No Reservations, part 4

"I'm here. What's keeping you?" -- Anthony Bourdain in front of Domilise's

More love for Tony's New Orleans episode of No Reservations.

Unlike many shows that have come to New Orleans for "a very special episode", Tony came here, pretty much told it exactly like it is, and did what most of us would have done in his shoes. He showed how we're down, but not out; we're fighting like nobody else in the US has ever had to fight before; we feel abandoned; and we'll make it, with or without anybody's help.

Sinn Fein, baby.

Exactly the message that needed to be sent. Now, I'm a mook and the first thing I always do is tell people "It wasn't the hurricane, it was the criminally designed, constructed and maintained levees and floodwalls". Tony didn't do that, but I really don't think he needed to. That would have probably come across as a bit heavy handed. He got the point across well enough by showing the picture of the rebuilt floodwall that was spray painted "HINDSIGHT", and the next day, the Corps painted over it.

Classic.

Although, Chris Rose's faux accent kind of made me want to take a shower.

If you're like me, and been kinda negligent with the Wellbutrin, then you were probably tearing up several times. As much as he plays the lofty stereotypical New York curmudgeon, things like the cheesecloth on the lemon and the curly parsley at Antoine's made him as sentimental as a Dan Fogelberg fan on New Year's Eve.

That was beautiful.

Like Tony, I truly appreciate the idea that you can have, in this day and age, a professional waiter. Not some wannabe actor, not a student who doesn't even know the menu, but a professional who has been doing this job for years, and knows everything on the menu, everything in the bar, and every way to prepare the menu. I pray those days are not coming to a close. I pray that there will still be a place for Antoine's and their staff.

He exposed Emeril for what he really is: a chef and restauranteur. Forget the facade you see on the food network -- Emeril belongs in the kitchen. I'm sure that Emeril's people reserved the right to see the final cut of the Emeril segment. You know it. He had to be cussing like a rollergirl, and you know he was talking about as much shit about the food network as Tony does. I bet he's a hell of a hardass in the kitchen, and I'd hate to even wash dishes under him, but he's good at what he does.

Speaking of Rollergirls, you can get the same Big Easy Rollergirls shirt that Tony was wearing here, off the internets.

Tony's right. Emeril, more than anybody else, made the food network. Unfortunately, the food network is more about Poochie and Gatemouth than about cooking nowadays, and that's a shame for people like Emeril and Batali, people who actually know their way around a kitchen.

The Emeril segment had to last a good two hours, and boy, would I like to see an extended director's cut version of the entire episode. For example, the segments with Jacques Leonardi were axed completely. All you saw was the staff in front at the end.

The segment with George the fisherman made me well up as well. Like he said "It's in your blood". It is, or it isn't. I can't live anywhere else -- I've tried. The swamp calls my ass back here, and that swampwater flows through my veins. Tony recognizes that in those of us that stay. We stay because, despite the odds, there is a calling to stay. It's our destiny.

I love how once the boat got underway, George didn't have any nerves in front of the camera. He was at home, on the water. I grew up going out on a boat about every other weekend, and I know that feeling. I hope that there is a world where the solo commercial fisherman can survive.

I pay $16 a pound for Louisiana crawfish tails instead of $4 a pound for Chinese, because they're more than 4 times better. How many people do you know actually read labels in a market? Since the federal flood, I read them all the time. Don't get McCormick's when you can get Rex or Zatarain's. Don't get Emeril's sausage when you can get Savoie's. And don't get Sierra Nevada when you can get Abita. (Yes friends, that's the very definition of self sacrifice for me.)

George is still here, the only one on his block. Robert Green is still here, fighting against all odds. These are my heroes. His nephew sweeps the sidewalk. George mows his neighbors' yards. The guy in the riding mower in No Reservations mows his yard. Even though there's nobody around, the yards get mowed, the sidewalks get swept, and our little corner of New Orleans stays neat and tidy.

That's what we do. That's who we are.

That's what Anthony Bourdain captured.

Thanks, Tony.

Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.

Comments

[GentillyGirl]

Betts and I try to always buy Looziana or American stuffs.

(Fruits from S. America in the Winter is the difference.)

We deal locally.

[saintseester]

Now, I feel lucky. Our local grocery carries Savoie's. I clean then out regularly.

[Frolic]

Nicely said.

I also wondered about Rose's accent. Well-born boys from Washington don't speak that way. Is that a post-storm affectation? On that last voiceover, when it was really thick, I actually thought someone else was reading.

[Puddinhead]

Rose has been here in New Orleans since at least the late 80s when I had him playing with me on a team in an adult basketball league (compliments of my best high school buddy who was writing for the TP then). I'm guessing twenty years is long enough for local dialect to sort of rub off on you if you're not actively resisting it. Just as an aside, as a player he was kind of a mini-Ryan Bowen--hustled his ass off and threw his body at every loose ball and stray rebound.

[Mr. Clio]

Berto and I taught George's kids at Archbishop Hannan High School (the St. Bernard version, not the phony Northshore version). Bought shrimp from the back of his truck hours after he came back from a trip. I have his cell #. Maybe we can do a boil next time he makes a run.

[ashley]

Frolic/Puddinhead -- the deal was, his accent wasn't consistent. When he was in Domilise's, he sounded like Chris Rose. The initial narration was a bit thick, but the closing narration was extremely affected. I talk to him about once a week or so, and he normally sounds like he did in Domilise's.

Cl10: oh yeah...Tell him I'll buy 10 pounds of shrimp any time he's got 'em. And some ersters too.

[Puddinhead]

Eh, what do I know? It's been twenty years since I've talked to him...

[ashley]

You know more than most of us combined, puddinhead.

Although, when I lived in LA, I had my pseudo-midwestern-neutral accent that immediately disappeared when my dad called me on the phone. Co-workers would actually gather round to hear me digress into that gulf coast twang that I pull out when *I* least expect it.

[Frolic]

Ashley, that's what I noticed about the accent as well. It was really thick and oddly twangy on that final voice over. At first, I thought someone else was reading his book.

Who knows. Not a big deal. Britney's had a weird accent recently too. Ha!

[alli]

Shit, I've been here permanently for about 8 months, and I can do the accent. But I'm a freak and practice these things!

[KamaAina]

The weird thing about Rose's accent is, it sounds vaguely Downtown, not at all what you'd hear at Domilise's.

Then again, the accent that I trot out on occasion to this very day is similar, though my home for those two years was in relatively accent-free Carrollton.

It would've also been nice to feature somebody of color, lest the audience get the impression that everyone in town looks like Rose, or Tom Fitzmorris, or Emeril.

Otherwise, definitely an hour better spent than with two more sitcom reruns. Of course, now I want to go back...

[Charlotte]

WTF about accents? I watched the show and didn't notice anything about Rose's accent being fakey and I don't even like him particularly. I've live in Nola for 30 years this May but I still fall into the twangy southern drawl when I go home to MS.
Get a life, folks. Sheesh.

[ashley]

Charlotte, most of us know better than to ask somebody from Mississippi to spot accents. ;^)

[Maitri]

Just sayin' that Rose was born and raised in the DC area and went to school at Wisconsin. Ya, you betcha, ok den.

[Aaron]

Are you the sucker for the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale? That's one of the few versions that gets down here from that brewery - I think the Abita Jockamo does a very good version of the IPA - the sacrifice can stop!

[Charlotte]

Touch' Ash.....:)

[Leonelle]

It was hard for me to watch the show, kept flipping back and forth. You'd think that only men in NO are in the restaurant industry. I complained on the Food Network website.

[karenb]

I wasn't sure if it was just me. I noticed Chris' accent and was baffled by it.

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I think Leilene is getting the winner's edit. We haven't seen her say one unpleasant thing about anybody

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