My favorite passage from that review:
I like Bourdain, but it’s clear he often forgets that his opinions are no more than opinions. But that’s his schtick.
As for Fieri, he’s an odd duck. I hear his schtick is his personality all the time, not an act just for the camera. I like the food he comes up with, and he seems enthusiastic about other people’s food, too. Live and let live. Or, rather, eat and let eat.
Ah, if only we could get Fieri to say “Whimmy-wham-wham-wozzle”.
You could have lunch with Anthony Bourdain, or you could have lunch with Guy Fieri. Which guy would leave you feeling good about yourself?
Given that criteria, I’d rather eat lunch with Guy Fieri. Bourdain would just look down his nose and not-so-silently think about how much cooler he was.
Bourdain needs to de-smug at least as much as Fierri need to de-douche.
At least with Bourdain I’d have the possibility of a thought-provoking discussion about something other than hot sauce.
I feel with Bourdain the only thoughts he’d provoke is my attempts to figure out how to poison him undetectably. Guy Fieri is a shouty douche. Bourdain is a supercilious jackass.
+1
I don’t find anything thought-provoking about Bourdain anymore. He made most of his salient points in Kitchen Confidential.
This.
Just google Guy Fieri… I’m not sure if he owns any non-flamey shirts.
If I had to choose between dinner with either, I’d go with Anthony provided that he A) Picked the restaurant and B) Paid for my meal. He’s such a food snob that he wouldn’t like anything I picked and any place he picked would be beyond my budget. And yeah, he’s a bit pretentious but I think I’d have an interesting conversation with him. Based on some comments he’s made on his shows I think he and I both had the same taste in music at a younger age, plus he’s pretty well travelled and surely has a ton of interesting stories.
On the other hand, Guy Ferry would probably want to go to more “regular” (less pricey) restaurants that still had interesting food. But I don’t really like his in your face attitude or his “trying to hard too be cool” slang, and just looking at his hair, clothes, face, etc, gives me a headache. He makes my punching fingers all twitchy - and I’m not a punch-up sort of person.
So to summarize, Guy is every loud, annoying frat boy you’ve ever known rolled up in one, but Anthony is the rich jerk who WILL let you know exactly how much better he is than you. At everything. It’s hard to take either of them seriously, but I do tend to get more out of Anthony’s television shows than Guy’s. Your mileage may vary.
You know, I honestly don’t get that impression from Bourdain. Though he obviously likes fine dining, he also seems to have a real affection for down-home cooking and street food as long as it is good stuff. I think he’d be reasonably happy to chow down at a decent funky taqueria or soul food place.
Meanwhile I somehow get the impression Fieri would want to eat at some kitschy cafe where your hamburger comes piled high with a slice of pineapple, onion rings and pesto.
I don’t have cable but might watch Bourdain if it’s on elsewhere, so I’m no expert but have seen more than a few episodes. He eats street food a lot and is skeptical of things like the often pretentious molecular gastronomy (spit foam). The only frou frou place I remember him visiting and talking positively about (and perhaps a little too much) was Noma.
The places he visits on DDD are far from kitschy.
I have a feeling that’s not how he is 24/7, and that it’s 80-90% schtick. There’s more behind the spiky hair and goatee than I think he lets on during most of the shows.
Maybe the hair is semi-permanent, but at least on DDD, the wardrobe is far from extreme; maybe a fondness for bowling shirts and guayabera looking things, but as often as not, just a plaid shirt. (google “Diners drive ins and dives” and look at the images tab).
I also get the impression that Bourdain is about 10-15% schtick and 85-90% a-hole.
I suspect that lunch with Fieri wouldn’t be as… academically interesting as lunch with Bourdain, but I also suspect that lunch with Fieri might be more pleasant and fun.
I don’t hold much truck with snooty folks, so I’d go with guy too. Despite his outward appearance of douchery, I like his enthusiasm for off-the-beaten-path food and he seems like he’d be friendly. That’s good enough for me.
As an aside, I tried to watch one series with Bourdain and I just couldn’t stomach anymore of his hipper than thou-ness. Like a proto-hipster, he’s a little long in the tooth for that by now, isn’t he?
I’d hang with Bourdain. If nothing else, we could talk about The Wire for an hour or so.
I’d hang with Bourdain because, while opinionated, I don’t really feel he’s “snooty.” He has a lot of passion, strong opinions, and knowledge that I’d love to pick his brain about. And there’s plenty of stuff I’d like to learn from him. Not so much with Guy. Plus he just seems like he’d be a hell of a lot more fun to hang out with–at least in terms of what interests me in a person–than Guy. I tend to like assertive, crochety, but highly skilled and accomplished types. Gordon Ramsey is another one I’d love to hang with.
I think I’d like to get me, Silenus, Bourdain and Fieri together with a couple of bottles of 15+ year old scotch. Then just watch it happen. 