For anyone who's ever done any kind of commercial cooking this book, and it's earlier version, is a MUST read. I'm a retired line cook and I can assure all potential readers that Tony knows of what he speaks. For 'civilians', the avid home cook or the addicted restaurant patron, this clever work gives an engrossing, entertaining and sometimes scary peek behind the restaurant kitchen door. Chefs and cooks are, well, just people, but there is something special about people who want to please hundreds of anonymous diners; stay true to their own standards and achieve the respect of thier peers. As Tony says, it is one of the hardest, yet most rewarding, and crazy jobs in the 'every-day' world.
Anthony Bourdain is one of my 'cooking gods' because he specialises in classic, time-proven dishes; he knows that all the world's great food is, basically, 'peasant' food, not the titivated, sculpted, value-added 'art works' on a large white plates -- and he's a good writer. I too write -- was once a food writer and journalist -- and I know how hard it is to combine the two jobs. This work is honest, controversial yet extremely fair in its assessments of the high-pressure world of the New York and American restaurant scene, then and now. I strongly recommend that you buy this book and then graduate to Bourdain's absolutely fantastic "Les Halles" cookbook. I use it, refer to it or just fawn over it at least three times every week. With over 25 years experience under my (large) belt, his Les Halles book 're-taught' me and gave me new inspiration to take up semi-professional cooking again, just for the pure joy of producing really special, simple, dishes. Please buy all his books; Bourdain is an honest, decent and admirable cook (I hate the term 'chef').
(No I'm not Tony Bourdain!) Just a genuine fan who appreciates his sharing of a once 'hidden' and unsung profession.
William Kenneth Halliwell
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

This guy rocks, and his books are as good as his tv show (No Reservations).;)

This is a great book, a MUST have for any chef!!! Bourdain is one of a kind.

I am giving this book a 5/5 because throughout the whole book, you are entertained, and want to keep reading. You find out how he makes his way through the cooking career, how he makes his way to the top. This book describes to you what goes on behind the scenes in the kitches and how crazy it can be. I recommend this book to everyone!

this is such an awesome book. he's one cocky guy but man is this a good well written book introducing you to the underground cooking culture and what really happens. i dont cook and i still was entertained. i read the entire thing in two sittings thats how into it i was.

I read this book long before it had hit the better sellers list and he had launched himself into as he would describe "the evil" of reality tv fame. (In fact, this was the book that did that for him). Every once in awhile now, I go back to revisit it.

Behind the ever-so dry and lambistic humor which makes him such fun to read are a few pearls of wisdom worth taking from someone who is willing to eat & drink pretty much anything imaginable in the world for the sake of a good epicurean story.

But, it's the common sense of it all - that moves me most - and which I quote most frequently to friends even now: Don't order the fish - when it's obvious they're trying to clear it out before it goes bad!, Sunday Brunch - think Mom trying to figure out what to do with all her leftovers (oh, and again, avoid the fish). You probably don't want to ask for to many adjustments to your food at a fine dining establishment (at that point you need to worry more about what the chef is doing to the food than the wait team!) And finally, if you didn't catch this from Top Chef -Chefs have HUGE egos (and Bourdain demonstrates it well) - the best consider themselves tough gladiators of the kitchen - not the great artist you've envisioned.

Definitely a great read for anyone who likes to dine out on a regular basis!

I was really looking forward to reading this book because I enjoy Chef Bourdain on the Travel Channel. However, the book is very hard to follow - I could not keep track of where he was in his career or what was really happening.

I think an editor would be an excellent addition to this book.

This book is a wonderfully entertaining story of how one particular chef came to be a Celebrity Chef. What really keeps things moving, from start to finish, is Bourdain's writing style; simultaneously cynical, amusing and reflective. He is not afraid to show the reader all the details, as he knows them. He's led a hard life and has developed a truly unique philosophy based on his experiences. Most importantly he learned from his experiences and wishes to pass his wisdom on to anyone interested in joining the crazy world of professional cooking.

Yes, things have changed in the restaurant industry since Bourdain wrote this book. However the reader should take many of his recommendations seriously and should learn to recognize exactly what they are paying for when they eat at any restaurant. And Bourdain's recommendations to the home cook are absolutely spot-on, invaluable advise to anyone who loves food.

Please, if you have any interest in becoming a cook or starting up your own restaurant, read this book. Even if you don't agree with him, he brings up many good points about the highs and lows of the industry.

A very truthful and witty account how how a chef came to be. It's very honest. I love his recommendations too.

Kitchen Confidential is a brash, entertaining, and funny look at life behind the scenes in restaurants. The book is a combination of expose, biography, and blunt advice for those interested in working in the restaurant industry.

Bourdain is a talented raconteur and a gifted writer. Some of his prose is hard to resist. For instance (on page 197), he describes the dinner tasting, where waiters at his restaurant sample the evening's food; the waiters "...fall on the family gruel and tasting plates like rabid jackals... They tear at the four plates of food, ripping apart the pheasant with their hands, nearly spearing each other with forks as they gouge at the tuna, drag cockles to their greasy maws with bare hands and quickly turn Janine's lovely tarte into a dark smear." It is difficult not to like a book that has a talented writer telling a good story.

Kitchen Confidential also features dozens of great characters. There is the Manhattan restaurateur Bourdain calls Bigfoot; a hulking former college basketball player with a talent for squeezing every nickel out of his restaurant. There is Adam Real-Last-Name-Unknown, a dysfunctional man who loses every job he takes. After each firing, Adam promptly gets another job because of his special talent for making delicious bread. There is also Bourdain: witty, profane, cocky, knowledgeable, and opinionated.

If there is a downside to Kitchen Confidential it is the fact that Bourdain's world is very seedy, profane, and, in many ways, deeply repellent; the reader becomes weary after a while. Bourdain's boastful descriptions of his profane tirades and drug addiction are particularly unappealing. The locker room atmosphere in which Bourdain chooses to work (no profanity is too vile or too explicit) is sophomoric. At its worst, Bourdain's world makes you feel as though you need a long, cleansing bath.

In spite of its problems, Kitchen Confidential allows the reader to journey to a world that he or she probably knows nothing about. It is a very entertaining book.

I've been a fan of Mr. Bourdain for a while. I had no idea that his early career was so much like my own foray into the culinary arts. Great book, down to earth and brutally honest look at the dark underbelly of working in a kitchen. Very funny and embarassing parts engage the reader so much so that you don't want to put the book down. I liked it so much I read it in two days, then read it again. Almost makes me want to be a professional cook again...Almost!

i picked this up after becoming addicted to bourdain's travel channel show -- no reservations. this book is what jettisoned the previously unknown NYC chef into the spotlight.
as with his show, the appeal here extends way beyond cooking. i for one have little to no interest in cooking (though bourdaine's take on it is fascinating). to me, bourdain is a great writer and countercultural commentator who happens to be a chef. imagine a mix of hunter thompson & keith richards with a chef's background and you have bourdaine. it's all here -- drugs, sex, horrible bosses, new york city sleaze.
intelligent, insightful, hilariously funny, well-written, scathingly honest, this is a wonderful book.

. . . . but someone's got to learn to spell "Ansul". Very distracting (twice)!

Bourdain's book manages to perfectly capture the essence and the ideas of what it means to work in the restaurant business.

I always romanticized the idea of slinging great plates and creating godlike feasts, but hearing the harrowing, hillarious, and downright frightening tales told in this book made me think otherwise.

Welcome to the world of practical jokes, psychos, thieves, hellhole places, clueless owners, broken down plumbing, just about every drug-addiction you can name of characters in the world told in flourishing colour. Get inside the head of why most people who go out to eat don't know jack, and why the business fails most of the time.

The updated version is also a good time point, because as Bourdain mentions, being a chef now is a big difference than when he was in the 70's. It's all changing now with TV and celebrity, and here you have a guy who is still fighting it out in the trenches giving you the inside scoop.

What a cruel crazy beautiful world this book is. It brought back many great and bad memories of my past kitchen experiences when I was a teen, nothing on the league of what these guys/gals are in.

I always remembered when I was younger at an early age to judge a restaurant by how clean their bathrooms are. It's all true trust me on that, and I smilled gleefully when I read this as one of Bourdain's tips.

More importantly this book will leave you ravenously hungry. I suggest you eat it up!

INFORMATIVE AND HILLAROUSLY FUNNY, I HAD TROUBLE PUTTING IT DOWN AND WISHED IT WAS LONGER. WHAT A STYLE - I LOVED IT!!!!!!
IT'S ALL TRUE, I WAS A LINE COOK AND KITCHEN MANAGER MYSELF.

Having previously worked in the food industry, I (like most others Bourdain has spoke of since this book was published) see it as the cold hard truth, with a lot of his self-proclaimed snarkiness involved. It wasn't meant to be an expose, he wrote it for all of those who are/were a part of this lifestyle, and so many others who weren't still loved it anyways. I actually prefer his writing to his show "No Reservations" for the simple fact that he gets to say exactly what he thinks without any censoring.

i think this book give the reader a great insight tothe inner workings of anthony bourdain. i found the book very interesting i could hardly put it down.

I loved this book. It's funny, raw, irreverent...It reads pretty much the way Bourdain sounds on NR. If I had ANY thoughts of working in a fast-paced restaurant, this book convinced me that life in that environment is not for me, but it makes for great reading.

Kitchen Confidential was recommended to me by my son, who has worked in kitchens and now manages a restaurant and bar. I work in a hotel that has a fine dining restaurant and a bar. I began laughing at the beginning and, with a few breaks when Mr. Bourdain's serious side showed, didn't stop till the end. The book is well written and, at the same time, totally nutsoid. I loved it. I highly recommend it. I have read one of Mr. Bourdain's novels and plan to seek out other things he's written. Bon Appetit!

As a fan of the show and someone that worked the "front of the house" during my youth, I was interested in reading this for various reasons.
I enjoy the "No Reservations" but I can't say I love Anthony Bourdain. I like him enough and he is an enjoyable enough host, but sometimes I have to think; How did this guy get his own show? Anyway, the book is good and paints a very realistic picture of what it's like working in the restaurant business. As I said, I worked the front, waiting tables, room service etc. and had my run in with many cooks. Anthony gets it right; Cooks are an odd bunch and this a fascinating read. Try "Dishwasher" by Dishwasher Pete for a similar look from the dishpit.
Enjoy!

Bourdain's book claims to be the inside scoop on what a restaurant kitchen is really like. He does, at the end, give a caveat that some new restaurants don't run the way he did/does. The book is a good read,if a bit raw in the language.

If you love Anthony Bourdain, you'll love this book! It's like he's reading the book to you.

Anthony, a.k.a. Tony, is a great writer, at times I feel like I am there in the kitchen with him. His sense of humor is off the charts and I truely have taken in some of his suggestions.
If you want and eye opening, fast paced read this is the book for you.

In another of Bourdain's books, The Nasty Bits, he includes an article about books about the kitchen lifestyle that he turns to in the toughest times. When you've worked a gruelling a double, body exhausted from the day and the night before when you actually had a night off and spent it more than likely overdrinking and drugging, and now you have to deal with the owner and his half realized "vision of culinary exquisiteness." It's these little things that anybody who has ever worked in a restaurant back or front of the house can relate to. Among these he lists several including Down and Out in London and Paris and Flash in the Pan. Go ahead and add this masterpiece and the other book I mentioned, Nasty Bits, to this list. This is what Bourdain truly excels at when writing. True, he is also good with traditional food criticism, he is interested and therefore writes more interestingly about the overall lifestyle of a restaurant lifer.

Reading this has definitely made me think differently of chefs and kitchens, but in a good way! I'm more inclined to try something "unusual" at an unknown restaurant than settling for the usual chain restaurant after reading this book. Plus the cooking tips definitely help!

This entertaining tour through the life of a restaurant kitchen made me think twice the next time I ate out. I liked it on 2 levels: a warning for diners, and - even more interesting - as a sociological study, with the structure, interplay and hijinks of the cooking culture. I got tired of the author's "attitude" but he writes well. It's organized and neatly leads the reader to the most interesting chapters on "A Day in the Life" (a typical day in his kitchen) and the Life of Bryan (the chef's kitchen down the street). Told with memorable humor, this chef's confessional is worth a read.

As a fan of anything Bourdain, it was no surprise to find this book filled with the humor and sarcasm I have grown to love. It was so refreshing to read something so honest and it simply made me more of a fan. I read it in a day and wished it was longer.

Only during the last year with my DVR have I come to discover the viewing pleasure that is Bourdain's "No Reservations." Wanting to sink myself more in his world, I turned to the written page.

When he claims in his show that this book was somewhat controversial, I can believe it. I read this book from cover to cover during an airplane ride to London, and I wanted more.

His history is somewhat provacative, as are his stories of what you can expect from ordering your meat well-done and fish on Mondays. I do find his advice helpful in cooking and planning a kitchen layout, and have made some changes based on it.

The man knows how to entertain and keep you coming back. I recommend this to anyone wanting bluntness and honesty about the culinary subculture.

First, let me admit that I love Bourdain's show on the Travel channel. I especially love the little warning at the beginning of the show advising viewers of harsh language. It always makes me giggle. TV should be entertaining - as should be books.

And entertained is how I felt when reading Bourdain's book. His anecdotes are fun and interesting and often make up for the lack of good style or a composed narrative. Structurally, the books is sectioned into various topics that range from Bourdain's childhood, his culinary education to food techniques and the running of a restaurant. Some of these chapters had previously published in various magazines and lend themselves to be read individually and without order.

Bourdain's language - much like you can hear on his TV show - is coarse and vulgar. His stories are also full of "nasty" items, people and food products. But that seems to be his personality and if you want a book that reflect the authors personality, you are well served here (pun intended).

A couple last things to keep in mind:
1. This is not a book about cooking techniques.
2. This is not a book with great recipes.
3. This is not a book for children.
4. This is not a book that teaches you how run a restaurant.
5. This is not a book with restaurant recommendations.

6. This IS a book for the lighthearted and fun.

I was addicted to No Reservations on the Travel Channel before I found this book. Anthony writes the way he speaks. With wit, comedy and insightfullness. Take the book for what it is an enjoy the heck out of it. I did.

Bourdain is probably a good chef, but he is a great and amusing writer. I have listened to these cassettes 2x and am still laughing at what he has to say.

If you are going on a long car trip, get these cassettes and listen while you travel. The miles will fly by and if you get to your destination before the last cassette, you may be tempted to lenghthen the trip.

Liked the tapes so much, I bought his book.

If I had read this book when I was younger, I would have been a cook despite all the horror stories detailed inside. Very honest and entertaining inside view. I understand Anthony is in South East Asia now. I look forward to his views on Asian cooking.

I found this series pretty informative on what goes on behind the scenes in a kitchen. It kinda tells you what to expect when you become a chef. Although I'm not sure every kitchen is this vulgar and corrupt it definately
opens your eyes. I would recommend to anyone thinking about going to culinary school or who is aspiring to become a chef

Having thoroughly enjoyed watching Bradley Cooper (Alias, Wedding Crashers) in the short-lived FOX TV show Kitchen Confidential, I welcomed the opportunity to read Anthony Bourdain's novel on which the show was based. As is often the case with book-to-movie or book-to-TV adaptations, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly the book is much better than Kitchen Confidential the show.

Anthony Bourdain, a two-star chef and a junkie for everything from good food to drugs and sex, is unmercifully honest in his expose of the industry as well as his portrayal of himself. He is as delightful as he is haughty, particularly, in his descriptions of his exploits with his fellow chef cohorts Dimitri, Steven, and Adam-Last-Name-Unknown.

Bourdain's book is divided into separate chapters that could (and judging by the acknowledgments page did) appear as stand-alone articles. This is, simultaneously, the book's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. In this nonrestrictive format, Bourdain manages to tell various stories that have nothing more in common than food and the fact that he was present during those anecdotes. Yet, due to such a haphazard format, his book lacks continuity and a coherent timeline for all the events. The lack of a time frame might or might not be a reflection of the disorientation that Bourdain experienced while he was overindulging on drugs and crashing on the beaches of Long Island after his numerous stints as a chef in New York's Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center.

As much self-indulgence as this chef experienced, he abstains from making his tales sound too egotistical and self-centered. Instead, he is passionate and levelheaded - there is nothing in the book that's there purely for shock value. It is clear that Bourdain values a no-frills approach not only in his Les Halles kitchen, but in his writing as well.

One of the quotes, located on the inside of the back cover of the Bloomsbury Paperback edition of the book, suggests that Bourdain is "a lucky sod" for being able to cook and write "brilliantly." I'd have to agree. Bordain's writing is concise, easy-to-read; his topics alarming and shocking at times. Throughout the book his writing is always hilarious and charming.

The most helpful chapter is "From Our Kitchen to Your Table." In it, Bourdain explains why he never orders meat well done, eats seafood in restaurants on Tuesdays and Thursdays, eats mussels only when he is the one who cooked them, eats bread regardless of his whereabouts, and always observes the body language of his waiter. In fact, this chapter is full of common sense and circumstantial evidence and should be mandatory reading before people step into a restaurant.

It is precisely these kinds of scandalous revelations that put Bourdain's books on bestseller lists over and over. I'll admit to having done many of the author's no-nos: ordering seafood from restaurants famous for other cuisine, eating brunch, and requesting an alteration of the contents of a menu item, among others. After reading this book, one thing I will definitely never do at a restaurant is order meat well done.

Bourdain's book earns its momentum with his description of his first oyster in the Gironde and doesn't let up until his elaborate description of consuming a fish's eye in Tokyo. Like its follow up, A Cook's Tour, Kitchen Confidential is essentially a book about making and eating mesmerizing food. Because as Bourdain aptly puts it, "in the end, maybe it is all about the food."

Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)
If you've ever been a professional in the restaurant business either in the back of the house or the front, you'll thoroughly enjoy this book. Bourdain will make you laugh out loud and his writing style will make you want to read it all in one day. Get it.

Anyone who has worked in a professional kitchen, from slop-house to steak house, will find something to love about this book. Written from the point of view of a real restaurant chef, not some phony who prances around on the Food Network. This book tells the true story of life in the trenches, the grueling, unappreciated job of pumping out dish after dish, night after night while suffering the effects of extreme heat, personal injury and indignities at the hands of coworkers and and uncaring public ("The cook lost a finger? Who cares?! Where's my steak!").
Some of the French terms used in this book may be hard to navigate for those who aren't familiar with fine dining, but they won't take away from the enjoyment of a tale that finally tells the real story of life on the line.
Anyone who buys in to the celebrity chef culture, and believes that a career in the culinary arts will ensure them a dignified and prosperous life needs to read this book first. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into!

Even if your not into cooking this book will entertain you. His writing style is uniquely his own but it makes you laugh out loud. I learned a lot of information about food industry and what's going on behind those swinging kitchen doors of a restaurant. Some of the details will make you cringe and wished you had never read them. You get to travel through the wild life of Anthony Bourdain and observe a totally different way of life..

I really enjoyed this book, but God as my witness I will NEVER eat brunch again! I will NOT order fish on a Monday! I may never eat again come to think of it!!!

This is a great book. Highly recommend it. Watch his show too. The world would be a better place if there were more authentic individuals like Bourdain in our all too often homogeneous media.

If you like Tony's show on the Travel Channel, you will love this book. If you don't know who Bourdain is, get offended easily, don't like curse words, and like to believe that restaurant work is glamorous, you probably will not like this book at all.

As for me, I thought it was awesome.

I thought I was going to read some "kitchen secrets" rather than "secrets" that occurred in the kitchen.If I wanted to read about how a drug addict became famous, there are a lot more autobiographies I'd rather read about. Bourdain's arrogant behaviour and kitchen antics didn't impress me. The message I got was in order to be a successful chef, you have to use obscene language, have loose morals and do drugs. I'm a chef instructor in a culinary arts school in Europe.....is this what I'm supposed to be like to inspire my students????

I would have never thought to pick up this book... I actually would have never thought he took writing serious enough to write a book! On TV, I love his style... his crass personality... and how his humility shines through when you least expect it! This book is the exact same way! My co worker let me read it and I have not been able to put it down. Classically written ... personal and professional about the business without being all over the place... 5 STARS!

Now that Bourdain is featured on TV, this book will probably get a new life. A mind-blowing look at life in the restaurant kitchen - crazier than we could have ever imagined. Lots of really good insight. Anybody thinking of following the culinary profession must read it.

Loved this raunchy rip of a tour through the world of (upscale) restaurant meal creation. And what a view it is of the unique characters who wield chef's knives! Bourdain is a great writer as well as obviously a superior/successful chef, and to top it off, his baritone voice is perfect for the audio format....great inflection, drama, humor.

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain is funny, irreverent, acerbic & just mildly obscene. It's classic Bourdain. Tony's first non-fiction work, orignally published in 2000, explodes to life as read by the author himself. This really launched his media career, and is far more engrossing that the rather tame Fox TV series based on this memoir.

If you have a fascination with fine food, contemporary restaurants, smart-a** sarcasm, or really conscise descriptions of acid, heroin or cocaine abuse-- you really need to read or listen to this terrific book.

This guy can write, he can cook and he knows how to eat. I love this f***ing guy!!

I read the book 6 months ago.
I listened to the audio book from Amazon.com last week and loved it all over again.
Bourdain reads it as only he can. He puts the sarcasm and spin on the story as only he can. The Audio book is so much more entertaining when he brings it to life as only he can.

...with an iron fist. Or sometimes drunkenly, humorously, dangerously. But they're always in charge in their kitchens.

So never insult the cook (if you know what's good for you)!

That's a lesson you'll learn in this book, along with dozens of other "gotta know this stuff" peeks into professional cooking and kitchens.

If you've ever thought you wanted to cook professionally, this is a must read.

If you eat out at all, this is a must read.

If you long to write a natural, in-your-face autobiography, this is a must read.

So get a copy, prepare a snack for yourself, and sit down to an enjoyable feast of kitchen stories.

...with an iron fist. Or sometimes drunkenly, humorously, dangerously. But they're always in charge in their kitchens.

So never insult the cook (if you know what's good for you)!

That's a lesson you'll learn in this book, along with dozens of other "gotta know this stuff" peeks into professional cooking and kitchens.

If you've ever thought you wanted to cook professionally, this is a must read.

If you eat out at all, this is a must read.

If you long to write a natural, in-your-face autobiography, this is a must read.

So get a copy, prepare a snack for yourself, and sit down to an enjoyable feast of kitchen stories.

I first ran across Tony Bourdain as a guest judge on the hopelessly addictive Bravo show "Top Chef" then saw his excellent "No Reservations" show on the Travel Channel. He looked like an interesting dude so I decided to check out his book to see what made him what he is. The book is a great read. The first half of the book was filled with stories on how he became a top chef. Crazy characters check in and out in every chapter. You learn what days NOT to eat fish. (Seriously you will think about this the next time you eat fish.) You will learn the life of a chef from the inside. I used to think I would like to be a chef. Not anymore. It is a very difficult life. You will read about people who you will not forget. Interestingly the last chapter even foreshadows his future career path. The entire book reads like Tony is telling you stories over a couple of cold beers in a pub. If you like food and you like wacky characters buy this book. Cheers!