anthony bourdain: LIVE

when bryan and i learned tony bourdain would be coming to milwaukee, we knew we had to see him. we've been fans since a cook's tour, we watch no reservations, count his les halles cookbook among our favorites (steak frites and pork roast in milk, need i say more?), and of course own kitchen confidential, a cook's tour, and the nasty bits. in our house, he is referred to simply as "tony". (much in the way julia child is simply "julia". shut up, we're totally on a first name basis with our idols cum imagined mentors). this is all to say - we're big fans.

so last night we took ourselves downtown to the riverside theater to see him. i've been to a good number of shows in my time, to see people i consider myself a die hard fan of. but there are very few people who have given me chills and taken my breath away to see walk out on stage (eddie izzard is one; probably the first time i saw ani difranco, and absolutely nick cave). i wasn't expecting it with tony bourdain, but it happened. he is someone i greatly respect for his cooking, for how this travels shape a unique and inspiring world view, and for his writing, the tool with which he inspires.

we had some initial sound problems, but 3 or 4 microphones later, we were well on our way into a good show. he spoke about traveling, about eating, about family. he made fun of rachel ray, the food network, and sandra lee. he is a very entertaining speaker, and it is obvious that he regards his success with no small amount of humility and thankfulness.

he did speak very briefly about organics/sustainable farming. he has said in the past, in writing, that he doesn't care where it comes from or how it was grown - as long as it tastes good, he'll be eating it. and he still believes that to a certain degree. but he did say that in the past few years, he has learned more about the way our food is grown and raised, and that he no longer feels one can responsibly ignore what is happening with the food supply in our country. i got the impression he felt it was less important to eat local/organic, as it is incredulous that our food supply may be making us sick. his point was that he should be able to walk into a grocery store and not be afraid to buy anything. that what we are sold as food should only be food. and that it should be affordable. so i think we have the same end goal, perhaps slightly different paths. though he did freely admit that his daughter eats nothing but organic.

after his talk, he took some questions from the audience, the majority of which were wasted on really lame questions (about 5 girls asked if he would go out drinking with them after the show).

after the show, bryan and i stopped in john hawks pub for some extremely disappointing cocktails. we ducked in there since it was next to the theater, and bryan had previously enjoyed a nice lunch there. it's a rather depressing pub - bright fluorescent lights, no ambiance. bryan had a watered down martini, and i had an overly sweet and altogether terrible bourbon old fashioned. that's what we get for being lame and not knowing any good dive bars downtown.