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Where Does Anthony Bourdain Not Make Reservations in L.A.?

Tony plays it safe in L.A.
Tony plays it safe in L.A. Photo: Neeta Lind via Flickr

It’s been the rage this year for notable New York gnoshers to hit our shores and sheepishly admit their previously undisclosed affinity for L.A.’s food scene to oh-so-many squeals of self-validated local delight. Anthony Bourdain did just that on Wednesday while promoting his new book at UCLA. He gave all the required shout-outs, saying he’d love to spend a few months covering Jonathan Gold territory (which could take a skinny minny like Tony a lifetime) and allowing that the strengths of our strip-mall diners, food trucks, and “low-end cheap ethnic restaurants” could actually trump New York’s.

Tony doesn’t go quite as far as Saveur editor -in-chief James Oseland did while hopped up on the disorienting perfumes and contagious chirpiness of KTLA’s Morning Show hosts that day he swore “on a stack on Bibles” that we have better food than New York. No, Bourdain still knows that The Big Apple has clear advantages because of its high-end dining. So where does Bourdain eat in L.A. and does he really know anything about the city’s restaurants and chefs?

He shares his favorite local restaurant with Feast today and knows how to appeal to the natives, naming In-N-Out as his “first and go-to spot in L.A.” A good, but very safe choice Tony, even Joel Robuchon flirts with Double-Doubles these days. So he’s yet to break into Gold’s ground when it comes to eating around town. But how about his favorite chefs in L.A.? Tony looks a little pressed while on-the-spot and cites non-local Jose Andres, along with big-time local Nancy Silverton, as the town’s toques he admires.

So he doesn’t really know L.A. that well it appears…but we’ll forgive him. Surely Bourdain could do an entire season of No Reservations on our streets, but alas, he cites his lack of time and heavy media demand as obstacles to putting on more weight here. One thing is for sure, he seems to have read, and believed, all the local hype.

See the video here at:
Bourdain on LA Restaurants
[Feast]

Where Does Anthony Bourdain Not Make Reservations in L.A.?