No Reservations

I just went to see Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert at the Hippodrome in Baltimore last night. It was a great show - about an hour of them talking, responding to questions from the host, a local DJ, then about a half hour of answering audience questions, and another 15 minutes of more rapid-fire questions from the host. Highlights below.

Following the show, I attended the meet and greet with both of them. As one of the 100 or so "VIP's", we received a swank T-shirt and a copy of Bourdain's book, "No Reservations". I had Tony sign that and my copy of "Kitchen Confidential", and I had Eric sign his book, "On the Line". Both were very nice, answering a few questions and taking photos with anyone that wanted them. I asked Eric for recommendations on Buddhist reading; he said anything by the Dalai Lama, but I think he might have been biased, having just cooked lunch for him earlier that day.

After the meet and greet was the "Foodie Experience", with 20+ local restaurants offering food tastings, and Mambo Combo performing. They sold way too many tickets for this part, with maybe 400 people in attendance. Every table had ten or twenty people in line. Highlights below.

Highlights from the Show

• Tony, on butterscotch scallops while judging Top Chef: "This is like belching Mrs. Butterworth's." He wasn't sure why they cut that line from the show.
• Tony, surprised to learn Eric didn't mind vegetarians at Le Bernardin, impersonating one of his customers, spoken in Comic Book Guy's voice: "I am not interested in your fish!"
• Tony, on Food Network buying Travel Channel: "They bought my f$cking network so basically if Guy Fieri needs a bikini wax at 4am, or Paula Deen needs a rubdown...."
• Tony, on Bobby Flay, and why Food Network has him doing less true cooking shows: "A significant part of the population thinks you're a smug prick."
• Tony, on Eric's even temperament: "I've never seen Eric lose his sh$t ever. It's sickening."
• Death row last meals - Eric: Shaved black truffle, garlic, olive oil, on toast; Tony: high-test sushi from Hokkaido, with sea urchin roe.
• The cast of Jersey Shore ate at Le Bernardin once. Tony to Eric: "Snooki's the orange one."
• Tony highly recommends Gabrielle Hamilton's upcoming book, "Blood, Bones, and Butter", due out 8-Mar-2011. He says it puts everything he's ever written to shame.
• On eating "normal" foods, Tony to Eric: "I made you eat Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries once."
• What would be the first thing Tony would say at the Pearly Gates in Heaven: "No Billy Joel"
• Tony, on his wife's biggest complaint about him: "My cooking"
• Favorite curse words - Tony: "F$ck"; Eric: declined to answer

Highlights from the Foodie Experience:

• Bangers and mash from Diamondback Tavern
• Sweet Sin Bakery had gluten-free cupcakes and mushroom soup. Delicious! They said I wouldn't be able to tell their cupcakes were gluten free. They were tasty, but I could tell.
• Cream of crab soup from City Café
• Some kind of a chocolate deal on a tiny ice cream cone from Peter's Inn
• Pork belly from Roy's
• Bread pudding, also duck confit from Ale Mary's
• Soft shell crab from Woodberry Kitchen
• Pasta in a light red sauce from LaScala
• Sea bass, also some kind of custard with strawberries from Portalli's
• Duck confit ravioli from Sascha's

There are a few more pictures here.