Because you misunderstood the point… He wasnt a food critic… He was a travel journalist and story teller; and when that’s your bag, you seek out great experiences, not spend your time evaluating bad ones. .
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Greeks have a gift for hospitality. It seems to go deep in their culture. I’m Spanish and I was really surprised and moved by how good they are at hosting.
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I had problems with him too. I also learned a lot from him. One of the problems I had with him was an episode he did about a restaurant in CDMX and he kept asking the owner about the cartels. The cartels aren’t a problem for the average resident of Mexico City. The cartels certainly are for the average residents of vast swaths of Mexico, but not Mexico City. I also didn’t like him for a long time because I thought he was of a type of my generation, i.e. males who thought good writing was Hunter Thompson, William Burroughs, Bukowski, and Jack Kerouac. I was once like that, but just a hair younger than him. He never seemed to progress beyond that supposedly “edgy” literature.
But even given all that, he left a body of work that was amazing. He was one of the few food commentators that understood the deep relationship between food and people and their culture. This Waffle House piece is exactly what I’m talking about. I feel horrible about his death and I feel we’ve lost a truly wonderful voice and I regret some of my picky problems with him. Thank you Anthony Bourdain.
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Frankly, I always found Waffle House to be rather creepy, late at night. It never helped that 1/2-2/3 of the songs on the inevitable jukebox had “Waffle House” IN THE NAME (by real bands, yet)! It was funny, yet not.
It didn’t help that many, if not most Waffle House locations are actually really, really bad, compared even to Denny’s or other “blah”, less colorful destinations. They’ve given me food poisoning 4 times, so far (1 time more than Wendy’s >.<’)…
Is food poisoning really common? It seems like that’s a lot of food poisoning for one person! What popped into my mind as I read that was, I wonder if you might have some food sensitivities, to particular ingredients that they use. (It would probably be hard to figure out though, because I bet their lists of ingredients might be a mile long, with all kinds of additives–I’m just guessing of course.) (I’m saying this as someone who has some food sensitivities myself, so that’s why it popped out at me in that way.)
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Are you sure it’s actual food poisoning you had or rather your intolerance for grease?
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No allergies or sensitivities. The doctor was also rather clear about it, each time, and I’ve eaten the same foods before and since with no issues. Yes, I’m sure.
@Heraclito What in the world would make you think I’m intolerant of grease? Eating multiple times at greasy restaurants implies exactly the opposite, in fact.
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Too true.
I’m a sucker for Tomy’s Chili fries. They’re f-ing horribly delicious.
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That was one thing I wanted to add – I’ve been to various Waffle Houses all over the country, but never when drunk. I hear they’re good places to go when desperate. But I always went because I genuinely enjoyed the waffles, the hash browns (scattered smothered covered and diced), the chicken, and the pork chops, all of which were consistently good, fast, and cheap. And I always had the feeling, when eating there, that it was the last vestige of the “nighthawks diner” – that sort of common space where truckers and good ol’ boys and punk kids and families were all drinking the same coffee, eating the same waffles, and listening to songs about the Waffle House on the jukebox.
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Not to nitpick, but those aren’t hashbrowns. Delicious looking, but not hashbrowns.
As an FYI, Waffle House makes the best hashbrowns in the world. Might want to give it a try.
Too late; you already did.
And newsflash: I never said or even implied they were.
I guess you somehow missed the bolded word:
O’Brien’s
in my original comment.
Thanks for breakfast-splaining to me, that’s totally what I needed this morning.
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Hash browns - like steak fries - are always a disappointment.
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Depends upon where you go, methinks.
Steak Escape’s steak fries used to be quite fantastic… but that was at least two decades ago, when I last ate there.
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Not really that common, no, especially in a quickservice restaurant that’s basically just using a flat top and some waffle irons; the chances of food contamination are pretty low, though I guess underdone chicken or someone handling plates after handling raw meat could happen, though they usually change gloves quite a lot behind the counter to prevent that kind of thing.
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I think you’re missing the point; Waffle House isn’t just slop, it’s the best slop. Big difference.
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“Food poisoning” is frequently food-borne pathogens along the lines of salmonella, e-coli, or my personal favorite, norovirus. It’s quite possible to be unlucky in pathogen roulette. I seem to have a knack for it. If I’m long-distance driving, I pack a cooler rather than risk another round of “do you feel lucky?”
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Melizmatic. Are you having a bad day? Good lord. SORRY I thought you were responding in kind to HIS post on HASH BROWNS.
Good lord Melizmatic. Chill out. Have a nice day.
Late night waffle house is the only people watching I understand. It helps when that people watching comes with like 2 lbs of hash browns for $3.
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I too for a long time thought he was just playing a character, and I will cop to loving those writers as well…
Thing is, he never broke character. At least as far as I could tell. Reading his books that same passion came across in the same persona. I think he really was what he put himself out there to be. Yes it seemed everything regardless of what he was eating was the greatest thing in his mind at the moment and it almost seems like he played favoritism with whoever he was hosting at the minute, but as time went on, I took it as a graciousness toward his host and learning to appreciate in the unique situation what he had at the detriment of each other experience. I think it was a form of kindness and humble appreciation for the minute he developed. It was very close at times to pretending but I think it was genuine.
This is why I liked No Reservations the most- there was no pretension at all he just seemed to be his grizzled self enjoying things. He opined on the beauty of the darkness he sometimes came across in the world but he found a way to celebrate no matter where he was and find common ground.
Very few people can be that jaded and yet still find empathy and understanding.
He was a unique guy.
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