Kitchen Confidential

A little while ago, I came to love certain television shows involving Chef Gordon Ramsey. Besides Hell's Kitchen (which is a great show by the way), Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is both interesting and appalling. I love to see Ramsay shape up a restaurant that is down and out, but can't help but wonder just how many restauants I've visited that practice the same techniques that would make the Health Inspector nausous (especially scenes from the original BBC episodes). Not something I like to dwell upon. Anyways, now I have have come across another chef who has a written a fantastic book detailing his experiences inside numerous kitchens in New York City. Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly is a wonderfully humerous and honest tale of Bourdain's rise from lowly dishwasher to head chef at New York's Brasserie Les Halles (you might recognize Bourdain's name from his TV show No Reservations on the Food Network). His love of food becomes apparent right away, as well as his love of the industry which he has dedicated 30 plus years to. If you want a great (yet brutally honest) read and want to learn secrets the top chefs use, this is the book.