CONGRATS BILL C and CHRIS J
There were SOOO many amazing posts, and frankly, the final itinerary I’d suggest would include a little of nearly all of them. I’ve made a spreadsheet with my favorite suggestions (by town) and plan to hit every single on in the coming months. What it ultimately came down to for me were sort of oddball, local spots that had some grit and wacky to them. Not the “beautiful” spots of Sonoma County. The stuff that would make good TV. Stay tuned for my “Best of” based on your votes.
I just can’t quit Anthony Bourdain. He’s a smug, foul-mouthed, boozy nihilist. He’s a poster boy for the schticky celebrity chefs he routinely skewers. His kitchen-cred is admittedly questionable, he’s not shy about where women belong, and the whole Quentin Tarantino channeling Hunter S. Thompson gets a little grating after 40 episodes or so.
Yet we, his brooding followers, can never get enough of King Tony’s bad boy antics and alcohol-fueled adventures. As the Patron Saint of Egoist Chefs, Dean of Maliciously Delicious Tweets and Railer Against Food D-Baggery, we eagerly dissect every episode of No Reservations and now, The Layover. We cheer as countless Kitchen Dimwits, Culinary Poseurs, food writers, and, well, most of the Food Network fall upon his sword. Huzzah!
So it’s with girlish glee we welcome Tony’s return Feb. 10, 2012 with the Chef Eric Ripert (“Good”) in the continuation of their show, “Good vs. Evil” at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts. You will be there, of course, eating up every word as he skewers Guy, Rachel, Paula (Oh, Paula) and an ever-broadening list of celebrity targets. We will even come back for more as he dismisses Wine Country while blathering on and on and on about how great San Francisco is. He doesn’t mean it. Really, he doesn’t.
Need a ticket, you say?
Here’s the deal: Outline a script for a Layover in Sonoma County. Trot out the really weird, funky stuff he’d see here. Suggest a dive bar spot for playing quarters with Doug Keane and Doug Richey (right?) while discussing the finer points of the foie gras ban. Where to get his hands dirty (I’m thinking Lou Preston would school him good). What other local food characters and shenanigans shall we put on display? Methinks a trip to Mark Maliki’s Casino might be in order? A little of Mateo’s hot sauce? A dive into the Hello Cello Limoncello vats? A trip to all of Guy’s favorite local DDD spots?
We’re rife with possibilities.
I’ll judge the two best comments and award you each TWO TICKETS for the show. (Wanna buy ’em? They’re almost sold out, but here you go). I’ll announce the winner on Feb. 8.
Will Bourdain ever see ’em? Come on. This guy is has insulators for his insulators. Not bloody likely. But we can live in the satisfaction that we’re good enough. We’re worthy enough. And at least Guy likes us.