Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Bourdain Medium Raw book review

I just finished Tony Bourdain's latest book.  It was a fun read, but nowhere nearly as visceral as Kitchen Confidential.  If you don't have the time to read it, I suggest going to your local library or book store and reading Chapter 18, My Aim Is True.  It follows, from beginning to end, Justo Thomas's shift.  This Dominican immigrant is the fish butcher at New York's Le Bernardin.  In a five hour shift, this machine cuts 700 pounds of ultra-high grade fish.  When he goes on vacation, three people do his work.  It's an amazing play-by-play account.  The chapter ends with Thomas eating at Le Bernardin for the first time in his many-year career there.

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