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Medium Raw - Anthony Bourdain

post #1 of 10
7/6/10 at 5:09pm
Thread Starter 

Anybody digging into Bourdain's latest, Medium Raw? Without getting too much into detail about the book, if you are/were a fan of Kitchen Confidential, this is an interesting prologue, if you will, of that work.

 

Apparently, it is gleaning some attention, as it sits at #2 on the NYT Best Sellers.

 

Thoughts?

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post #2 of 10
7/6/10 at 5:16pm

 

 

He has a way of putting poetry to this crazy biz  ....I will check it out

 

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post #3 of 10
7/7/10 at 8:40am

i actually read it on my way back hoome from virginia, well half of it. it nice i havent read kitchen confidential but i am a big fan of him. its nice i enjoyed reading it and couldnt put it down.

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post #4 of 10
7/8/10 at 5:50am

I'm not a big AB fan at large but I think he is a fantastic author. I did download a sample of the book on the iPad and I enjoyed it so I'm sure I will pick up a copy. 

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post #5 of 10
7/8/10 at 7:18am

I bought it and read it within a couple of days. I really enjoy his writing style, but obviously it will be nothing like Kitchen Confidential. He has been removed from the everyday of restaurants for quite a while now. It's mostly just Tony being Tony, making very frank, snarky observations about restaurants and food amongst other things. I thought the first two chapters weren't that great but found it really picked up after that. The chapter on David Chang is AWESOME.

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post #6 of 10
7/15/10 at 5:47am

 

I decided to read it on my trip to Lake George. The book is much like “Kitchen Confidential” only now he apologizes a lot for being so mad and for offending so many chefs.

Chapter 5 of the book ,” So you Wanna be a Chef “ was pretty raw to say the least for an aspiring chef but in all honesty, when it comes down to it....the truth hurts.

Chapter 8 “Lust” was pretty good , especially when he described some of the delights in “Hanoi” , the pho shop in particular.

Chapter 13 “Heroes and Villains” , was in most parts right on the money. I enjoyed his comments of Grant Achatz who risked it all and who continues to be one of the greatest chefs of all time.

His attack on Alan Richman was quite something , Bourdain was right though, the wonderful people of New Orleans did not deserve Richman's comments.

I also enjoyed his comments about David Chang as well.

Chapter 18 “My Aim is True” speaks of Le Bernadin, which is another good part of the book.

 

I have just one pet peeve about the books he writes.......his use of expletives, I do not find it funny at all.

Him and Gordon Ramsey have a fascination with the “F” word.........sad. 

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post #7 of 10
7/15/10 at 8:10am

I just picked this book up last week. I love Bourdain's style, expletives and all. I work with mostly men, and that's just the way most guys talk. All the kitchens that I have worked in were just like that. Guys being guys. Now my day job is in a hospital, and I have to be careful what I say depending on who is around, but my night job in a kitchen, we can curse like sailors.

 

I haven't read the whole book yet, but I don't like his apologetic style in this one as much as the attitude in KC. In KC he just lays it out as he sees fit. If you don't like it, tough. I guess Bourdain is getting a bit PC in his old age. lol

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post #8 of 10
8/3/10 at 4:28pm
Thread Starter 

Interesting that the comparison keeps coming up between Medium Raw and Kitchen Confidential. I found that Medium is like the grown up brother of his discourse on the culinary underbelly. Sure, there are frank and graphic attitudes, conjecture and blow-hards from Bourdain (it is Bourdain!) but there is a fair balance of a matured injection of what he has learned. His take on what young cooks should know, for instance, is incalculably valuable. And his Pollock-esque portraiture of some of his less favorite fellows on the gastronomic landscape is delectably  bitter. Does he drop the f-bomb? Sure. It wouldn't be the insatiable appeal of Anthony Bourdain if he didn't. I liken Bourdain to those that enjoy, say, Eminem - nobody wants to admit to it, but they both sell their wares, so somebody must enjoy the rhythm. 

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post #9 of 10
8/17/10 at 7:57am

I read a bit of it in the bookstore, I'll wait for the Kindle price to drop a bit before I add it to the toilet rotation, but it's perfect for that.

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post #10 of 10
8/31/10 at 1:48am

I read it not long ago, I am not sure if I prefered Kitchen Confidential or Medium Raw.   I really like the chapter on the fish guy and the one on David Chang .

If I was not in Japan, I would go an eat there to make an idea for myself, but NYC is a bit far from Hiroshima.

 

 

 

 

 

My food blog about Japan

Foodie Topography

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