Tonight was a strange combination of "Big Night" and "Waiting for Godot". In "Big Night", two chefs wait for a famous personality to come to their restaurant. They make a huge meal and production out of it. "Waiting for Godot" is a heavy, existential play in which two characters debate all sorts of stupid annoying existential issues while waiting for their friend Godot. The two productions are clearly related, and tonight was my version of the same story line.

I was the sous chef tonight for a huge culinary production designed by Chef Gabe: two complete tasting menus of 13 courses each for a very special dining guest: Anthony Bourdain. Yes, THE Anthony Bourdain. Just like in "Big Night" this was a huge event for Gabe and for me too! It had been in the works for over six months, and I was hoping I would get the chance to cook with Bourdain. I had been saying all along that I wanted him to make me cry if we cooked together. But he passed on the cooking and was interested in being a diner instead. So that left Gabe to put together a whacky, over-the-top menu for Bourdain.

We had a practice dinner the night before and everything went pretty well. No major problems, and it was a good opportunity to practice plating and timing before it was "showtime", Gabe's word for when we have to be chefs for the guests and we have to be on. Only tonight, it literally was showtime. Bourdain brought a camera crew to film for his television show "No Reservations" and this was the "Waiting for Godot" part of the evening. Normally dinners start at 6:30 when guests arrive and dinner service starts at 7. Tonight however started REALLY late, at about 8:30pm, mostly due to the camera crew messing around and figuring out how to shoot the scene. It seemed like dinner would never begin. But unlike Godot, the thing finally got underway.

It was a long dinner service, but because of our practice, it allowed us to be at the top of our game. I was fairly relaxed actually, and was on the hot line (such as it was in a home kitchen!), getting things done as we needed to. Gabe said later that my contribution was invaluable, which was great to hear. Bourdain passed along his own compliment, too, in saying that the food was great and that he "couldn't have done food this good" himself. High praise indeed!

After the dinner, Bourdain talked with everyone and things got a little more casual. The evening had started out pretty formal, even to the point of a "receiving line" when Bourdain came into the kitchen. I think he was a little embarrassed, actually. But he seemed like a nice guy actually. Not at all the personality he portrays in his book "Kitchen Confidential". In that book, he comes across as arrogant, New York, overly-opinionated, and extremely judgemental. In person though, he was very gracious and easy-going. In fact, he's actually very similar to his personality on his TV show. He really seems to be a decent guy who cares about food and the people who serve it. I heard him later in the week on NPR talking about his travels and he said that he's always done his best to eat what people offer him, no matter what. Breaking bread with people really opens doors to their society and Bourdain respects that. That's one of the reasons I, myself, like to travel.

So in the end, this was the first celebrity I ever had the opportunity to cook for. It was fun, certainly, especially to be able to say that I did it, but at the same time, it was just another day, trying to do bo my best in the kitchen to please the diner regardless of who they might be. I'm sure Bourdain would agree.