But for whatever reason, and maybe it is because I can't travel anywhere, watching it again after its third season came out has made me love it way more.
I've only watched Bourdain's show in passing, and regular food tourism shows aren't always for me. But for some reason, Phil Rosenthal, and more-so the way the show is produced to focus on all types of food with a little souisant of culture, is just perfect. Also, I am so damn envious of the whole thing. Here's a guy who started a food show because he was tired of sitting on his ass on top of his hundreds of millions (he's the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond). He loves to eat, so he basically self created a food tourism show.
What's also great about it (before we get to the actual food) is that Rosenthal is so damn nice and personable. He finds friends everywhere, he keeps everyone around him at ease. He sits with random friends, food bloggers, world class chefs, and they all treat him the same. What was really nice is the few times he breaks the wall and offers a nugget or a drink to his cameraman - or even bring his producers to a seafood feast in Lisbon. Yes, at times he corny, but he's also pure hilarity throughout. And he has such a damn good yearning to eat good food. It is clear either every place he goes to is well researched, or the bad places get edited out, but he loves all the food - and to be fair it looks great.
The food though is the star, and what I truly love about the show is how well it does at showcasing all types of food. Take his episode in Lisbon (granted from teh first season of the show). In the episode, he ate at the following:
- two-michelin star restaurant in the heart of Lisbon
- food market
- seafood restaurant on a picturesque pier
- famous place that only serves Pastel de Natas
- Incredble home-style seafood restaurant
- Goan-Portuguese restaurant
- random neighborhood with an Italian gelato shop, pizza place and an Austrian sausage shop
- two-michelin star restaurant in a suburb
- Fado house
If you want fancy, well plated beauty, there was two places. If you want homestyle or more down-to-earth restaurants, there was three places. if you want desert there were a couoe of places. If you want stalls or grab-and-go there were a few places. It is incredible how well he mixes all types of restaurants and food.
This is the same in all episodes, and what I can definitely say is that the show has really made me want to go to places (or in the case of a Tel Aviv or Mexico City, go back) because of this. Now, it helps that one of my key ingredients of any trip is good food, but seeing Buenos Aires (again, a couple uber-fancy places, but also one place - Peron Peron - that I want to live in) or Marrakech, or even the titular Lisbon, which I went to last when I was 10, makes me want to go there instantly.
The complex mix of an entertaining host who you can tell is enjoying himself so damn much (quick aside, how the hell is he so thin?), locations that are interesting and shot in a great way, a brilliant mix of restaurants across class, cuisines and price, you truly get an amazing food tourism show. I hope this multi-hundred-millionaire keeps his passion project going for years and years to come.
