Bourdain explores Del Rio/Acuna culinary scene

By Chuck DentSpecial to LIVE!Del Rio and Acuna have attracted their share of celebrities and publicity over the years. Just why may be a mystery. It may be the water or the unique culture. Maybe it’s the food. In a recent instance that culture and our food were definitely the magnets. The celebrity was Anthony Bourdain, a world famous New York City chef, the author of nine books, a globetrotting traveler and the host of No Reservations, a weekly one-hour program on the Travel Channel. The program, which featured the Texas-Mexico border, included segments on Del Rio and Acuna as well as Eagle Pass, Piedras Negras, Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. For Bourdain it was an attempt to get to know more about people who live close to the immigration situation. “I’ve had very happy working experiences with Mexican immigrants in New York for many years in the restaurant business and I was interested in looking at places where Americans and Mexicans work side by side, where we could talk with people who are uniquely qualified to show and tell audiences how they feel,” Bourdain said. While not trying to make a political statement on the hot button immigration issue, he said the show generated responses at both ends of the spectrum and in between. “It was hugely positive from Americans and of course a large number of Mexicans who have been living and working and paying taxes in America for a long time.” On the other side of the issue the response was not so positive. “We got a lot of very angry mail and a lot of very angry comments from people who are just flat out not close to the situation but just don’t like the idea of foreigners of any stripe coming to America, and a fair amount of really racist stuff,” Bourdain said. He said some of the reasonable comments came from people who had had their lives impacted by crime or were close to situations that included drug gangs. “I completely understand that point of view,” Bourdain said. The only point-of-view Bourdain said he wanted to make was that in the 25 years he has been a New York chef is that he has never seen an American born kid come to his restaurant and say they wanted a job as a dishwasher, a night porter or a prep cook. He said the same holds true for his colleagues. His experience with the Mexican people has been a very positive. “As employees they are family oriented, they tend to be from a very early age people who are used to looking after other people and being responsible for other people, good work habits and have a reasonable attitude about the way of the world.” Most importantly, Bourdain said the show was about food. “Untimely the show is about sitting down with people and eating with people and listening to what they say about what they eat and why they eat it and why they cook it,” he said. Eschewing fast food and other imitations found across the country he said, “One of the great things about real Mexican food is it is almost always fresh, it is made by hand, it takes a lot of time and how intimate an experience it is.” He continued by saying that in the home the taco is almost always put together and dressed and then handed to each guest. “That is a very intimate moment.” His six-city border tour, which included a stop locally at T&B’s Bar and Grill, helped the native New Yorker bust up a few stereotypes about Texas. Admitting he loves breaking stereotypes he said, “Texas is depicted in movies and classic stereotypical literature as not exactly the smartest folks. I love finding myself in a room full of Texans especially when they are speaking a little slowly, kind of laying low, and I find I am the stupidest person in the room,” he said.“I find my sheltered preconceptions shattered. I like learning things.” At T&B’s, co-owner Todd Townsend served up what he claims was Bourdain’s first ever chicken fried steak as Bullet Beard hit a few licks on his guitar as the evening was just getting underway. “He was great to work with. He came in and started right away,” Townsend said shortly after the show aired. “T&B’s was great. That was a fantastic good time.” T&B’s manager James Burkeen confirmed the he had a good time. “He commented on how friendly people in Del Rio are that the way people treated him and his crew around here was just amazing. They made him feel like a part of a big family. Every where he went people were out going and friendly,” Burkeen said. Bourdain sampled several dishes according to Burkeen and after initially hesitating he tried the chicken fried steak. “After trying some of it he said, ‘Man this stuff is good. He really liked the way the gravy complemented the meat. He really liked Del Rio,” Burkeen said. Was Bourdain intimidated by media stories about drug related violence, especially in Nuevo Laredo? “They got a bad rep but I come from New York and we have the mafia. Organized drugs are something that are part of my past. I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t concerned” Nor does the prospect of violence elsewhere stop him. “I’m going to Beirut in two weeks."His latest book, "The Nasty Bits," a collection of his journalism is on the shelves now. No Reservations airs on the Travel Channel on Monday at 9:00 p.m. For more information about Bourdain you can click onto his website at anthonybourdain.com. Questions or comments? Contact Chuck Dent directly.