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| No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach | 
 enlarge | Author: Anthony Bourdain
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $13.95
You Save: $21.00 (60%)
Buy New/Used from $10.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  (18 reviews)
Sales Rank: 5150
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 7.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1596914475
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.013
EAN: 9781596914476
ASIN: 1596914475
Publication Date: October 15, 2007
Release Date: October 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Companion to the Show... February 10, 2008
Yes, this is THE companion book to one of the most awesome shows on television right now. I was slightly disappointed that there was not more commentary, however, one redeeming factor and a reason you should have this book is for the "Best and Worst Bathrooms" around the world. Makes you glad for the dingy porcelain throne you have or jealous you don't live in Japan!
Chocked full of photos taken during Bourdain's wild tours around the globe, this is a fantastic coffee table book for chefs across the board. Unfortunately, the book does not do the show justice and if you ever have the chance to partake of Bourdain's scathing wit and alcoholic charm, please do so! And yes, I hate Rachel Ray too my friend...I hate her too.
An Entertaining Photo Album of Bourdain's Latest Global Adventures January 31, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
In this breezy book, there is an amusing photo of an In-n-Out Double-Double Burger with a pile of fries amid far more exotic dishes highlighted in the montage of images that constitute a chapter appropriately called "Food Porn". What I especially like about the photos is how real the dishes look since they have not been immaculately presented by a Williams-Sonoma food stylist. The food looks exactly how you would expect to see it if you were to order it at a street kiosk in Kolkata or a back-alley cafe in Hong Kong. This laissez-faire attitude accurately captures the spirit of this companion book to Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations TV series now in its fourth season on the Travel Channel.
Anyone who has read Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly or The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones, or seen his previous series, A Cook's Tour, on the Food Network, already knows his unique blend of streetwise sarcasm and culinary adventurousness. Fortunately, Bourdain doesn't alter his style one iota with his latest entry and immerses himself even more into the idiosyncratic cultures and customs that made his previous global travels so enjoyable. The book is, more or less, a photo album of stills taken from the show organized by geographic region. You see photos such as a warthog being pulled apart for cooking by Namibian tribesmen, a roast pig on glorious display in a Balinese street market, tireless workers in a duck processing plant in Montreal, and even what's left of the defunct Twinkie factory in Cleveland. In between, he inserts more personal photos of himself alongside the local inhabitants.
On top of it all, Bourdain contributes his characteristic blurbs albeit briefly - sometimes obnoxious but usually quite amusing in his acid-tongued belligerence. It wouldn't be Bourdain if he wasn't a snarky jerk, but he compensates with his audacious palette and his innate ability to bond with most everyone he meets no matter how trying the circumstance. You have to respect a man who will try anything once, whether it's fourteen courses of foie gras or a sizable hunk of raw seal. Ironically, the most interesting chapter has nothing to do with food as it involves his inopportune presence in Beirut when the Israel-Lebanon conflict broke out. He vividly recounts how he and his crew were evacuated by the U.S. Marines amid skirmishes with Hezbollah supporters. By all means, experience the show first for a more complete sensory experience (except for taste, of course), but the book is still a fine keepsake of Bourdain's cocksure culinary audacity.
 I Love Anthony Bourdain!! January 10, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a huge fan of No Reservations, so I was excited to read this book. I loved every page of it!! From the pictures, behind the scenes descriptions, meeting the crew, it was all fantastic.
 Nice pictures, nothing new December 28, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A nice coffee table book. Lovely photos accompany small bits of text describing the locations visited in the creation of No Reservations. If you've seen the show, there will be little new information in this book. Some places move the author to describe behind-scenes activity, to give background information, or to share his frank opinion of the experience or locale. Mostly, the pictures tell the story. If you like picture books, you'll like this book. If you prefer to actually read a book for its content, you'll want to choose another.
 Disappointing December 26, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I read Bourdain for his `in your face' humor and poignant insight. Although this book did have all the Bourdainisms I love so much, it was incredibly short on prose. I wanted to read Bourdain, not see him.
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