Wednesday, June 23, 2010

June 16, 2010 UCLA Royce Hall: An evening with Anthony Bourdain

The man we've all grown to know and love through the evil world of television, Anthony Bourdain is, "All about unicorns and rainbows these days."

*Gasp*

He's a father to a 3 year old daughter and admits to the above statement that,"Being a dad does this to you." Don't I know it.

So what happened to the witty, sarcastic, untamed mother-effer we've watched from such shows as The Travel Channel's No Reservation? From what I gathered not much.

Husby and I attended a speaking engagement at UCLA's Royce Hall "supposedly" for his newest book Medium Raw. While I had hoped that he'd get into more detail about his new book and it's content (I'm nosey), the event turned out to be exactly as I had expected - An overview of all of his books combined into 1 1/2 hours of talk. Good, amusing talk at that. He goes on to share the obvious dislike of certain Food Network "celebs", the ambivalent bag that is Alice Waters, is still very much antagonistic toward the vegetarian/vegan movement, his stint on Top Chef, and asks the audience to really think about where your food comes from and to make a conscious effort in eating quality food i.e. ditching the fast food chains, "The Clown, the King, the Colonel."



Photo courtesy of DailyGluttony


He engages us on what is revered as a perfect meal and have to agree that it's not about the ridiculously overpriced, overhyped 20+ course tasting menu at the newest Michelin star receiving establishment but one with a story to tell. It's a meal where you let life's unexpectancies lead you to fully enjoy the food, the culture, your surroundings and those who you are with, allowing the universe to guide you as you let go and savor the moment.

It's undeniably so he has one of, if not, the greatest job in the world: worldly travel, working closely with his friends, and making some kick ass documented memories along the way.

We ended the evening with Q+A and would like to share those thoughts with you.

What he had for dinner last night:
In-N-Out burger. Can't say enough good things about it.

What does he think of the L.A. food scene and has he had much time learning about it?
Hasn't had enough time to dive into the LA food scene, envies our melting pot of cultures and inexpensive eateries (ie. soup dumplings).

Must see places per request of Mr. Bourdain himself:
San sebastian Spain (already on my to-go list), Bahia Brazil, Hanoi Vietnam.

As a NYer, Laker's or Celtics?
Lakers.


xoxo

3 comments:

QR said...

Awesome, thanks for sharing!!

Anonymous said...

He's coming back to LA, er, Cerritos next year. By then, I should've finally read the darn book but.. is it really worth all that money? Above and beyond watching the TV shows? reading the various interviews, etc? I mean, would I rather eat out for $70 than sit for 1.5 hrs? Don't get me wrong, LOVE the guy and all.

Mrs. Donato said...

Anytime Kwen!

Tony:
I noticed the tickets were already on sale. unbelieveable.
Would I pay to see him again? No. Once is all I need. So for me the $70+ spent on the event was worth it. I look at it as another check mark on my to-do list.

btw, i still haven't even begun to read it. Throw that on my to-do list right?