Anthony Bourdain, host of “No Reservations” on the Travel and author of “Kitchen Confidential” eats a carne asada taco, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007, from Taqueria El Grullo, a taco truck in Oakland, Calif. Eleven years ago, Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert brought their “Good vs. Evil” show to the Bay Area.
But the gig in the city gave them a chance to make a Saturday morning pilgrimage to the legendary Swan Oyster Depot for seafood and sauvignon blanc. After tweeting the obligatory “someone knows the way to San Jose,” they headed for the South Bay. As it turns out, there isn’t time to tailor the show’s culinary content for the city du jour. But Bourdain planned a blind taste test of snack foods for the show, so the pair noshed at a 7-Eleven, of all places, during their shopping trip, our sources say.
— New York vs. San Francisco: These East Coasters give the nod to N.Y. for high-end cuisine, with Bourdain noting there are enough very wealthy residents to support that level of dining there. Ripert said he was surprised to find that “fine dining in California is much more stuffy than New York these days.”