The 8 Places Anthony Bourdain Visited in Maine on Travel Channel’s ‘No Reservations’
Editor's note: This article was written by a Townsquare Media Northern New England contributor and may contain the individual's views, opinions or personal experiences.
There are few people in the world who get to be truly great at more than one thing. Anthony Bourdain was one of those people. For more than 20 years, Bourdain perfected his craft as a classically-trained chef, running various kitchens in New York City to acclaim. During his impressive cooking career, Bourdain was always dabbling with writing on the side. His persistence in honing his writing led to a published book in 1995 titled 'Bone In The Throat'. His culinary expertise and writing acumen eventually led to more media appearances. Those media appearances led to Bourdain securing his own show on Travel Channel that was titled after one of his books, 'No Reservations'. The show quickly became a hit.
An entire generation of viewers discovered Bourdain as a documentarian, not as a culinary wizard. Despite Bourdain's own crude explanation of his show where he "travels around the world, eats a lot of sh*t, and basically does whatever the f**k he wants", Bourdain's curious view of places most people can only imagine visiting connected with his audience. Each episode of 'No Reservations' and his later CNN show, 'Parts Unknown', allowed viewers to see more about a destination than just a glossy infomercial. Some episodes were gritty, raw, and at times uncomfortable.
Bourdain filmed 142 episodes of 'No Reservations' before moving on from the concept. His visit to Maine was partially curiosity, but also a partial nod to longtime cameraman and friend Zach Zamboni, who hailed from Maine. If you missed the terrific episode that aired originally on April 12th, 2010, here's a rundown of everything Anthony Bourdain ate, experienced, and attempted while in Maine.