Curly Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 ronnie, saw a few of your posts on a forum that prime referenced here. neat! you say you are in the business of food, and just read your review of "kitchen confidential". you need to fess up and say what you do for a living! how did you come by meeting bourdain? as much as i'd like to meet and/or bbq for somebody like alton brown, i would be a bit intimidated by bourdain. while ive spent some time in the back of the house, never at an even 1-star restaurant... bbq joint, bakery, "german" restaurant... anyhow, nice pics. what do you do for a living that has to do with food? I work on the industrial side of the food world; supplying ingredients (mostly fruit-related) to manufacturers. I work with my brother and a bunch of our friends, so it's a nice gig. As for Bourdain, I became an instant fan when I read his essay in the New Yorker back around 2000. That essay, as you may know, became the basis of the book Kitchen Confidential. A couple years later, in 2002, another Bourdain project came to the small screen. It was known at A Cook's Tour and was shown on Food Network (of all places). At the time, Food Network had message forums and a bunch of us fans began posting there and became friendly. Unfortunately, the message forums at FN were run by the station's owner, Scripps Howard, and they were moderated rather aggressively. After a frustrating period in which many of us saw our posts deleted or edited, we decided to start our own Yahoo group -- basically an on-line Bourdain fan club (FWIW, the message forums at FN were eventually shuttered). After not too long, Tony got wind of the Yahoo group and became a frequent visitor/contributor. During that time, many of us became friendly with him and when he did his first book tour back 2003, I attended a signing he did in the Chicago area. I'll never forget when I finally introduced myself to him. He immediately acknowledged me, and announced it to the whole room, going on about what a "class act" I was. I was stunned that he was so thrilled to meet me. Via continued occasional correspondence and various subsequent book tours, we've stayed in touch. For a long time, I was a forum host/manager at eGullet.org, where Tony was also a contributor. I also happen to be friendly with a couple other food writers and chefs who are also tight with Tony, which solidified our connection a bit. Now, nearly each time he comes to Chicago, we (and a few other long-time fans) get together for drinks, etc. after his official appearances are over. The first time we went out, he was still relatively unknown and more people recognized me than him (LOL!). The last time we went out, the moment we stepped into the bar, at least 15 people pointed at Tony and declared "I've got his next round." He's huge now and just about everyone -- even those not in the culinary world -- know who he is. But Tony is a class act; a stand-up guy who has done a lot of really nice, good things in ways that the public would never know. He's also a guy with whom what you see is exactly what you get. He shoots straight and has a heart of gold. I'm proud and lucky to call him a friend. =R= Wow, that's what PorkChop is to me...although I've never met him or anything. I feel like he would acknowledge me if we ever met at one a his signings or somewhere else. I'm not sure if he would be 'thrilled', but you know...maybe he wouldn't beat me up or nothing bad like that. Welcome to the site...hope to see many more of your pics and maybe cook me one a them pastramis during the group cook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porkchop Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 ah, ronnie... a food SUPPLIER... it figures that bourdain would instantly make friends with an obviously connected vendor! i'm sure your friendship is entirely political! pass on my regards when you meet next; my favorite part of his book is the intro, when he says that he'll never have a show on FTV, cause he doesn't have a fancy catch phrase ("BAM!"), and that he wouldn't be giving Flay shoulder massage anytime soon! thats when i knew he was good people! as for you, since you mentioned "fruit", back in the day when i was using steelies, i made a double barrel smoker with 2 55gal drums and a cast iron stove kit from the farm store. you wouldn't happen to see any containers like that laying around, perhaps previous homes to jams, syrup, or other yummy sweet fruity stuff? they make pretty fun stick-burners! curly, next book signing i do, i will autograph a copy of whatever (bring a crayon) and take you to McDonalds for McRibs! now that's BBQ! BAM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 curly, next book signing i do, i will autograph a copy of whatever (bring a crayon) and take you to McDonalds for McRibs! now that's BBQ! BAM! Dude, you a mind reader BAM away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_suburban Posted October 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Ronnie, you had me at Andouille dude! Please, please post some Andouille recipes in the recipe section. I have mail order to get any worth eating around here. Love real pastrami too. -=Jasen=- Done! =R= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
