Anthony Bourdain

About Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain (born June 25, 1956) is an American author and chef. He is well known for his 2000 book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Bourdain is also the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. A 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a 28-year veteran of professional kitchens, Bourdain is currently a "Chef-at-Large" whose home base is Brasserie Les Halles, where he was executive chef for many years.

Bourdain was born in New York City but grew up in Leonia, New Jersey. He attended Vassar College, and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978. Honorary Chef-at-Large of Brasserie Les Halles, where he held the title of executive chef for nearly a decade, when he is not traveling Bourdain lives in Manhattan with his wife, Ottavia Busia. Together, they have one daughter, Arienne, born on April 9, 2007; the couple were wed on April 20, 2007. Bourdain was divorced from his first wife, Nancy Putkoski, in 2007.

In Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain describes how his love of food was kindled in France — when he tried his first oyster on an oyster fisherman's boat as a youth while on a family vacation. Later, while attending Vassar College, he worked in the seafood restaurants of Provincetown, Massachusetts, which sparked his decision to pursue cooking as a career. Bourdain graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978, and went on to run various restaurant kitchens in New York City — including the Supper Club, One Fifth Avenue, and Sullivan's — culminating in the position of executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles beginning in 1998. Brasserie Les Halles is based in Manhattan with additional locations in Miami, Florida, Washington, D.C., and, at the time of Bourdain's tenure, Tokyo, Japan.