No Reservations in Detroit

My roommate and I used to very much "enjoy" watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel channel. And by "enjoy," I mean we shared a mutual crush on this guy and would eagerly watch and laugh at everything he said. In the show, Tony happily travels and eats his way through different countries, which, in my opinion is a dream job. Monday night's episode (which I sadly missed) featured food in cities from the Rust Belt: Baltimore, Buffalo and Detroit, Detroit being a place where my roommate and I both share familial ties. Check out the clip below as well as Tony's personal account of hard-ass Detroiters...




Anthony Bourdain's blog, July 27: Detroit. Where just about everything cool originated. As angry as one gets looking at block after block of abandoned row houses in Baltimore and wondering how the hell that happened, it's mind boggling to see how far Detroit has been allowed to fall. But what a truly magnificent breed of crazy-ass hardcase characters have dug in there. Of all three cities we visited, Detroit, oddly enough, even while looking the jaws of death straight in the face, remains closest to being a true culinary wonderland. This is due entirely to the successive waves of migration and immigration from all over the world, when people came to MAKE things in America -- each group bringing their own food and traditions. Detroit IS the story of America, for better -- and worse, and I think we've missed that, allowed ourselves to look away. Detroit, after all, made us who we are. Literally. A country of cars, highways, car culture, upward mobility, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and what were once, unlimited dreams. Whatever happens next, Motown, Eminem and the Stooges' "Fun House", at least, shall surely outlast the automobile.