Anthony Bourdain (near) and
Gordon Ramsay (far).
Unrelated to the picture (which I believe was taken within the last 3 years), an old article about how they met, dated December 16, 2001 from
The Indepedent.
The chef and author Anthony Bourdain, 45, was born in New York. He studied at Vassar and the Culinary Institute of America. As well as spending 25 years in the kitchen he has written several books including the novel `Bone in the Throat', an expose of New York restaurants and `Kitchen Confidential'. His latest book, `A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal', is out now. He is married and lives in New York.
Glasgow-born Gordon Ramsay, 35, grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon. He trained as a footballer and then in hotel management, and has worked with Marco Pierre White and Albert Roux. A household name since appearing in the television series `Boiling Point' in 1999, he recently opened at Claridge's. Married, with four children, he lives in London.
Gordon Ramsay: "I first heard of Tony in about 1995 when he published Bone in the Throat. He was described to me as the American version of Marco Pierre White - good-looking, tall, talented and rants and raves in his kitchen - but when I started reading the book, I could tell from the introduction here's a man who speaks from the heart, a man who understands the highs and lows of writing and cooking. Tony's gone to hell and back in his kitchen and he's come out on top and I identify with that, with being one minute the biggest arsehole, the next one of the most talented chefs.
A couple of years later I was in the Buddha Bar in Paris. It's very seedy, holds about 600 people and the atmosphere is phenomenal. We bumped into each other by the bar. We recognised each other instantly and the first thing he said was "What the fuck are you doing here?" I was doing a dinner on the eve of the World Cup final at Versailles restaurant and I explained this, I said I'm hanging out with Pele and Tony said "Who the hell's Pele?" So from there we just hit it off. We got incredibly drunk together and stayed up till about five in the morning. We bonded big time.
Then he did the coolest thing a chef has ever done. When he launched Kitchen Confidential he threw a party at Smithfield for about 450 chefs at midnight - when chefs finish work - and we hit it off there as well and after that we e-mailed and faxed each other.
He's just been a real support. He sympathised with Boiling Point. He watched it and came out with nothing but admiration so he's a breath of fresh air. Tony also wrote the foreword for my American edition of Just Desserts and I've done some filming for him for his new series. You get close to Tony only when you've gone through the mill. He doesn't have respect for chefs who just piss around and try to reinvent the Cornish pasty on television. He's a cook's cook. He has charisma. He's intriguing. What you see is what you get.
This year I asked him to be my guest at the Booker Prize. After the dinner the BBC came and interviewed us and it was the biggest embarrassment of my TV career. They asked me about the shortlist and all I could remember was the winner from last year. I rolled into a spiel about up-and-coming authors. Tony had his hands on my bollocks - literally, big time from behind - and he was squeezing and squeezing away and I was going whiter and whiter in the face. Then he came out with something to do with The Beach. It was a "Beam me up Scottie" moment.
After that we set off on this crawl round Soho. It went on until about 4.30am and the following night was the launch of Claridge's and Tony was my guest of honour.
With Tony there are no barriers, there's just pure relaxation. Thank god we only meet three or four times a year otherwise we'd be in big trouble. We meet - bang - an explosion. We're looking at doing a book tour together next year. It could be a recipe for disaster."
Anthony Bourdain: "Long before I met Gordon I'd heard of him. Also he'd been pointed out to me in Buddha Bar. I wish I could tell you more about that night but I'm ashamed to say my recollection of it is far from clear.
I have a reputation for being a word-stylist in my kitchen - tirades, playful insults - and people started saying "Hey, there's this guy you should meet over in England, known for much the same aptitude, in fact he's an even bigger bastard than you."
Well this was a challenge, but I was determined to meet him after I saw Boiling Point. Word was at fever pitch by then. I kept hearing "Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay you've got to see this show. He actually fires people on camera." And when I saw it, it seemed to me that this was an entirely reasonable man. I saw him as sympathetic from the beginning. It was the good guy against the world.
The next time I was in London I went to his restaurant. I was going for a piss when I saw him on the phone, calling in orders in the office. He looked up, gave me an evil smile and said, "You bastard!"
The table next to me - a group of loud, rich toffs - were persistently haranguing their poor waiter, trying to get Gordon to make an appearance. As they were finally getting up to leave, Gordon swans into the dining- room, looking relaxed, and flops into a seat at my table, cutting them dead. We hung out, bullshitted, gossiped, exchanged news from the front over coffee... you know, shop talk, hit it off right away and became friends.
Meeting him reinforced my opinion of him. I see him as vastly misunderstood. I've known this guy all my life in one form or another: a working-class, hard-working, no-bullshit guy with a helluva lot more cooking talent in one finger than I have in my whole body. He struck me as refreshingly not full of himself - though driven to be top dog - a guy who, like me, is not used to suffering fools gladly.
One night Gordon decided we should eat at Club Gascon [in London]. He had about 12 courses of foie gras prepared in different ways. He was careful to thank the staff profusely. As rude as he is to civilians, he is actually gracious with fellow labourers in the restaurant subculture - when he's not eviscerating them during service. It's no accident his cooks tend to stay with him year after year. People are very loyal to him.
This year he invited me to the Booker dinner. Afterwards they stuck a camera in our faces and started asking questions. I didn't know it was live so I started saying "Oh Gordon, hurry up, I rented Beaches on video again." I don't think he was too happy about it. I'm just waiting for the payback. It's going to be awful.
We're planning to hook up in New York soon and visit some chefs - unannounced - a development sure to cause discomfort. Any really good chef visiting another chef's dining-room causes "puckering rectum syndrome" - but two miserable, evil bastards like us dropping in for a snack? I'm still selecting appropriate victims and looking forward to Gordon's arrival."
Anthony Bourdain will be reading from `A Cook's Tour' (Bloomsbury, pounds 16.99) at 7.30pm on 24 January at the Royal Festival Hall, London SE1, tel: 020 7450 2000. `Just Desserts' by Gordon Ramsay is published by Quadrille, priced pounds 25
Copyright 2001 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
