Bourdain in Dolores Park. Photo: Via Travel Channel
If you didn't catch the premiere of Anthony Bourdain's new series The Layover last night, you haven't missed a whole lot…yet. Just wait until the San Francisco episode airs! As many a food blog has chronicled, all summer long Bourdain has been filming The Layover right here in S.F. And, not surprisingly, his time in our culinary oasis has had an effect on the food god. The proof? These sweet — and intense!— quotes he recently served up to
The New York Times.
Our fave: "Anyone who doesn’t have a great time in San Francisco is pretty much dead to me," he says. "You go there as a snarky New Yorker thinking it’s politically correct, it’s crunchy granola, it’s vegetarian, and it surprises you every time. It’s a two-fisted drinking town, a carnivorous meat-eating town, it’s dirty and nasty and wonderful." Awwww. Thanks, Bourdain! And he doesn't stop! In fact, he was willing to name a few of these "nasty and wonderful" surprises, such as his favorite dive bars in Chinatown: "Mr. Bing’s, Li Po, and then the fantastic Zam Zam Room in the Haight. It is definitely a place untouched by time." And, as proof that our fair city is indeed a "carnivorous meat-eating town," he lists The House of Prime Rib as one of his top spots. "It’s not the best steak by a long shot, but they cut you a big slab of prime rib and serve you martinis you can swim in, and Yorkshire pudding," he says of the Van Ness venue. Plus, he adds, "they’ve got the flocked wallpaper. I’m sentimental about such things." Sigh. Us, too.