• Kitchen Confidential

  • Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
  • By: Anthony Bourdain
  • Narrated by: Anthony Bourdain
  • Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (36,179 ratings)

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Kitchen Confidential

By: Anthony Bourdain
Narrated by: Anthony Bourdain
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Editorial review


By Seth Hartman, Audible Editor

WITH KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, ANTHONY BOURDAIN SPILLED HIS GUTS AND MADE HISTORY

Drawing from his experience and pedigree as a seasoned chef in New York City, Anthony Bourdain brings an honest, impassioned, and aggressively pretense-free perspective to this seemingly glamorous life. As a lifelong eater and obsessive patron of all types of cooking shows, Kitchen Confidential left a special impact on me.

Rather than providing a "view from the mountaintop," Bourdain meets the listener at eye level, narrating a brutally honest and relentlessly detailed account of life in the kitchen in his own voice. While I am sure he would hate to be described as such, Anthony Bourdain arguably created the punk rock, alternative bad boy aesthetic that has become a popular trope among celebrity chefs. Through this book, he spares no details recounting the long hours, strained relationships, drug abuse, and insomnia that colored his experiences working at some of the finest dining institutions in New York and beyond. While stories like this are more commonly told in today’s media landscape, Bourdain really kicked the doors open for public discourse about restaurant life.

While I love to be in the kitchen and think of myself as a decent cook, I still consider what goes on behind closed doors in a restaurant to be magical. After falling in love with Bourdain as a television personality, I thought I would try to deepen my connection with my burgeoning passion in the kitchen by listening to his memoir. I always loved Anthony Bourdain for his ability to "take off the gloves" when speaking about some of the industry’s best kept secrets. I honestly don’t think I would have the courage to push myself in the kitchen if it wasn’t for his sarcastic yet encouraging voice pushing me along. With his signature dry sense of humor and absolute refusal to muzzle himself, Kitchen Confidential is full of Bourdain’s almost dogmatic "dos and don’ts." For example, he absolutely refuses to eat fish on Mondays in New York City based on of what he knows about fish suppliers and when restaurants tend to buy stock. One of my favorite parts about this book is that it makes you not only a better home chef but a better restaurant-goer as well.

After his tragic demise in 2018, I felt something that I rarely feel from a celebrity death. Anthony Bourdain was a one-of-a-kind soul, an unparalleled talent, and a man who truly brought a never-before-seen look into his craft to the general public. This book encapsulates everything I love and admire about the man. While some people are put off by his blunt, profane, and occasionally jaded point of view, I think these qualities made him the greatest foodie there ever was.

While this memoir is certainly ideal for those wishing to understand more about the inner workings of the restaurant business, it has a very wide appeal. No matter if you are an industry professional, long time hobbyist (like me), or couldn't care less about haute cuisine, Bourdain's wisdom will reach you somehow. His musings on life, passion, addiction, and love are feelings we can all relate to one way or another. If you are looking to make a change in your life or are searching for some kind of creative inspiration, there is a lot of gold to be found here.

Continue reading Seth's review >

Publisher's summary

Recently, The New Yorker published chef Anthony Bourdain's shocking, "Don't Eat Before Reading This." Bourdain spared no one's appetite in this tell-all about what happens behind the kitchen door.

Now, the author uses the same "take-no-prisoners" attitude in his deliciously funny and shockingly delectable audiobook, sure to delight gourmands and philistines alike. From his first oyster in the Gironde, to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown, from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable.

Kitchen Confidential will make your mouth water while your belly aches with laughter. You'll beg the chef for more, please.

Anthony Bourdain is the author of the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo. This is his first work of nonfiction. He is the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York City.

Hear an exclusive interview with Bourdain.

©51
2000 Anthony Bourdain
(P)2000 Random House, Inc.

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What listeners say about Kitchen Confidential

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Great book

This a very entertaining book. So glad Anthony himself read it. Couldn’t recommend it enough.

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Yes.

That was fucking awesome. As someone who works in the kitchen it was also informative and crudely guiding.
Thank you and Rest In Peace Anthony.

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Unbeatable in this genre

So well stated, honest, and entertaining.

All of us have had our lives enriched by him sharing his journey and thoughts.

Each of us live in a world that is now less as he is no longer with us!

Amazing audiobook, very well read.

Thank you Anthony

Forever Grateful

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Fantastic.

After a lifetime of working in the restaurant industry myself, I found this book was so relatable. I loved his narration as well. Bourdain is a gifted storyteller.

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Excellent

This book was excellent from start to finish. I’d heard about it years ago and was shocked to find out it was made in 2000. Been a Bourdain fan for a while and seeing it here made me nostalgic for watching his travel channel shows as a kid. It was a great listen

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Fantastic

So brilliant, entertaining and makes me truly appreciate the restaurant business so much more. Love this man! RIP

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Love this book

I really love this book and would recommend it. I read the paper back and audiobook- both were worth the read!

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Entertaining

I enjoyed this story and found it eerie as well. It held my attention and gave great pointers and history

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It’s like he comeback to check on you

It’s no surprise June is one of those months that stuck up to me in recent memory. Now as I approaching to my 23rd birthday, escape a horrorible experience working at a sorry of an excuse restaurant.
To my delight and painful nostalgia, I decided to muster my courage to finish this book by the end of this month, and boy do I miss him. More than ever, in fact, since finish this book, I have landed myself a new job at a sushi spot for a decent rate. But I digress, the most important about this book, is how it’s still prevalent in the landscape of today, rather in a more shaky terms. Yet the life of people in the restaurant lives on, as they may not recognize how important and vital towards the morale of people. A trip to restaurant is like a whimsical and magical feeling, juxtapose to the rugged, foul-mouth chef behind the kitchen. The book and it’s word speak to a funny, cynical and yet often, tragic about the people who worked days and night out feeding both their family and others (mostly strangers).

And yet with Anthony’s voice, you can sense that he was in fact contempt with his choice, and somehow didn’t expect it to be this successful. After all, it’s have been a week passed since his birthday and an untimely death. So here I am now, after have finished this, the only thing that I can do now to sleep and recoup for tomorrow’s shift. It was nice to hear him come back and read out his life. God Bless his soul, Miss you always, Uncle Tony.

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What a Classic!

If you have any interest or kinship with professional kitchens, and appreciate detailed, rowdy, no holds barred 1st person description, this is the book for you. I miss Anthony Bourdain so much. Glad he lives on in his books.

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