We are big fans of Anthony Bourdain and believe, No Reservations from the Travel Channel is some of the best television of all time.
In honor of chef and celebrity television personality, Anthony Bourdain will be receiving the Person of the Year Award from the upcoming January 14th Tasty Awards.
No Reservations was nominated for Best TV Food Program – competing with 30 Minute Meals, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Man v. Food, Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, and Top Chef.
No Reservations is also in the running for Best TV Food Travel Series, and Bourdain as Best Male Host in a Series.
Here's a quick look at Anthony Bourdain and No Reservations.
TV Guide asked the questions and Bourdain served up his take on smoking, cholesterol and today's celebrity chefs. From a 2008 interview:
TVGuide.com: The last time we interviewed you, you said the three things you don't travel without are Imodium, your iPod and your cigarettes. Has that changed?
Bourdain: Yeah, I quit smoking about four and a half months ago. I'm a daddy now. I have an 8-month-old daughter and I can't smoke around her in my apartment. I live on a high floor and I had to go 11 floors down every time I wanted a cigarette. It just became harder to smoke than to quit.
TVGuide.com: Do you worry about your cholesterol?
Bourdain: Funny you mention that, because I was just together with a whole lot of chefs. And one of them joked that back in the day, we'd all get together and talk about the job or girls or cars or whatever. Now all we talk about is, "How's your cholesterol level?" [Laughs] Every chef I know, their cholesterol is through the roof. And mine's not so great.
TVGuide.com: You've been at odds with the idea of the celebrity chef — lately Rachael Ray.
Bourdain: I'm exhausted by the certain knowledge that no matter what I do or say, she's just going to get bigger and more popular and more influential. It's railing against the tide — or the surf at this point! [Laughs] I can only hope that when she rules the world, she allows me to live.
TVGuide.com: And you've since made peace with Emeril?
Bourdain: Since the very beginning, Emeril's had a sense of humor about me calling him names and poking fun at him. Unlike Rachael and unlike a lot of these guys, Emeril's a professional who came up in the business the hard way. You don't make it in the restaurant business to the degree he's made it by having a thin skin. He's been very gracious and funny to me since the beginning.
TVGuide.com: His Emeril Live was recently canceled....
Bourdain: I think he deserves a lot better. The last thing I guess you should expect from a television network is to be grateful. But it seems to me that if anyone has earned that, it's him. I love Mario [Batali's] shows on the Food Network, too, but he's gone as well. I don't know who's left standing.
TVGuide.com: Guy Fieri maybe?
Bourdain: Guy Fieri... did you ever see the Simpsons episode where it's decided that Itchy and Scratchy need a sidekick? So a committee gets together and they invent one called Poochie.... Guy Fieri kind of looks like he's been designed by committee.
