Reserve an hour for Chef Bourdain

I can think of only two TV chefs who've inspired sitcoms: Emeril Lagasse and Anthony Bourdain. Neither sitcom lasted very long.

Emeril played himself in an eponymous situation comedy from "Designing Women" producers Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. The plots were silly, and they treated Lagasse as the one sane man working among eccentrics -- which seemed like a waste of the flashy, larger-than-life TV personality from "Emeril Live."

Anthony Bourdain became "Jack Bourdain," played by Bradley Cooper, in the FOX network sitcom based on Bourdain's tell-all "Kitchen Confidential." I saw even less of this than I saw of "Emeril," so I'm not really qualified to judge it -- but why would you want to watch a fake Tony Bourdain when the real one is so entertaining?

Bourdain is a former restaurant chef who is also a great writer and storyteller. In the book "Kitchen Confidential," which I must admit is still on my to-do list, he dished about the seamy underbelly of restaurants in general and New York restaurants in particular. The book became famous for some of its consumer advice, such as not to order "fresh" seafood on Monday, since the seafood market is closed Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.

The success of "Kitchen Confidential" on the newsstands led to "A Cook's Tour," a half-hour Food Network travelogue that took Bourdain to various locations around the world in search of new foods and flavors. I don't think I'll ever forget the episode, shot in Vietnam, in which Bourdain went to a restaurant that served cobra -- the whole cobra -- in various courses, one of which was the still-twitching and uncooked heart.

I thought "A Cook's Tour" was great -- like nothing I'd ever seen before. But Bourdain parted company with the Food Network after two seasons and ended up taking a very similar show to Travel Channel, where it has an hour-long format and is known as "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations." Bourdain now denounces "A Cook's Tour" as an unsatisfactory early effort, and complained on his blog when Food Network re-ran it last year to capitalize on the popularity of "No Reservations."

Of course, complaining about Food Network is not unusual for Bourdain, a sharp critic of TV food personalities like Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee, whom he considers culinary know-nothings. (Lately, he was forced to admit that his wife is a regular viewer of Ray's talk show.)

Bourdain is, in short, a curmudgeon and a cynic, but that honesty is part of his appeal. He's just as honest when criticizing himself. He can be sharp, and even salty (Travel Channel runs an adult-content warning each time the show returns from commercial break). During the "Cook's Tour" days, he was seen smoking so often that I wondered how he could actually smell or taste anything. He has since kicked the cigarette habit.

It's fascinating to see new cultures through his eyes. He avoids the tourist traps and tries to find local guides who will take him to homes or to seedy little out-of-the-way establishments that serve food real people eat. Sometimes, the interaction between Bourdain and whomever is his local guide or companion is one of the most entertaining parts of the show. The hour-long format means that Bourdain gets to explore more than just food. He learns, and tells us, a lot about the culture he's visiting.

Although I sometimes associate Bourdain with cobra hearts and other odd fare, and he's usually willing to try anything, gross-out dining isn't the purpose or the focus of the show. (Travel Channel has another program, "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern," which does focus on such things.) Bourdain is looking for honest flavors and the human connection of the cook and the diner, whether in a restaurant setting or a private home.

It's great entertainment, and sometimes cultural enlightenment as well.

WHEN TO WATCH

New episodes of 'Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations' air Mondays at 9 p.m. on the Travel Channel, often preceded by reruns of previous episodes.

-- John I. Carney is city editor of the Times-Gazette and covers county government. He is also the author of the self-published novel "Soapstone." His personal web site is lakeneuron.com.