Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Seasons 1-5

[Claudia Greco]

And how, by not rebuilding poor and working class black neighborhoods, by making it as hard as possible for people to return, the government is effectively and collusively "whitewashing" NOLA, and eradicating from it the very people at the heart of such a rich and vibrant culture.

this statement is such a hanging curveball that would be so easy to tear apart but this statement is political enough with me adding my two cents.

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Hanging curveballs are hard to hit, but the fact is a lot of the housing projects destroyed in Katrina are NOT being rebuilt - nor is any affordable equivalent being put forward - so, yes - poor and working class black residents of those buildings will be marginalized, and effectively denied the ability to return to their home city. The Lower Ninth is, whether deliberately or just though the usual local/state/government stupidity and lack of forethought, being deracinated. Check back for the Starbucks and the Trump condos in about 2 years.

[jmolinari]

Maybe i'm the only one was didn't think either NO or London were good. In fact, to me they were some of the worst of the series.

What is it with all that garbage stuff they throw in there like the Marcheeba and Vancouver film crap? I think in the London episode there was more about Morcheeba and his readin than about the food.

As for NO, i don't need another show telling me the city isn't back to normal. That isn't what i watch No Reservations for.

Overall both episodes disappointed me. There was little food information in either one compared to other episodes.

[Dieck]

I thought the New Orleans show was excellent ... the best since the episode on the Texas/Mexico border. It's got to be a challenge to find a new way to depict "there was a hurricane ... things are not back to normal, and will never be ... but there are people doing some things that are hopeful."

England/Scotland, on the other hand ... a total snore. What was that bit back and forth to the recording studio? It just didn't hold my interest. But not every episode will appeal to everyone. I still think the guy is brilliant.

[jmolinari]

I guess i just don't care for the political/human interest stories. I get enough of that in real life.

[flowbee]

i'm a big fan of ab's shows (cook's tour, no reservations), and was surprised to see tian tian featured on the singapore episode of no reservations because we specifically hunted it down when we went to singapore a couple years ago. how do you know if a hawker stall is good? follow the lineup:

maybe it was the singapore heat, but we thought that the chicken rice was damn good! i almost cried over that chili sauce!

my wife's of hainanese descent, so she and her family definitely have their own opinions on what makes great chicken rice. tian tian was fantastic. closeup for drooling:

and yes, we did a sort of anthony bourdain tour, cuz we hit banana leaf apollo after seeing it on a cook's tour. fish head curry, of course:

i gotta say, his show is great for foodie tourists. berlin's very high on my list of places to go next.

[Claudia Greco]

i gotta say, his show is great for foodie tourists. berlin's very high on my list of places to go next.

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Sounded like a fine plan, to me!

[Mayhaw Man]

I guess i just don't care for the political/human interest stories. I get enough of that in real life.

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That show pretty accurately depicted, whether the rest of America knows it or cares about it or not, OUR real life. It's hard, at least if you are honest, to paint it any other way.

[Dieck]

No comments on Jamaica yet? I liked it. That bit in the cave practically had me hyperventilating, though. Down in a hot, smelly cave with roaches and excrement and bats? I would have gone absolutely bonkers. I was reading an interview with him during which he talked about how grateful he was to be doing what he's doing (you don't have to look very far to find him saying such a thing). During that episode I was thinking that there was NO WAY I could do his job - the cave would have been my undoing. And I couldn't stomach a lot of the food he consumes, although everything in Jamaica looked pretty good. I'm curious about the meat in the pastry he consumed at the market in the beginning about the show. Anyone know a good recipe?

[FoodMan]

i'm a big fan of ab's shows (cook's tour, no reservations), and was surprised to see tian tian featured on the singapore episode of no reservations because we specifically hunted it down when we went to singapore a couple years ago. how do you know if a hawker stall is good? follow the lineup:

maybe it was the singapore heat, but we thought that the chicken rice was damn good! i almost cried over that chili sauce!

my wife's of hainanese descent, so she and her family definitely have their own opinions on what makes great chicken rice. tian tian was fantastic. closeup for drooling:

and yes, we did a sort of anthony bourdain tour, cuz we hit banana leaf apollo after seeing it on a cook's tour. fish head curry, of course:

i gotta say, his show is great for foodie tourists. berlin's very high on my list of places to go next.

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Man, this is brilliant. Thanks for sharing! Singapore is definitly THE food episode of the series.

[Claudia Greco]

No comments on Jamaica yet? I liked it. That bit in the cave practically had me hyperventilating, though. Down in a hot, smelly cave with roaches and excrement and bats? I would have gone absolutely bonkers. I was reading an interview with him during which he talked about how grateful he was to be doing what he's doing (you don't have to look very far to find him saying such a thing). During that episode I was thinking that there was NO WAY I could do his job - the cave would have been my undoing. And I couldn't stomach a lot of the food he consumes, although everything in Jamaica looked pretty good. I'm curious about the meat in the pastry he consumed at the market in the beginning about the show. Anyone know a good recipe?

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My hubby, whose "second home" is Jamaica, liked the ep - Tony skipped the tourist traps like Mo Bay and, interestingly, focused on the teeming Jamaican music scene and the dynamics of how it works (and why not? Music is such a major aspect of the culture), and the "Danzig Corridor" of the Coronation Market. Not a fruity drink in the whole ep. I also think he showed remarkable forebearance throughout the bat cave ordeal - not only did it physically wipe him out, but there was no video "pay off" at the end. (Diane was lucky he didn't roll her in bat guano for that (!)) (You know those guys had to be hosed off before they could return to civilization!) Cool episode.

[FoodMan]

It's a interesting how an episode can inspire someone to want to visit a certain place or not. This one did not (neither did Germany). I've never had Jamaica on my 'to visit' list and watching this episode is certainly not going to change my mind. I enjoyed it for what it had to offer, but since I am in no way interested in going to Sandals and its ilk where you stay in the resort, Jamiaca is just not for me.

[cathrynapple]

No Reservations has never claimed to be a show exclusively about food. It's about culture. The New Orleans culture has changed drastically and importantly in the past few years.

Anthony makes political statements on every show. What about his statements about the spanish invaders in Peru? Comments about Tibet and monks while in Shang Hai?

We simply don't notice the politics in teh show when we're unfamiliar with it. No Reservations merely encourages viewers to embrace the world's cultural offerings, and politics affects culture. Helll, politics affects food, too. Deal with it.

[Kevin72]

I agree with Foodman; I enjoyed the ep but Jamaica remains on my "No Interest in Visiting" list.

Good God, that cave! Tony's pain is our gain, I guess, but towards the end I just felt sorry for him. How awful. The looks he kept shooting the guides were pure murder.

[Claudia Greco]

Good God, that cave!  Tony's pain is our gain, I guess, but towards the end I just felt sorry for him.  How awful.  The looks he kept shooting the guides were pure murder.

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Hahahaha! Those looks weren't at the guides who were just doing their jobs - they were really all for his producer, Diane, who set up this segment and noodged him into doing it! He looked wiped out at the end. If he had enough strength at that point to be snarky and vindictive, Diane would've caught it - but I guess being ass deep in bat guano was punishment enough (!)

[Ndy]

The cave of hot excrement...classic.

[Claudia Greco]

The cave of hot excrement...classic. 

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InDEED! Tony remarked at one of his book signings in December that, as they were crawling through the cave, it was getting warmer and warmer. "Feel that?," says the guide. "Yeah! What is it?" "The body heat of 20,000 bats!" But I like your line better - much more porn-y!

[handmc]

Did Tony just jump the shark in Romainia?

Bloody awful. No pun intended. If he left FN for wanting to turn him into a backyard bbq and contest guy, why is he letting this dreck to be made. Episodes this season have been either interesting or a complete mess. There doesn't seem much of a middle ground.

I paid for a season pass on Itunes so I would not miss an episode, but I am regretting it. I hope things get better.

[theisenm85]

I'd have to agree for the most part.

That bit in the theme restaurant was beyond horrible.

His "guide's" downing of moonshine+pill seemed downright dangerous/suicidal, or it was fake. Then again, maybe his tolerance for booze/tranquilizers is quite high.

I remember very little about good food. Maybe it wasn't for the most part.... but yeah, very little to hang on to there.

[Susie Q]

Absolutely hated the Romania episode. I think less than ten minutes was actually spent on food. Versus the repeat Sicily episode tonight, that really gave you a sense of the culture and most of all it's food.

I re-watched the England episode and have to change my opinion of it. It wasn't that good. Far too self indulgent.

I watch NR for the hope of seeing different food cultures more than anything. Other shows on the travel channel hit the tourist spots. Last nights Romania show was a waste of an hour.

[kbjesq]

Absolutely hated the Romania episode.  I think less than ten minutes was actually spent on food. Versus the repeat Sicily episode tonight, that really gave you a sense of the culture and most of all it's food.

I re-watched the England episode and have to change my opinion of it. It wasn't that good.  Far too self indulgent.

I watch NR for the hope of seeing different food cultures more than anything. Other shows on the travel channel hit the tourist spots.  Last nights Romania show was a waste of an hour.

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I also was extremely disappointed with the Romania show. If this was the first episode, I doubt that I would have ever watched another one. That theme restaurant was disgusting. And, although I've never been to Romania, I have a hard time believing that it was representative of Romanian food culture.

As for his friend with the bad back, that part of the show would have been better suited for an episode of Intervention.

[Zeemanb]

I thought Romania was a totally pointless show that should never have been aired. After re-watching the Morocco episode of A Cook's Tour last night, my opinion was only reinforced....all "format differences" because he's on The Travel Channel aside, the Romania episode was crap. I like to think Tony was kicking and screaming to keep it off the air, because he HAS to know how bad it was...but who knows.

[nliedel]

The only problem I had with the Jamaica episode was the amount of time spent in the cave. I love Jamaica. I'm about to go back for my fifteenth time. There is something about it that speaks to me. It started as a tourist thing, although never in a gated resort, and is now a much deeper love. I've met the fishing boats in early morning to get the food for the dinner that night. I wish he'd shown that. The local artists, the diversity, the mix of new...the changes in the way the Jamaicans are cooking their foods in my lifetime with the advent of propane stoves in the country.

He did show some of the Rastafarian lifestyle and that it goes much deeper than Ganja, and some of the ital food, but there is so much missing. Actually, a one hour show can't scratch the surface. It almost would have been better if they had called it the, Kingston, Jamaica episode. Since much of the show focused on Kingston. A part of Jamaica most tourists would never get to. A city I love, even though I've been robbed at gunpoint there.

I think I need to start planning a trip.

[nliedel]

Did Tony just jump the shark in Romainia?

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On a speedboat. That show was horrific. I normally watch his stuff with my foodie son (has known he wants to be a chef since he was two. No, I did not push him. Really). I got about halfway through with him and turned it off and I am someone who has no issues with them hearing a bad word, or seeing life as it really is.

[mcohen]

I thought the show jumped the shark with the England episode, with that self-indulgent song of his. Years ago, Bourdain would have unmercilessly mocked somebody else for doing that.

I like to think Tony was kicking and screaming to keep it off the air, because he HAS to know how bad it was...but who knows.

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According to Bourdain's blog, he thought that the Romanian episdode was 'a pretty funny show'. But, he blamed the show on the Romanians and their food, which he called 'primitive'.

[nliedel]

According to Bourdain's blog, he thought that the Romanian episdode was 'a pretty funny show'. But, he blamed the show on the Romanians and their food, which he called 'primitive'.

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If the show stinks, it's not the fault of the people and country who hosted him, imo. Every country has a food culture that's worth representing, as far as I can tell. It just needs to be ferreted out. What about pre-production? Isn't part of their job hunting down food culture and allowing it to be showcased? Seems they might have fallen down on the job.