No Reservation

Have you seen Anthony Bourdain's new show on the Travel Channel? We caught a recent rerun of the Paris episode. For the first time, I got to see what the Rungis market (the relocated les Halles now in the Parisian suburb) is like. Ah, we couldn't help but feel wistful about not being in Paris this summer. Heck, we were wistful for not being in Paris, period. I have seen a few episodes of Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" on the Food Network, but the one-hour "No Reservation" on Paris was well-done. The surprising "star" turns out to be chef and freelance food writer Louisa Chu, a Chinese American born in Hong Kong who has been training and cooking in Paris (at present, she cooks at the Michelin two-starred restaurant Les Ambassadeurs under Jean-François Piège at the Hôtel de Crillon). She is an articulate lady who knows her stuff (and speaks damn good French, too). Anthony is his usual cranky self, though he did go to several interesting-looking restaurants or bistros that we are dying to try out on our next trip.