Bourdain, the executive chef at brasserie Les Halles in New York, wrote about his gonzo lifestyle in and out of the restaurant biz in the 2001 best seller "Kitchen Confidential." He also hosted the Food Network series "A Cook's Tour," where he traveled the globe looking for the best in food.
Maria and I caught an 2002 episode of "A Cook's Tour" this weekend, which featured Bourdain traveling to L.A. to promote his book and serve as a guest chef at Campanile. The episode's title? "Los Angeles: My Own Heart of Darkness."
A typical New Yorker harboring some pretty strong L.A. prejudices ("The grass is too green, the palm trees are too high" he says while driving through Beverly Hills), Bourdain goes looking for down and dirty local food joints.
Looking to settle the NY v. LA hot dog debate, he visits Tail O' the Pup first, and comes away mildly impressed ("crunchy," he says of the hot dog's texture). He's embarrassed to admit he enjoys several of Pink's gut-bursting dogs, including the fajita dog, the bacon dog and the "Millennium dog," which comes topped with several items, including guacamole.
"It's overkill of the finest kind," Bourdain says of Pink's monster dogs. "God help it, I like it."
On the flip side, Bourdain comes away disgusted by the Oki-Dog -- a weird burrito-meets-weiner contraption -- that he says it "shattered my newly found faith in California." He adds, "that took me right out of the game."
Meanwhile, Bourdain plans his guest menu at Campanile with executive chef Mark Peel, and frets that they may not have bought enough seafood. Will any of the L.A. crowd go for the beef?
To his surprise, they did: "The yoga crowd likes the meat! My fears were unfounded," he says. "I thought they'd be crying for arugula-encrusted tofu."
At the end of the night, Bourdain and Peel head to Fred 62 for some late night burgers. And Bourdain regains his respect for our fair city.
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