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Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown
Season 3 Choice Cuts
Aired October 04, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, HOST: Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. Vodka, I haven't tasted that before. And the third (INAUDIBLE), wear my pants. I will be buying more things. For various wives and prostitutes. They don't show this in the Viagra commercial. I'm going to rub it all over my body. That's how you get pregnant. I can't feel my legs, is that a bad thing? In the words of Donald Rumsfeld, we don't know what we don't know.
We know it's the beginning of the erosion of our society as we know it. I make lots and lots and lots of lots of money. That money will somehow trickle down to you. No way I share my toilet with no man. Move it along. I am a man of simple needs. The idea of running up the steps of disemboweling royals, I could easily manage myself doing that, it would not take much convincing. Now where's my damn toga?
(MUSIC)
BOURDAIN: Can we bring that over here, buddy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to begin with the softball questions.
BOURDAIN: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Dad, it's been two years on the road with PARTS UNKNOWN, how do you feel about the show? Have they experienced change? Is it still fun?
(LAUGHTER)
BOURDAIN: That's a hard question. You know one of the great things about travel is just when you think that I've had enough of this, something really interesting happens. And interesting things happen to me all the time. All the time.
I still feel I have the best job in the world, and it's still fun. More importantly, even, I think, it's still interesting. And it's still challenging. In a good way.
Who wouldn't do this if they could?
On your mark, get set, go. Cheers.
Fun day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fun day.
BOURDAIN: This may surprise you, but I am not an alcoholic. I don't drink at home, ever. There's no beer in my Fridge. If I'm not working, I'm not hanging out in bars, but if I was an alcoholic, well, I'd hang here. I love nature.
ERNEST BORGNINE, ACTOR: I think you know what you're doing in life, man.
BOURDAIN: It's a sizable beverage. Tastes like boner medicine. I'll have six more of these, please.
So I've had a couple of cocktails. Maybe we should totally get like tattooed tomorrow then. Time for bed.
So I woke up in a state of confusion and deep concern after inadvertently making out with Ernest Borgnine last night. I've spiraled into some identity crisis. Inadvertently making out with Ernest Borgnine, I'd like to say, it was very traumatic. I need to go to a strip club and watch a football game, mow the lawn, and barbecue all at the same time.
I'll mow somebody else's lawn, and I don't mean that in a figurative way. I can't talk. It hurts to talk.
People are very concerned and interested in the state of my lower gastrointestinal system. They ask, are you sick all the time? Do you ever get sick? How bad it was?
Another common area of interest or -- I guess, an assumption is that I am somehow helicoptered from location to location or carried aloft on a gilded litter by robot butlers or something. Actually the best parts of the show for me are the spaces between here and there.
I feel it, you know, like looking over that, like that one, I feel it in my knees. Whoa. You know, like if my knees could vomit with terror, they would be. They'd be vomiting with terror right now.
They should have little underwear stops on this road, you know, where you could like get a fresh pair. Every a couple of miles, it's like, oh, that was scary. Squeeze your cheeks tight and close your eyes. The enchantment of India.
The night train to St. Petersburg is one of the great, fun things to do in Russia. Did you put on your jammies? I just want to state for the record, just because you were in the top bunk, that's no indication of any relationship that we may or may not have.
BORGNINE: You and me have to be careful in public, and if we bring up subjects like this, they could do some different --
BOURDAIN: The repercussions.
BORGNINE: You know, tolerance now exists in Russia, that's why when just recently people started to come out in Russia, like lesbians and gays, they were either fired from their jobs or were given, like, hard time to exist.
BOURDAIN: Well, what about Tchaikovsky?
BORGNINE: They try not to acknowledge it by saying he was a great musician so --
BOURDAIN: He was a great musician who liked to have sex with other men?
BORGNINE: That's what people are not meant to learn in school.
BOURDAIN: The roaring of a powerful engine, the screech of rubber, and off we go. Kings of the road in our Citroen deux chevaux, two- horse power classic. No power steering, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kidding.
BOURDAIN: It's like a toy car.
A brief respite by the side of the road, and some passersby are apparently less appreciative of fine automobiles than we are.
All aboard.
This is going to be suboptimal seating. Yes, I don't think this reclines. Thank God they have relaxed attitudes towards prediction drugs. Before you enter the gig, you better self-medicate.
Truth be told, how angry, bitter am I aboard. But as my brightly colored little train heads up in the hills from Kalka, known at the Gateway to the Himalayas, my world view starts to improve.
The unnaturally bright colors of India start to pleasurably saturate my brain. The views in the window ridiculously deep valleys, 100- year-old bridges, it's, well, breathtaking.
Do you ever vomit? Is it that interesting answer? No, it's been like 14 years of this, and you know, twice. It's pretty good average.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOURDAIN: One of the things I'm proudest of about this show is that we are able to move very freely from serious subjects to sort of silly subjects from very personal ones to political ones. Things I want you, if at all possible, to enjoy the way I enjoy them, things I'd like you to see the way I saw them.
So we were supposed to be dining at another restaurant this evening, and when they heard that you would be joining me, we were uninvited. Should I be concerned about having dinner with you?
BORIS NEMTSOV, FMR. DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF RUSSIA: This is a country of corruption. And if you have business, you are in a very unsafe situation. Everybody can press you and destroy your business. That's it. This is a system.
BOURDAIN: Critics of the government, critics of Putin, bad things seem to happen to them.
NEMTSOV: Yes. Unfortunately, existing power represent what I say Russia of 19th century, not of 21st.
BOURDAIN: Sitting here, in the booth, the curtains, the whole ring bell for service thing, it seems lost in time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a long and ugly history but one of the things I love about this place is you can't deny the burden of the past. It gets on your shoulder. It's right there. You know, America chooses to deny its problems, you know, in many ways. Declares itself a post-racial society, that just doesn't fly in Mississippi. You can't claim that.
BOURDAIN: I'm not here on this planet to do the same thing every week, given the opportunity. I had 30 years of doing the same thing, every day, eggs Benedict, eggs Benedict, eggs Benedict. So given the opportunity to tell different stories in different ways and in different styles, I'm going to do that. And the freedom to do that is fantastic privilege that I'm really grateful for.
Very aware of and very grateful for. But what that means is, maybe really liked last week's episode, and this week you will be deeply offended by my half formed point of view the week after that you might agree with me completely. This bus makes many stops, you don't have to enjoy all of them.
Under former President Felipe Calderon, Mexico launched a concerted war on drugs. Extensively against the notorious and seemingly untouchable cartels. Absolutely no one can say with any credibility by the way that Mexico's war, or our trillion-dollar war has had any effect in diminishing the flow of drugs into our country.
One very brave journalist has uncovered exactly how deep the wrought of corruption and dirty money has penetrated into every level of Mexican institutions.
Do you think there was ever a minute when the Calderon war on drugs?
ANABEL HERNANDEZ, AUTHOR: Yes.
BOURDAIN: Was it ever genuine?
HERNANDEZ: No. The war against the cartels was for the folks. Felipe Calderon just followed that instruction, but he didn't really do anything new, he just did it worse. Since the beginning, the plan of the government was protect the Sinaloa cartel, and fight against the enemies of this Sinaloa cartel.
BOURDAIN: Of the seven major Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa cartel is considered the most powerful with the most far-reaching and most pervasive tentacles extending deep into every corner of government, banking, and private industry. Its rivals, the Tijuana Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and Beltran-Levia, La Familia Michoacana, and the particularly murderous Los Zetas. In your work, you've uncovered what had to be some very embarrassing
and incriminating associations and connections between very high elected officials. The presidents and entire administrations, and acts of incredible criminality. How did that change your life?
HERNANDEZ: Well, when I started to make this investigation in 2005, and I really understand that it would be very dangerous. I have to say that it wasn't really a surprise for me what happened after I published my book. What I didn't expect is that the threats came from the federal government.
BOURDAIN: Anabel says that one of her sources warned her that the biggest threat was from within. That one of the most highly placed, most senior law enforcement officials in Mexico had ordered her killed.
HERNANDEZ: Because in my book, I put his name, and also showed some documents that proves that he was involved, he was in the payroll of the Sinaloa cartel.
BOURDAIN: To me the weak link are the bankers. A banker launders money, he'd got a family, he's got a reputation, gives money charity, his neighbors think he's great, his kids think he's wonderful, but he's got something to lose. So I wouldn't be prosecuting drug dealers, I'd be prosecuting bankers.
HERNANDEZ: The name of my book is "Los Senores del Narco." Because "Los Senores del Narco" are not only El Chapo Guzman and the leaders of these cartels, no. "Los Senores del Narco" are also thieves. The politicians and bankers and the businessmen. The people have to know who are these people name by name.
BOURDAIN: You've been a journalist for how long?
HERNANDEZ: Twenty, 20 years.
BOURDAIN: Twenty years. Your father was killed, kidnapped and killed in 2000?
HERNANDEZ: My father was a businessman. In that year, many gangs used to kidnap the businessman just for money. So when we went to the police and asked them to investigate, they said well, if you pay us, we will make the investigation. So as family we decided, don't pay because you cannot buy the justice. Since that, I really tried to fight against corruption. That's why I'm doing what I do because I think that corruption is the worst problem in Mexico.
The drug cartels are maybe the worst face of the problem, but the problem in the deep is the corruption. The corruption is the mother of all our problems in Mexico.
BOURDAIN: It should be pointed out, so 88 journalists, how many journalists have been killed in this country?
HERNANDEZ: Ninety. Ninety now.
BOURDAIN: Ninety journalists now have been killed or disappeared over the last few years.
HERNANDEZ: Yes.
BOURDAIN: You could kill a journalist and get away with it? Why are you still here?
HERNANDEZ: I have lost many things in my life, my father was the most important person in my life. I already lost everything. I don't have a life anymore. I don't have a social life. I don't have a sentimental life, I don't have anything. I just have my work and my family. And my work of journalist is everything for me. I really believe that good journalists can change the world.
I have received many offers to go outside to France, to Sweden, and other countries. I don't to want leave. It's my choice. My choice is fight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll eat roughly 400 meals during the course of a season of production. Do you have a top five list?
BOURDAIN: I eat a lot of meals off and on camera. Many of those meals are good, many are really bad. A few are epic. Truly epic. But they do come along probably with more regularity in my life than yours. And I will gloat about that on Instagram whenever possible, by the way.
When you have a dish this legendary, this iconic, there's no escape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The moment you put the fish in the pan, the moment you put the sauce, it's very important. To you in the dining room, you think it's one minute, one minute is the time when it's perfect.
BOURDAIN: Perfect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delicious.
BOURDAIN: It's really one of the great ideas of the 20th century.
Look at that. Awesome. It's just like a dream sandwich.
When you go for here are smokes, smoked sausage sandwiches, and these magnificent beauties, pig ear sandwiches called ears.
So everything, you know, we love about pig, the texture, what makes it fatty, lean. That's good. Man. That is just hard to beat.
See Tony eat vegetables. And I like it. Chickpeas. I'll take that. Yes, right here, my good man. That's good sod.
If this was what vegetarianism meant in most of the places that practice it in the West, I'd be at least half of much as a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about the subject.
So what did you order? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grilled pigtail, some side northern Thai pork
sausage.
BOURDAIN: Yes. I'm on that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some pig's brain.
BOURDAIN: Yes. I'm not a big brain fan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then we ordered raw blood soup. Here it is.
BOURDAIN: You're not kidding. That's like a heartbeat. That's really delicious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's see if we can change your mind about brains.
BOURDAIN: Delicious. I'm not lying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly?
BOURDAIN: Yes. We'll have (INAUDIBLE).
And if you look at the (INAUDIBLE), the meal with (INAUDIBLE), I am on the verge of tears. I am utterly intimidated. I am paralyzed with fan-boitis. There is real hero worship going on there which is absolute unapologetic hero worship. He's a titan, I mean, a true living giant, an institution, a hero.
If you could please say how honored and grateful I am to be here. This is a dream come true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to take you away.
BOURDAIN: He is and was a part of the system. He came up with his own cruel and terrifying masters, and their faces are here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was the gang up there. The '60s in New York.
BOURDAIN: Every great chef I've ever met has nightmares of they're still a young man, they're back in a kitchen, and a chef is yelling at them. Who of these masters?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The woman.
BOURDAIN: Really?
Truffle soup. I can't tell you how many hours I stared at photos of this dish, how pathetically I tried to replicate it, never, ever, did I think I'd get to try it. Much less, like this. Sea bass with a tomato sauce baked in a meticulously crafted crust.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a great moment.
BOURDAIN: The fish is filled with a delicate lobster (INAUDIBLE), and tarragon, then wrapped carefully in pastry. Notice please the careful and expert table side carving and service. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has been making the same thing for 50 years.
Paul has an amazing respect for classic.
BOURDAIN: The peasant classic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tony, get closer.
BOURDAIN (on camera): You are totally sending me every one of those pictures, by the way. Wow. Look at that. This style of dish goes back long before cameras but it's perfect. Is there a more perfect assortment of colors and textures?
(voice-over): And this one is a somewhat more luxurious version. Beef shanks, flank steak, oxtail, veal shanks, chicken, marrow bones, beef ribs, leeks, carrots, turnips, fennel and parsnips, all stewed long and at low temperature, then served with its own deeply rich broth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Think it's enough for the two of us?
BOURDAIN: And then, this. As if the chef had been listening to my deepest, darkest secret yearnings (SPEAKING FRENCH), an almost completely disappeared, incredibly difficult preparation of wild hare. The animal is first slowly cooked, then coated by a sauce of its own minced heart, liver and lungs that has been thickened with its own blood.
After more than six hours of preparation, the hare is served as the chef prefers, whole on the bone, the rich glorious sauce finished with truffles and chartreuse, napped (ph) over and over in coats, like richest chocolate. Absolutely the lost ark of the covenant.
(on camera): Everything great about cooking is encapsulated in this dish.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We continue all over the world to make cuisine of Paul for many generation to come.
BOURDAIN: Forever. I will never eat like this again in my life. Chef, Merci. The meal of my life.
(voice-over): Today, I was treated to the greatest hits of a glorious and fabled career. For the first and probably the last time, I sat next to the great man himself, and Daniel and I were served a menu that chefs will look back on in a hundred years and smile at appreciably, sentimentally, respectfully.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOURDAIN: I've been really fortunate in that over -- over the years, I've gotten to know a lot of very interesting people. People very like me and people very, very different than me. People with similar experiences, people with very different experiences. Exactly the sort of people who are enormously helpful in introducing me to new cultures and new places. Michael Ruhlman is one of those. I mean, Michael is probably as
different from me as anyone could be. I think he's a little more buttoned up, he's more sensible, he's all of those things I don't like, but I like him. And he knows a lot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BOURDAIN (voice-over): There are places in Vegas where the available rooms are not listed on any websites, places reserved for the whales, the high rollers, the $10 million-a-night gamblers who arrive by private plane.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BOURDAIN: Bobby Flay probably lives like this all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I honestly never thought it would have come to this.
BOURDAIN: Well, I was dunking fries 14 years ago, so...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have made some steps up.
BOURDAIN: You make me feel better about all of this luxury looking back at that.
To victory, Ruhlman. Victory in our time.
The Hadrian (ph) Villa at Caesar's Palace. How did I get it? I told the casino that Wolf Blitzer was coming, that he was expected any minute. I suggested that Wolf might be hungry and they sent up Guy Savoy. Fortunately he doesn't watch a lot of television and I plan to live large until they figure out that Wolf ain't coming. I'll deal with the fallout later. But for now, we live.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So gentlemen, this dish is called a collage of caviar, everything is in layers. In the bottom of the glass you will find caviar vinaigrette, topped with a cream of caviar, then topped with a puree of French green beans with caviar. Then a Grenaille of golden Szechuan (ph) caviar and which are finishing the dish with a caviar sabayon (ph).
BOURDAIN: Ahh, beautiful. Look at that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's rare that I say it's too beautiful to eat.
BOURDAIN: I was just thinking that.
Oh, speaking of fantastically luxurious --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So messieurs, this is a specialty of Mr. Savoy, the (INAUDIBLE) with fresh black truffles and shavings of aged Parmesan cheese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man. That's truffle.
BOURDAIN: Mmm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So messieurs, this is a combination of pheasant, white rabbit, duck, seared foie gras, cabbage and white mushrooms. Please enjoy.
BOURDAIN: Wow, look at this. That is beautiful.
You feel guilty eating this well?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do.
BOURDAIN: You do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do.
BOURDAIN: Do you feel enlightened and inspired by this meal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you asking? What are you getting at here? You're trying to get at something.
BOURDAIN: Trying to make myself feel better. I'm trying to prove that I'm down with the people, man. I'm still cool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guilt keeps coming back. You keep bringing up the guilt.
BOURDAIN: You're right. I feel guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing here if you feel so guilty about it?
BOURDAIN: I don't. I don't. I feel guilty about not feeling guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's more to the point. Now you're being honest with yourself.
BOURDAIN: Right.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOURDAIN: And then of course, there's Zamir. What can I say about Zamir? There's always alcohol involved, lots of alcohol, way more alcohol than I should drink. He's a complicated man, nobody understands him -- I'm not sure who understands him.
He's not just my comedy sidekick. This is a very accomplished guy who survived and landed on his feet all through Soviet times. You put the two of us together, and let the weirdness begin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOURDAIN: Russia is full of characters with murky pasts and shadowy connections. But one of them I've called a friend for more than a decade.
ZAMIR GOTTA: Tony! wow.
BOURDAIN (on camera): I guess I'm switching to vodka. Zamir.
Now, my concern is back in the day, this place was famous for all of the rooms were bugged.
GOTTA: Not anymore, I'm sorry.
BOURDAIN: Oh, really? I'm really sorry about that.
GOTTA: Times change.
GOTTA: Listen, as a born Moscowite, I'm trying to be a good patron. So I really want you to tell me, frankly, in a week from now, Zamir, now I understand why stereotypes sometimes send a bad message about Russia.
BOURDAIN: I have an open mind. Everything's great. Russians have everything they want.
GOTTA: Listen. Why don't we just taste the vodka.? Welcome to Russia.
I'm trying to be kind of sober. United we stand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I prepared the special for you. Russian tapas. Especially good (ph) for drinking with small pancakes like blinis and caviar. Lots of cucumber with honey. This is Baltic sprouts. Smoky (INAUDIBLE) with beet root, and this one is (INAUDIBLE), this is a white fish frozen with smolten (ph) salt and a little bit pepper and you can eat your own.
BOURDAIN: Thank you, sir. I'm hitting the caviar and the blini. Oy- yoy-yoy.
GOTTA: Maybe some more vodka.
What do you think? What is the perception of Mr. Putin these days, after 14 years he's in power?
BOURDAIN: My perception? You really want to hear it?
GOTTA: I'm not sure, but let's see.
BOURDAIN: Short -- I think that's very important, short. He likes to take his shirt off a lot.
GOTTA: Let's be serious.
BOURDAIN: He strikes me as a businessman.
GOTTA: He is.
BOURDAIN: A businessman with an ego. OK. So he's like Donald Trump but shorter. GOTTA: I think my friend needs some kind of booze. To you, comrade.
Like this, you know.
BOURDAIN: You can have that one. I'll get the other two.
GOTTA: I'm serious about your one week stay in Russia. I want you to enjoy every minute of it. I hope you'll get something new, positive, to learn and share around the world. That's my mission.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOURDAIN: I don't even understand why -- what's going on. I mean, everybody dances and sings. I don't get it.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOURDAIN: Oh yes. Wow. I like music. Music is an important -- very important part of the show. It's a very important part of the preproduction of the show as we're figuring out what we're going to do. I'll spend a lot of time talking about the soundtrack.
Plus, I really and truly believe that whenever possible, less me, more be. The less I have to be on camera jabbering witlessly to the lens, the better.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BOURDAIN (voice-over): Come, ye lords and princelings of douchedom (ph), here my clarion call. Anointed thyself with gel and heavenly body spray. Maketh the sign of the devil horns with thine hands. Let there be high-fiving and the hugging of many bros, for this is the kingdom and the power. Now frolic and maketh it to rain.
What's rock and roll supposed to be about other than cars and girls and aggression? About dissent, about rebellion, right? In Russia, where everything is supposed to be just fine, that could be a dangerous position.
Uh-oh. And then there will be yes, singing. And no doubt the telling of lusty jokes, followed by serious official business.
(SINGING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOURDAIN: Karaoke scene in the Thailand episode. We're referencing a very obscure film called "City of Ghosts" that just had a very effective scene in it with a sort of debotched looking American guy, singing in, I forget whether it was Chimer or Thai, we wanted to do that. We can, so we did.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MAN SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BOURDAIN: This guy's good.
(voice-over): That could be me some day, I'm thinking. Things go just a little wrong, I go off the rails, this would be all too attractive. I could well see myself singing happy birthday in German to tourists at a hotel bar in Jakarta or Bangkok.
(RAPPING)
BOURDAIN: (INAUDIBLE) Infamous is a proud son and resident of Mississippi. A youth mentor in Jackson's church and public school systems. Owner of a marketing agency and hip hop artist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any movement in the world has not had a soundtrack, right? Regardless of what it is. And so that's our job.
(RAPPING)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOURDAIN: This coming season is going to be a mix of very -- a couple of very personal shows, like really personal shows. Other ones are going to be probably very controversial and timely. This season, like, every other season, it's how do we do something different than the week before? Let's do that. Whatever it was last week, let's just do the opposite of that. Let's always push forward, let's always challenge ourselves. Let's always do the hard thing, even the stupid thing, as long as it's a different thing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOURDAIN: Shanghai. Whatever you think of China, whatever you think you think of China, there's no way around it: it's one of the most dynamic, exciting, fast changing places on earth. I'd like to know a lot about China. I'd like to know everything about China. If I've learned anything, it's just that there's not enough time to even been reasonably conversational on the subject.
See, I've learned something important here.
It's just too big, too old, too deep, when you're confronted with this impossibly steep learning curve, that's fun.
Oh, and the food. Did I mention the food? What do I know about Chinese food, really? I know nothing. Other than it's really, really tasty. Delicious. And I want more of it. Lots more. This the Bronx; you've probably heard about it. You may even have a
pretty solid image in your head of what it looks like, what it is like, or maybe you can't picture it at all. Certainly the South Bronx sounds familiar -- as a dangerous place.
For the most part, the Bronx is overlooked, the never visited borough in New York City. Which is a shame because the Bronx is a magical place with its own energy, its own food, vibe, and rhythm. You've been to Brooklyn, maybe it's time you took a look at the Bronx.
I got to lay off this pork, it's insane.
When we talk about Africa, we sadly tend to think of it as a country. Africa is not a country, Africa is a continent, an incredibly diverse and complicated one. Whatever image we have of Africa tends to be formed by whatever films we've seen.
All of those romantic notions of I want to see magnificent landscapes, incredible animals, and extraordinary vistas and magnificent people, the other and all of its diversity and beauty and strangeness - Tanzania's got that. All that stuff you thought you wanted, the most jaw dropping moments, it's here.
Iran. Finally. I've been trying to get in this country five years now. It's been the big blank spot on my things to do list. Iran, I've seen on TV, you read about it in the papers. It's a much bigger picture. Let's put it this way, it's complicated. And I think it's going to shock the hell out of you.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: At the end of a shooting day, what do you like to do?
BOURDAIN: I like to sleep. My favorite thing to do -- and I don't know if this is tragic or not, sit down with the people who make the show and talk about what we're going to do on the next show. We'll have a few beers, and we'll talk about music, movies we love, and what's the most (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up thing we can do next week.
Trucked up. Did I say trucked up?
