Oh.
My.
God.

Just watched the show on DVR. With a (big) glass of wine.

All I can say is this: I cannot afford a vacation in Spain. SO...my husband is going to be a V-E-R-Y lucky man tonight.

Elitist, high-end, whatever...all I can say is if you were "turned off" by that show you're not much of a sensualist. Or a human being. I mean, come on...Tony wasn't kidding when he called it pornography. And no, I am not some weird food fetishist. It was just one of the most aesthetically evocative, beautiful pieces of video I've ever seen. Wow.

Wow.

And I thought the TOKYO show was good. Keep at it, ZPZ!

it's interesting reading the comments on this show that there are two distinct types of viewers. the kind that want the samantha brown style travel show, and the kind that want to see real food, that we can eat and fall in love with.

if bourdain wants to become samantha brown, then he should team up with her and visit all the 5 star hotels and michelin heros, with their machines and corn syrup goop that looks like fruit....but ain't.

and didn't bourdain make fun of these guys in virtually every other episode? even when he was a guest judge on top chef?

and on the tokyo show, when bourdain was doing the ikebana segment, didn't he talk about "those chefs who try to make food submit"? how wrong they are? i thought he hated those guys. yet in the spain episode. that's exactly what these guys are.

quite a turnaround.

i really don't understand all these criticism that bourdain sampled some Michelin star restaurants-- didn't you hear what he said at t he start of the show?-- these Spanish chefs are the ones presently the ones revolutionising the food industry?! the very ones who are at t he cutting edge of things? the ones other chefs are talking about?!

so? with t his in mind?-- TONY BOURDAIN GOT THE ENTREE' OTHER SHOWS DREAM ABOUT?! (mention one food net show that got in) & some of you talk about street food?! since when did he ever said-- that's all he'll cover,anyway?!

If I remeMber correctly from the start of his series---- he stated he's on A quest for the perfect meal! SO HE DID! for this one- IN A MICHELIN STARS RESTAURANT-- nothing wrong with that! ( I just wished I was a tag-along)

Now, I hope he covers ALAIN DUCASSE! I want to know what the deal is about him.

ps: it's not the first t ime he covered top michelin star chefs.. why make a deal over spain?! why now?!

quote:

Originally posted by jhemdani:
It was a Peron. you can buy one at latienda.com

Peron was the president of Argentina, married to the famous Evita. The carafe is a PORRON (accent on the last o).

quote:

Originally posted by mary hutchison:
Bourdain is a gifted writer..chuckled quite often at his descriptions during this show..but the camera crew and the film editors..I notice their expertise just as much. Some of the shots, the angles, the editing, the music, the structure..they dazzle me, every show there is something that I so admire, it's an art..the hours they must spend putting it all together. And them I figured out that the bumper for the Spain show is a shot of the chocolate egg just starting to melt, filmed from the bottom...BRILLIANT!

Glad you liked the show, Mary. And thanks for noticing the "melting chocolate egg interior" disclaimer. I thought our graphics guru, Adam did some great work on it. Stay tuned,more good stuff to come.

I agree with many of the viewer's posts. The Spain show was not that good and it seems it lost focus of the orignial idea behind the show in which real people/food was shown. You need to get back on tract Tony and crew. There was far less food showed and more on the upscale dining establishment. We all cant afford 55 Euro chocolate eggs, etc. give us a break or the funky looking desserts and food that was shown. Give us the real food and real cooks from the small places and stalls that you have done on most of your shows. I must say this was the worst episode in your four year showing. Please don't do this again. Other than that keep up the otherwise good shows like before.

quote:

Originally posted by fmzulim:
I agree with many of the viewer's posts. The Spain show was not that good and it seems it lost focus of the orignial idea behind the show in which real people/food was shown. You need to get back on tract Tony and crew. There was far less food showed and more on the upscale dining establishment. We all cant afford 55 Euro chocolate eggs, etc. give us a break or the funky looking desserts and food that was shown. Give us the real food and real cooks from the small places and stalls that you have done on most of your shows. I must say this was the worst episode in your four year showing. Please don't do this again. Other than that keep up the otherwise good shows like before.

DON'T DO THIS AGAIN?!
now, where were you when he went To visit & ate the food of GORDON RAMSAY? DINING AT THE FRENCH LAUNDRY? TOJO'S IN VANCOUVER? EL BULLI( WH HE JUST REVISITED IN THIS PRESENT EPISODE) even nin Vegas he was dining at keller's restaurant! dining with t he enigmatic Mr Sang at a private island, being a special invite & being cooked for by a honrst to goodness Maharajah?!

why didn't you complain then?! besides, which-- who the hell is anyone to moan & complain at his shows anyway?! that's just it-- he's fun! bec he shows all colours of the spectrum in dining-- NOW, WHO ELSE CAN SUMMON A FRESHLY SLAUGHTERED WHOLE LAMB BEING ROASTED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SAHARA? SURE THEY WERE REAL PEOPLE, REAL FOOD.. CAN YOU DUPICATE IT?!

so some to complain & moan he didn't cover places in spain you can go to-- big whoopee... I suggest watching back episodes of rachael ray( yeah she did spain) & any number of other shows-- Zimmerm for one did a good one.. there are a lot of good places to get paella cooked at the seaside even.

and you don't need tony bourdain to find it.

Let's read Bourdain's OWN WORDS!!!!!

this is from his interview with askmen.com

Q: What is the premise of the new show (No Reservations)?

Bourdain: Mostly casual street food from around the world, no high-end, you know, what I do. What real people eat.....I'll say what I want to say, personal essays, never too far from the street. Markets, farms, cafs,(sic) bistros, but never high-end places.


END QUOTE

"NEVER HIGH-END PLACES"

The simple point we are making here is that Bourdain has CHANGED. This season has been lame, and there is no excusing it. Either you like the change or you don't.

Some of us just don't like it.

i agree. he needs to get back to the real places, no matter where he is. and what's up with a new season only having 4 or 5 shows? we're watching reruns already.

now my words (not that anyone should care)

if you liked the show and had fun, then great.

i'm just upset because Bourdain states in the this show that "Spain" (implying "the country") has the best food in the western world. and after having lived in Spain and France for quite a long time, I swear this is not true. spain's top restaurants may be better than france's top restaurants, and how would i know? i don't have the resources to find out. i can trust Bourdain's expert opinion on this. but the every day food of spain is nowhere near the quality of the every day food of france.

if bourdain does a lame show i dont like, then so what. it's no big deal. the fiestiness that we're encountering on this discussion has to do with his outlandish statement that spain's food is better than france's. this is only true in the miniscule niche of high-end dining. this is not true of the food of spain as a whole. this is where bourdain is wrong, and this is where he insults our intelligence.

spain may have phenomenal high-end restaurants. better than anywhere else in the world. but spain's food, for the most part, is lame.

bourdain doesn't like ducasse. he likes the spaniards better and he's trying to express that, although we're not interested in his chef feuds. so if the show stays like this, then you guys who like it can keep watching and the rest of us will leave.

adios

quote:

Originally posted by yeaheveryone:
now my words (not that anyone should care)

if you liked the show and had fun, then great.

i'm just upset because Bourdain states in the this show that "Spain" (implying "the country") has the best food in the western world. and after having lived in Spain and France for quite a long time, I swear this is not true. spain's top restaurants may be better than france's top restaurants, and how would i know? i don't have the resources to find out. i can trust Bourdain's expert opinion on this. but the every day food of spain is nowhere near the quality of the every day food of france.

if bourdain does a lame show i dont like, then so what. it's no big deal. the fiestiness that we're encountering on this discussion has to do with his outlandish statement that spain's food is better than france's. this is only true in the miniscule niche of high-end dining. this is not true of the food of spain as a whole. this is where bourdain is wrong, and this is where he insults our intelligence.

spain may have phenomenal high-end restaurants. better than anywhere else in the world. but spain's food, for the most part, is lame.

bourdain doesn't like ducasse. he likes the spaniards better and he's trying to express that, although we're not interested in his chef feuds. so if the show stays like this, then you guys who like it can keep watching and the rest of us will leave.

adios

now, you make sense to me-- not like your initial arguments.

I actually prefer French food & I'm hugely part Spanish & grew up with it's food.In fact Spain has been off the foodie radar until recent years--why all these enthusiam over it, but hey-- why not?! So what's his name is revolusinising the foodie industry- so be it. There's always going to be THE CHEF WHO'LL DO IT LIKE PAUL BOCUSE DID WITH HIS nouvelle cuisine & fusion , now everyone is doing it.

ps: again we're back to the Romans who brought their influences to
Spain( & Gaul, they were the ones who planted those original grapes vines) as well as the Moors.Catherine de Medici brought her cooks to France when she became Queen & started off the French with theirs.

so why not have an iron chef contest between el bulli & ducasse'??!!!

that'll make quite a show!

alix-zed, i hope you're right. it would be great if spain takes off and there is a new food culture throughout the country. it would give me good reason to go back and visit. but my biggest complaint living there was that the spanish people had an overall bland palette. maybe my palette is overly complicated. who knows who's right. but i still see this revolution existing only in the high end restaurants and not in the homes of the people. and my prediction is that this spain thing is a fad that will pass in a few years. people got so obssessed with southeast asia a few years back, and now they want a new place to be fascinated by.

i love the food of southeast asia, yet you don't hear people talk about it as much anymore because it's not "new" anymore.

so we'll see. but i'm not too excited. not yet.

spain is now a huge deal in US-- some yrs ago I had to order stuff from a catalogue just to get some ingredients & cooking vessels like those cazuelas, now, you can pretty much find it anywhere. interesting thing is, here too un no america what most people think as Spanish food are the Americas influenced by spain( if this make sense) when the fact is-- it's already been 'fusioned' by the native's culture like mexican food as example.

oh forget El Bulli-- that's a whole different class.. but in theis episode I found the Basque region more interesting & real..if that father & daughter are indeed doing 'new' things- they're more liable to infuence Spanish cooking in the long haul. the 'tapas' bar? they took the big T looked very scrumptious to me.. that's the way to go..that's my kind of food!

hmm.. I just got back from a very spicy Korean lunch around the corner from me.. brother talk about spicy, now i'll have a mochi.

quote:

Originally posted by goldeglo:

quote:

Originally posted by jhemdani:
It was a Peron. you can buy one at latienda.com

Peron was the president of Argentina, married to the famous Evita. The carafe is a PORRON (accent on the last o).

have you ever heard of writing something phonetically? g***p***as. couldn't hear exactly what he said on the show so took a chance with the spelling. so sorry for mispelling ....you are so gracious to correct me. thank you so much. a.......

So...on the high-end/low-end thing, thanks for staying just this side of civil, folks. It's actually been sort of an interesting discussion instead of an all-out mud-slinging brawl.

I didn't know AB had said that about the show (the askmen.com thing). I'm always a little creeped out but just how very much people here seem to know about him (I only wish people researched presidential candidates as assiduously) - but sometimes the info is interesting and has bearing on the discussion - as in this case.

Still, I'm gonna' be one of those yellow-dog fans who defends him and ZPZ. The Southwest show caught crap for being too trashy and low-end/touristy/common, and Spain catches crap for being too high-end. I think it's nice to see a range. Plus the Spain show was just so beautiful, it's hard to find fault. We don't get to eat the food on NR anyway, right? So we can indulge vicariously just the same whether it's high-end or low-end.

Plus - if you're actually in San Sebastian, there's always the possibility of crashing in a hostel for a night or two just so you can afford a night at a place like El Bulli - some experiences are once-in-a-lifetime and worth doing even if they cost a lot. I appreciate knowing what those things are and making my own choices from a large menu of possibilities.

I do hope AB hasn't gotten so used to being wealthy that he leaves street food in the dust entirely. But being moderately successful and "of a certain age" (not to mention withstanding the wear-and-tear of parenthood) myself, I can understand how your comfort zone sort of drifts higher as you can afford it. I appreciate having the perspective of someone who's a (snarky) expert telling me what's hype and what's truly great up there in the astronomically-expensive food scene. That way when (if) I can afford it, I can maybe separate the wheat from the chaff. It also gives me adventurous ideas for my own cooking (not that I'd even attempt that stuff, but still...it inspires).

I'd much rather see AB go to (and speak about) places he's genuinely interested in than stick to some pre-ordained formula for the show.

As to whether Spain's food or France's food is better overall, I sort of think that's a ridiculous question. I don't think you can compare the cuisine of an entire country/culture to another one and come up with a winner. You can reasonably say that the food scene is especially vital and exciting in one region or another, but who's overall better? Nah. Too much depends on individual taste, budget, and which small sample of the ever-changing gazillion restaurants in each place you've visited. It's like the Batman/Superman thing...too many variables, too many deeply ingrained loyalties on the opposing sides.

But thanks for the discussion!

good post,kate.

now, if you love looking at great food(like me-- don't care if i can afford it or not!....)

have you seen the french films-- LE GRAND BOUFFE?! & more recent one-- VATEL?! (based on a true story,too)

another is--if one can still find it on a rental-- THE RISE OF LOUIS IV-- by ROBERTO ROSSELLINI... talk about a feast & this word is so tame.and it only showed one of his meals. one of most authentic films ever made on this subject.RR got it right.

ps: i think it'll be safe to say that most if not all meals eaten by the Big T on NR (except the street hawkers) ARE FREE!
goodness! we all should have such priveledge!