Spent most of show in AC, Asbury Park, Camden and LBI in the winter. How do you go to NJ and not go to Montclair, Morristown, New Brunswick, Red Bank, even Delicious Orchards etc, unless you just want NJ to look like crap?
Bourdain was so depressing in NJ
- Thread starter Beancounter88
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He did a New Jersey show in his first season of his previous series. Went to a small cheesemaker in the Skylands, a greasy spoon at the Shore (NOT in AC or AP), and an Italian bakery/restaurant with Rutgers grad Mario Batali. Pretty good hour. Guess this one wasn't as good, but as usual I'll have to catch it myself. He's done some really, really good work -- Beirut springs to mind -- over the years, but I wonder if Travel Channel and CNN are just that different to work for.
If you read the articles in the paper he did it that way deliberately. He taped in the dead of winter and went to the worst or use to be worst (AP) places in NJ to show how there is still life and good place even at the worst time of year and at the seemingly bad parts of the state.
+1. Anyone who has never visited NJ who watched believes all the stereotypes of NJ being a dump. It looked horrific.
I have seen his show many times on CNN and previously on Food Network. If he wants to spend the bulk of the show on NJ's down-and-out towns, that's his call. My problem is that those towns it's not really indicative of the state anymore, especially with so few people living in those places. And I know his whole point was trying to be journalistic about the fall of these cities, but would a sausage & peppers on Seaside Hts in summer have killed him????
I truly have no idea who Bourdain is and why anyone cares what he thinks about NJ. Because the thread did not have an OT, I thought we had lost an out of state recruit. Can Bourdain play QB?
You guys are unreal. The CNN show is not supposed to be like No Reservations. The CNN show is called "Parts Unknown." His goal with this show is most often to show places that people wouldn't normally see. It is not a tourism video, it is not supposed to make the places he goes look good or bad. The last thing he is trying to do is promote the hip trendy parts of NJ, or show the "best of" New Jersey. He is trying to show a side of NJ that no one sees, which is what pretty much every episode of this show is.
Maybe you should do some research on who he is first and then maybe you will understand.
You seem to be under the impression NJ is not a piece of crap. Have you ever traveled elsewhere? It doesn't compare well.
I really did not see much of the show because I was flipping back to the "Final Days of Vietnam" documentary. But I'm not really surprised by your comments and this is typical of his series ("Parts Unknown"). He doesn't necessarily go to places to show a lot of pleasantries. My take on Bourdain (at least in this series) is that he wants to show the grim and sometimes, "in your face" type stuff and then tie that in with people's interesting stories and food. I agree that a good show on NJ would be Princeton, Morristown, Cape May, Sussex County, New Brunswick, Delaware Water Gap, etc. (perhaps along with segments on Newark and Camden) but that's not really what he wants to get across on the show. I think I read somewhere that he did a show (maybe not "Parts Unknown") about Baltimore in which he angered some of the Baltimore folks by not showing enough about Baltimore's amenities (Inner Harbor, seafood/crab restaurants, etc.).
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Dude, this is a RU football/sports board, have your TV show discussions on the OT board! or else don't lambaste people for asking ....
You really think he was being serious! If you read the OP and thought he was taking about a hS recruit you are a idiot. "Spent most of the show"
The interesting thing is that, most of the rest of the country doesn't really know a lot about New Jersey or what's there - aside from, perhaps, the intro to "The Sopranos" or that horrible "Jersey Shore." You could do an hour on Cape May, the Pinelands, Princeton, the Bayshore, Delicious Orchards (yum!), the Water Gap and the Skylands, Morris County, or just about anywhere that ISN'T the New Jersey Turnpike, Newark Airport, and the refineries of Elizabeth and you would be doing a show that most of America would be thinking is "Parts Unknown."
I have been living in the metro Boston area for the better part of the past two decades and I can assure you that no one outside of the Garden State knows anything about New Jersey (as our fellow B1G brethern have already attested in posts elsewhere, over the last year and a half). But, Bourdain and just about anyone else is well within their rights to produce the kinds of shows they would like. I would encourage anyone reading this post that, if you work in the entertainment industry - or know someone who does, you should find some way to feature all of the beauty and wonder of our fair Garden State ...
... oh, and F*CK ttfp!
I have been living in the metro Boston area for the better part of the past two decades and I can assure you that no one outside of the Garden State knows anything about New Jersey (as our fellow B1G brethern have already attested in posts elsewhere, over the last year and a half). But, Bourdain and just about anyone else is well within their rights to produce the kinds of shows they would like. I would encourage anyone reading this post that, if you work in the entertainment industry - or know someone who does, you should find some way to feature all of the beauty and wonder of our fair Garden State ...
... oh, and F*CK ttfp!
Am I supposed to take any thread that mentions crappy boardwalk food as "NJ cuisine" seriously?
I want you guys who talk about boardwalk pizza and sandwiches like it's some of the greatest in the land to know that 99% of people are laughing at you on the inside as you wax nostalgic/poetic.
It's crap. It fills the hole when you've been on the beach/boards all day (or you're drunk from the bars) but it's crap none-the-less.
I want you guys who talk about boardwalk pizza and sandwiches like it's some of the greatest in the land to know that 99% of people are laughing at you on the inside as you wax nostalgic/poetic.
It's crap. It fills the hole when you've been on the beach/boards all day (or you're drunk from the bars) but it's crap none-the-less.
Why bother with perspective when you can cry and complain.
At least the grown men that whine like female preteens and play the chronic victim here cast NJ in a positive light!
His NYC episide took him through the Bronx, where he ate at a few dirty spoon corner joints out of styrofoam boxes, talking about Stop & Frisk policies and the heyday of graffiti bombed subway trains. Not quite Smith & Wollensky or even Shake Shack.
This is what Bourdain does because this is what he wants to convey. Even in the down & out neighborhoods, off the beaten path, you find authentic people serving & eating authentic food.
This is what Bourdain does because this is what he wants to convey. Even in the down & out neighborhoods, off the beaten path, you find authentic people serving & eating authentic food.
This. None of his choices were surprising, given the focus of the show. And he had a lot of positive to say about NJ.
Are there compelling stories in those towns? The show is about stories, more than anything. It's not a highlight reel.
He did highlight the revitalization of Asbury Park, which I think was a good choice.
It's hard to do any state justice in a single one-hour show.
Ding, ding, ding! As much as everyone wants to turn a blind eye, there are blights in NJ, just as there are in any other area. I can't tell you the last time I've been to Camden, other than just passing through on the way to Philadelphia. It's covering something that's real and in our backyards.
Bourdain is clearly a negatoid, I don't know how he gets out of bed in the morning, lol. Seriously, anybody complaining about this episode clearly hasn't seen his shows before and hasn't taken 5 minutes to understand what he is about.
I honestly believe that most people complaining about this episode wouldn't have watched at all if they understood Bourdain's perspective and point of view. Everybody wanted to see a glowing NJ infomercial instead he took you on a tour of the 'Parts Unknown'. Those are the parts that most want to ignore, that's his point and reactions in this thread prove that point.
I honestly believe that most people complaining about this episode wouldn't have watched at all if they understood Bourdain's perspective and point of view. Everybody wanted to see a glowing NJ infomercial instead he took you on a tour of the 'Parts Unknown'. Those are the parts that most want to ignore, that's his point and reactions in this thread prove that point.
I like Anthony Bourdain. He is a hard hitting journalist, author and a real Chef who paid his dues.. He's the polar opposite of celebrity "chefs" Guy Fieri and Rachel Ray who are making a fortune despite the lack of any real culinary talent. I'm sure that Fieri and Ray are nice people but they are famous and popular along the lines of a Ryan Secreast.
BINGO ...spot on
Ive seen everything AB has done and he isnt that upbeat a person. His shows are about the dark underbelly of whatever place he is filming.
He just had a kid and his wife is a Brazilian MMA fighter(no..I am NOT kidding)...he has a weird point of view that many people like. I LOVED his slant on Vietnam....a place he loves and almost retired to not long ago.
LBI isn't exactly run-down. Bourdain mentioned some of the other towns on his way to Kubel's. Barnegat Light is just a tiny town that's just a bit of a trek through the sleepy, rich neighborhoods on the north side of the island.
Good choice to show that dish of clams boiling in butter, though! It reminded me of the time my mother's friend's husband bought a giant helping of clams for us when he and his wife spent a weekend at our LBI house.
Good choice to show that dish of clams boiling in butter, though! It reminded me of the time my mother's friend's husband bought a giant helping of clams for us when he and his wife spent a weekend at our LBI house.
I just caught a back-episode of Parts Unknown...AB visited Miami. Aside from a brief 20 seconds spent on the sparkling Miami Beach side, the rest of the episode was about the darker side of Miami. Anyone who saw that episode would not expect a cheery infomercial for NJ. It's not a Samantha Brown where-to-go-on-your-vacation type of show, and it isn't even like this previous shows on Food Network and Travel Channel. There's still a food slant (part of who he is), but it's about revealing stories about people who live in these places, not about covering places tourists would want to visit.
Why do that?
This is a Rutgers Football Board...and this title made it seem it had something to do with Rutgers Football, when it actually had to do with some former chef going to restaurants/bars.
I just finished watching it and the show was great, wtf is wrong with you guys? First, get a perspective about the man, he never does a puff piece. Personally, I would have been bored stiff if he went to Morristown. He went to AC and the segment wasn't in a casino, he hit it from a different perspective and may have actually taught some people something. The Camden segment was wonderful and showed the good in people in the very worst situations.
I loved every minute of the episode
I loved every minute of the episode
Agreed. The show was actually a sentimental love letter, of sorts, to his home state. You could tell how much he loved the places and people he visited, even if some of them have seen better days, and the food joints he went to were almost all long-time local favorites with great food.
He started at Hiram's in Fort Lee for burgers and dogs (near where he grew up, went to Kubel's in Barnegat (where he went to every summer as a kid) for steamed clams/seafood, hit Dock's and the Knife and Fork in AC for the timeless food served there, while also discussing how AC didn't get it right with the casinos (no surprise to many of us), went to Donkey's in Camden for awesome Jersey-style cheesesteaks (and included a heartwarming story on efforts there to keep kids out of trouble), and had a down home meal at Frank's Deli in Asbury Park with Southside Johnny and the two of them even played a little pinball at the Silverball Museum. I've eaten at most of those places and while they're not the hoity-toity top of the line places in NJ, they're all places with great food, character and tradtion, which help define what is "Jersey."
This excerpt from the Ledger does a nice job of sharing Bourdain's viewpoint for the show (the article is very good, IMO).
He and his producers decided to focus on all the "screwed-up" parts of New Jersey -- Atlantic City, Camden, (the admittedly resurgent) Asbury Park. "Let's make them look beautiful," he says in the episode, which airs Sunday at 9 p.m. "In fact, let's shoot the Jersey Shore in winter. Let's do everything wrong and go to all the wrong places and show people that Jersey is still awesome."
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/...urdain_parts_unknown_new_jersey_atlantic.html
Some of you are really missing the point of Parts Unknown whose whole purpose is to go to places most peolle would never go.
Across the country in Family Feud style: Name one city in NJ, bet AC comes up #1 or #2 with the other simply known for its Airport.
