“Older Performers?” How could it not be? 
The good ole Claremont lounge; the only strip joint where you can catch a dancer wearing orthopedic shoes!
Clermont Lounge - minor nitpick. And that is awesome.
For non-Atlantans, the Clermont Lounge is a somewhat sleazy strip bar that is very popular among ironiphiliac hipsters. The strippers are … not women of the body shape normally associated with erotic dancers. And the star is a woman who crushes beer cans between her breasts.
(A couple of years ago, one of the dancers underwent treatment for cancer. The patrons raised $10,000 for her medical expenses. They might be a little skeezy, but they look after their own.)
Another funny image was Alton under the black lights in the louge, with his white shirt incandescent, like the full moon wearing a bow tie.
Is Bourdain the one with the crusade against mechanically-separated meat? Because yeah, that’s pretty pretentious.
You might be thinking of Jamie Oliver.
I watched this episode last night - I had no idea Bourdain was so hilarious. For some reason, I had him pegged as an asshole instead. (describing mediocre wet ribs) "Sometimes you don’t want the Harvard educated supermodel. Sometimes you want the trashy girl from Queens, who has to take the gum out of her mouth before she puts your bleep in it.
And Alton was apparently drinking bourbon at the restaurant, so he’s still boozing it up. Good for him.
Bourdain mentions Alton Brown often in his online blog, that’s how I knew where he lives. Apparently he’s moved and lives farther away from me than I thought, but still in the same city (not Atlanta).
Here is his church’s stance on homosexuality (check the book recommendations):
http://www.johnsonferry.org/Ministries/PastoralCare/CounselingMinistry/SameSexAttraction.aspx
The church requires tithing so in a roundabout way, he supports this stance. They have a page on addiction as well but don’t seem to be against alcohol.
I don’t have a problem with his religion, I just mentioned it because Anthony Bourdain is quite the opposite and it’s interesting that they can still be friends.
He can be an asshole, there’s no doubt about that. But he has truth in his assholeness; he calls out “chefs” who are more media personalities than actually chefs (like Rachel Ray) and can be hilarious in his criticisms. He also can be humble; after making fun of Emeril Legasse for years, once he met the guy and ate his food, he took it all back. In his latest book, he pretty much admits he could be a real jerk when he was younger. Not that he’s not still a jerk at times, but I tend to agree with him when he calls out some of the crap people are calling food nowadays.
I also like he because he’s so unpretentious about food. He might go to one or two high-end places on his shows, but the majority of the foods he promotes are lowbrow, street food, or stuff someone’s grandmother made for him.
Were there any loving close-ups of pasties?
Are pasties a unitasker?
Brown is the one I’d prefer to see die in that fire. But, really, both these fuckers can permanently disappear from the earth.
Then what a sad television cooking landscape it would be.
Though I do wish the Skeletor Brown would leave and be replaced with the much more fun and healthy looking Brown.
No kidding. Ever since he went on the diet Alton has been no fun at all.
Tony has always been entertaining.
Speaking of Bourdain, anybody watch “The Taste” on ABC last night? A new cooking competition show that seems to be modeled after The Voice (the four judges each put together a team based on a blind taste). Bourdain is one of the judges and It looks pretty promising.
Yep, really liked it.
Hah! I grabbed this on VOD. ATL looks like a great foodie town. AB looked like a fish out of water at the Clermont, but if I’m ever there, I’m going.
Beard.
Me too! The judges were quite genial regardless of the quality of the food and it was actually quite gripping to find out if some chefs would be chosen or not. And some real surprises in there. Looking forward to the rest of the competition.
I have a few casual acquaintances who are friends with Bourdain and they all say he’s actually a really nice and fairly normal guy.
He and Eric Ripert are close friends and I can’t imagine Ripert being that close with anybody who was truly an asshole.