[.uk] Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (ISBN 073933235X)

Tells it Like it Is:
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.

Who doesn't like this guy???:
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.

Funny and disturbing at the same time:
Great book - SO TRUE. Every word. Easy read, and well written. Every cook or aspiring cook should read this book.

Chef tales...:
Casserole of narcissism, vulgar references, drugs, sex, and food - keep away from children. On the upside, sprinkled between the swearing and largely uninspiring autobiography are plenty of interesting passages about the profession, and the industry. You have to give credit to Anthony Bourdain for the in-your-face tales of his experiences, though it certainly makes you hope that `Kitchen Confidential' is more of an autobiography rather than an accurate description of the profession.

B+:
In this culinary memoir, Bourdain has a pitch-perfect narrative style that is compelling in its complete and utter honesty and brashness. He doesn't hold back in the least; curses and sexual references spill forth from every sentence. He is full of charisma and expertise in his industry, and pulls back the curtain to show us the backbones of our restaurant business: the dishwashers, cooks, waiters...all of it is laid bare for us to look at. It is his very expertise that makes some of the chapters dry - his wording can get technical and uninteresting. The best parts are when Bourdain speaks so eloquently that we realize that food is more than what we put in our mouths - he has completely turned my personal philosophies and ideas about food upside down. I will never again eat at a restaurant without thinking of all the backstage drama taking place just feet away from my table. He has tempted my palate with ideas of truffles and wines; I want to become more daring because of his writings. A master in the kitchen, and now of the written word.