Tony & Crew were all on the edge of hypothermia - and who knows? Maybe the reindeer weren't cooperating. Not everyone has a way with ungulates. I thought Sicily was a riot - the Fellini subtexting and black & white snips cracked me up. Even the fact that Tony went AWOL on Pantelleria and shook the anziani (old men) down for their bocci ball money was pretty funny. Sometimes his best moments ARE when he's truly had enough. And Iceland, too - where a lot of other things went wrong - turned out to be pretty funny, too. OK, so the arctic char segment never saw the light of (the regular programming) day - but the blizzard spent in the cave? The mud tub at the spa? (Tony, not so innocently: "What's a glute?!") It's the everyman quality, trapped by the horror of occasionally being backed into doing a TV-like thing and coupled with a situation that, production-wise, has just gone south, that makes NR so watchable. That, and watching Tony change over the years, as every country teaches himself different about it - and himself.

Do it! I have a tape of Tony, along with Michael Ruhlman and Courtney Febbroriello, from a panel at the '04 IACP International Conference. He's extemporaneously funny , and most likely just as interesting under any circumstances. SB (wonders how "sharp" difers from "edgy"?) ← Ingrid, Tony actually does a fair amount of corporate stuff - he's speaking in Boston to a bunch of suits about "leadership" in August - looking at what I have seen of his embryonic speaking schedule (roycecarlton.com), he speaks at a lot of other things outside of SOBE (South Beach Food & Wine Festival), the Starchefs gig in September, and the Bermuda food fest in October. If you can persuade the pencil pushers in your firm to book him, DO IT! A lot of best things are either pretty expensive or only open to the industry. Good luck!

You DIDN'T get to shoot Chris?!! After all that shooting safety you had to undergo in Scotland, bagging the bunnies? You wuz robbed, Nino. Considering Chris has got you on a horsey - yet again - in the PR promos (and no doubt fishing for something . . . somewhere . . . Oh, God, the ennui . . . the hopeless . . . the despair . . . it seems a little buskshot, at least, would have been in order.

That's an interesting observation. I never would have thought about it until you brought it to my attention, but Tony does have a distinctive manner of speech. I wonder if it's natural to him, or developed over the years of dealing with so many non-native English speakers in the restaurant business? SB ←I would pin Tony's accent as private-school, suburban NY/NJ, which would make sense, since he went to private schools and was raised in Leonia, NJ. He CAN do a New York accent when he's goofing and his ability to swear in street Spanish is prodigious, as any native New Yorker could tell you, but it's really his Hunter S. Thompson-like colorfulness and gift of articulation that makes him so watchable and readable. Don't forget, aside from being a Gonzo fan and hardcore movie buff, I believe he majored in English at Vassar before dropping out and enrolling in the CIA (Hyde Park, not Quantico!)

I agree 1000%. I was not loving the frog dish - especially when it was presented with the frog body, plaintive little face looking at you, holding its own guts . . . I started edging off the couch but - TOO LATE! The charred iguana "martini" came out, and it is the ONLY time I've ever had to flee the TV to prevent myself from heaving. And, yes, I grew up in Asia and have met a lot of disturbing food (to an American palate). I think the iguana in a glass might be actually worse than the iguana tamales that nearly did Tony in on A Cook's Tour (Oaxaca episode), but I hope Tony is never asked to test that possibility. The Bizarre Food guy just reports the food - he never really explains it texturally or puts it in a cultural context, like Tony, a professional chef and MUCH better writer/speaker, does. It just comes across as shock/gross-out value. UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH.

Sweet. ← And Tony has another book, Nasty Bits, coming out in May - celebrating the "varietal" bits of meat we don't usually eat (snout, tail, etc.) Man, is Tony really into organ meat - and Fergus Henderson's cooking!Also, for you Tony Live aficionados, he will be speaking in Boston later this year: http://www.asaeannualmeeting.org/home.cfm (He's one of the Thought Leader Speakers, according to the schedule, although I find the $495 registration for non-members for less than an hour of Tony a WEE bit steep.) Neither his Royce Carlton speakers schedule nor any other that I can find seems to have his book-signing schedule yet for Nasty Bits. And, yes, Barnes & Noble IS accepting advance orders for it.

Amen to that. I cracked up not only at his excruciating honesty about what he felt sucked and didn't suck, episode-wise, but at his own moments of excruciating embarassment, misgivings, etc. I always wondered if the "Tony awoken from sleep" bits were staged, but as Chris said, Tony really WAS awakened 15 minutes after he went to bed - because that's when his call time for the "let's go to the gym" segment was scheduled . . . and bad cold or no bad cold (!) Love this "everyman" stuff, and I'm so glad this network lets Tony be Tony. That's why Tonyphiles love him - there's no ambiguity or middle ground with him (!!)

Kev, I'd like to put in a vote for the underappreciated Venice, which always gets a bad rap for being a "tourist town" with "tourist food". Also, May is the feast of the "marriage" of Venice with the sea (40 days after Easter), so there's festa foods you could tie in with that, too. Then there's Abruzzo, Umbria (black summer truffle season) - and maybe it's time to look at Basilicata? Love La Terra Fortunata, by the way - use it more than Lidia's, although I respect her tremendously.

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Man, have YOU been busy, Tony! Are you shooting all of these before you move to Vietnam, or will you be shooting the Asian episodes from your new home base? Myanmar (Burma) could be interesting, too - assuming you could get not only INto the country, but safely out (!!)

Congrtulations and happy frittering! Apple frittering? (!!)

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My family is addicted to my pumpkin-chocolate creme brulee, and don't care WHAT else hits the table. ←

Great site! Thank you, Pontormo and Ghostrider, for your insights!

The lady apples aren't sour at all, but they're a b____ to peel or core. I sauteed a bunch of them, flambeed them with Cognac (you can also use Calvados, Applejack, Amaretto, Frangelico . . . you name it) and served them as a Thanksgiving side. Another year, I incorporated them into a Branola (wheat) bread stuffing.My favorites are the Honey Crisps and the lovely Braeburns, but I'm dying to get my hands on some of heritage ones - the really old apples from England. Has anyone tried the heritage apples and can tell us about them, flavor-wise and usage?

My family is addicted to my pumpkin-chocolate creme brulee, and don't care WHAT else hits the table. Also, I puree the baked sweet potatoes with cream, add a lot of bourbon, and top it with a brown sugar/pecan topping, heavy on the pecans.