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| Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.) | 
 enlarge | Author: Anthony Bourdain
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $6.45
You Save: $8.50 (57%)
New (55) Used (37) Collectible (1) from $6.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  576 reviews
Sales Rank: 381
Media: Paperback
Edition: Updated
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0060899220
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5092
EAN: 9780060899226
ASIN: 0060899220
Publication Date: January 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Softcover. Cover is creased. Ships the next business day, with tracking and delivery confirmation sent to your email.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Who doesn't like this guy??? July 31, 2008
When I picked this book out all I knew about Anthony Bordain is what I saw on No Reservations. He seemed like a cool guy and lived his life exactly like I want to live mine. When I was reading this, I felt like it connected even more than I had anticipated. I've worked in the service industry for a long time and know exactly the type of people he described. Anyone in the industry, whether it be front of house or kitchen will be able to relate to and enjoy this book on some level. For people that have never set foot in a restaurant as an employee will still enjoy the stories he tells and his rise from dishwasher to executive chef of a New York restaurant. Those outsiders will learn things they've never wanted to know about their dining experiences. All in all it's one of the best books I've ever read. Obviously, not just cooks will like this book considering it made the best seller list. Tony is the man and in no way do I feel he sold out, he does what he likes to do and learned from his past mistakes. Every person should read this book before the next time they go out to eat.
Tells it Like it Is July 29, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Food service is difficult work. You're on you feet in continual motion for hours. Your brain is constantly assembling, re-assembling and deleting detailed orders. It's HOT in the kitchen. Can you trust some of the people carrying knives? Your days off, or shall we say your hours off, are opposite to any friend or relative outside the business. Evenings, weekends and holidays are spent with your kitchen staff family. Given the working conditions and the low wages, there are lots of personal problems in this kitchen family of yours.
Tony didn't mention the mixed food and grease smell in your hair and fingernails you seem to acquire by quitting time.
The Food Channel makes it look so effortless. The Food Channel makes it look wholesome. As they plate up the food, be it in the studio kitchen, the time pressured Kitchen Stadium or on the road, there's a lot you don't see. You don't see how the food gets there or how the dishes are washed. Who fills those ramiken dishes? You never see the crew behind the successful chefs be they in your local X star restaurant or on TV.
I spent 7 years in the restaurant business and from that experience, Tony is spot on! Not is he just right on the staff, the owners and managers I met/worked with, all outside of NYC, fit within the molds he presents.
The book is not only funny and fun, but also gives good advice to anyone interested in working in food service in any capacity.
Maybe I don't want to go out to dinner tionight! July 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved this book. I am a fan of his show so the words in this book came out sounding a lot like Anthony's voice. Great stories, great restaurant insight. I thought I wanted my son to go to culinary school and be a chef, but now I think I have changed my mind! This book is totally entertaining, especially if you are a foodie.
Kitchen confidential July 22, 2008
Great book lots of good info. I don't go to buffets and now I know I never will. It's just like sitting across from that sexy man and just listening to his stories. It's great.
Tasty Read July 11, 2008
Kitchen Confidential is a series of semi-chronological biographical essays(pre-Food Network) that begins as an expose of the restaurant industry and end as an ode to the characters chef Anthony Bourdain met along the way to his dream job.
Bourdain writes with the voice of a no-nonsense cowboy proud of his exploits - the constant references to drugs, criminal activity, and the bad language may be too much for some. Despite the moral ambivalence, we meet some truly interesting characters (including Bourdain himself) and may learn something about cooking/food generally and the restaurant industry from Kitchen Confidential. Despite the 300 pages, Bourdain's conversational style makes this book a fast read.
Recommended for readers with strong stomachs looking for a rambunctious memoir of a chef and a few laughs.
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