Bourdain is Back and He Likes It Medium Raw! Deep End Dining Meets No Reservations! The Circle is Now Complete.

Tony B. n' me!

Bourdain is back. This time Tony's pushing his new, hugely anticipated book Medium Raw, a sort of drive-by journal where nobody on the culinary scene is bulletproof.

Let the eviscerating begin!

Bourdain's pen is as sharp as his Global butcher blade and he has no qualms about using it to slash his targets like Gael Greene (New York based food writer & Top Chef Masters judge), John Mariani (Esquire) and, of course, Alan Richman (GQ) who gets an entire chapter dedicated to him called "Alan Richman is a Douchebag."

You'd think Bourdain's assassin rep would have anyone steer clear of his laser sights, right? Not me!

With the help of Good Food host Evan Kleiman and Good Food producer Harriet Ells, I was introduced to the one and only Anthony Bourdain. I gave him a copy of my book Extreme Cuisine and, thankfully, he accepted. It was like having a private audience with the Pope and getting to kiss his ring.

Our small group enjoyed a nice chat before it was time for Tony to head into the KCRW studio to record a segment first with Evan, then a music segment of his favorite tunes with Liza Richardson and finally an interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation. It was a very busy morning of public radio for Mr. Bourdain and I was very privileged to sit in on part of his remarkable tour.


On Air: Evan Kleiman, host of Good Food & the back of Tony Bourdain's head.

Evan's interview with Tony is a must listen and will be an instant classic. Hopefully they'll run the full interview. Although I know a lot about Tony and his show No Reservations, there were still some tantalizing tidbits that Tony fed us. For example, any episode broadcast in Islamic countries must have its content censored of any pork products. Sometimes these scenes are simply cut out. Other times, when the scene is critical to the show, the porky perpetrator is pixelated. "Like a porno," quipped Evan.

Yes, it was a very good day and, from what I discovered about Tony, straight from the man himself, it is very, very good to be Anthony Bourdain.