The Greatest Job Ever

   The Greatest Job Ever belongs to Anthony Bourdain – the chain-smoking, foul-mouthed, ear-pierced, recovered addict, former head chef at Les Halles in New York, and then the celebrated author of Kitchen Confidential, which got him the Greatest Job Ever as the writer/protagonist of "A Cook’s Tour" on the Food Network, which became "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel, in which Bourdain roams the globe in search of authentic culinary greatness, almost never in the grand restaurants of big cities, but instead among the street vendors and beach-side shacks and backwoods establishments where real people eat.  And, clearly his favorite, in actual homes.

   The book that made Bourdain famous, Kitchen Confidential, recounts his experiences from his early days as a prep cook at a seafood joint in Provincetown to formal training at the Culinary Institute of America and ultimately to the head job in a series of New York restaurants.  The behind-the-scenes look at the restaurant business is captivating, and one chapter, which gives a play-by-play account of the kitchen in the full battle mode of peak dinner hour, builds more tension than most good chase scenes.  But what really makes the book are Bourdain’s honest, but restrained, revelations about himself.  He is candid about his past drug use, without either glamorizing or particularly regretting it.  He mentions, almost as an aside, that he knows what it feels like to sit on a blanket on the sidewalk in New York, with the snow falling, selling his books and records for drug money.  He tells just enough stories about other people’s quickies in the storeroom to make you think he has had his share of blowjobs from cute hostesses, but never suggests, much less says, whether he has sampled more than the food while on the job. 

   Bourdain also is able to explain why he thrives in the disciplined chaos of the professional kitchen, and why he is good at what he does – both the cooking and the commanding of the “pirate crew” that works for him – but also what ultimately separates the truly great chefs from him.  He is both proud of what he does and comfortable with his own limitations.  Not a bad way to be.

   If you haven’t read it yet, read this book.  It’s funny, raunchy, insightful, and makes you only want to eat really good food, wherever it is, drink lots, have good friends, sleep less, and screw.