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The Layover

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Beginning Monday, November 21st at 9:00 p.m. E/P, Bourdain is back like never before with a high octane series that gives him just 24-48 hours to explore an unexpected destination. Viewers get a ringside seat as Tony goes on the hunt for local intel and explores the essential “must see” places, people and foods in locations throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe. His itineraries, completely off the beaten track and all completed within a matter of hours, are mini-trips of a lifetime. No nonsense and budget friendly, Bourdain reveals insider tips that only the most seasoned travelers would know.

In each hour-long episode of the 10-part series, Bourdain explores a different jet-setting hub proving that layovers are opportunities for travelers to mingle with locals, crash parties, dine on local cuisine, and explore cultures. From New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami to Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Rome, Montreal and Amsterdam, viewers learn where to go, where to stay and what to eat, to maximize their enjoyment no matter how much or little time they have in that city.

"The Layover is a fast, busy and content-filled hour,” comments Bourdain. “We go to spots that I personally think are cool and fun for all budgets. In every case, these are places where I either did go, or would visit even when the cameras are off. The Layover is a reflection of what I’ve learned over time. It’s about telling a story that viewers can recreate themselves.”

Anthony Bourdain is a 28-year veteran of professional kitchens, having worked as a dishwasher, line cook and chef in places good, bad and horrible -- most of them in New York City. In 2000, he published a memoir of his experiences in the culinary underbelly. “Kitchen Confidential” became an unlikely, but enduring, international bestseller. He has since milked that lucky break for everything it's worth, following up with the gonzo-travel diary, “A Cook's Tour”; a historical account of the notorious turn-of-the-century cook and disease carrier, "Typhoid Mary"; the crime novels "A Bone in the Throat," "Gone Bamboo" and "The Bobby Gold Stories"; "The Les Halles Cookbook"; a collection of essays entitled “The Nasty Bits”; and the companion book to the Travel Channel series, No Reservations. His recently released, “Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook”, is the long-awaited follow-up to “Kitchen Confidential”, and is an insider’s perspective on the changes in the restaurant business. Since embarking on a round-the-world trip for "A Cook's Tour," he has continued traveling for No Reservations, for various publications, for public-speaking engagements and because he likes it. He lives in New York City with his wife, Ottavia, and his daughter, Ariane.

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The Layover with Anthony Bourdain starts telecasts next Monday at 9pm on the Travel Channel.

TexasLady:
Sounds interesting apskip! I set the DVR to record it so I can check it out.  :tup:

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"Anthony Bourdain has been indulging his wanderlust on “No Reservations” for several seasons now, bringing his insatiable curiosity about food, customs and people to far-flung locales and raising the profile of the average travelogue series several notches to a one-man cultural essay.

The key to Bourdain’s success is that he blends: There’s nothing he won’t eat, even if it’s squirrel potpie prepared in the Ozarks, and no one he won’t talk to, whether it’s Cuban baseball fans in Havana or Ecuadorean street food vendors. He seems happy and at home wherever he is.

In his new series, “The Layover,” debuting Monday night on the Travel Channel, Bourdain has taken a more practical approach to his fascination with other cultures. The 10-part series drops him and his crew in a different city each week for just 24 to 48 hours. Bourdain’s assignment is to advise viewers on how to avoid tourist traps and make the most of their time.

“I’ve never tried to do anything useful, so it’s a bit of a departure for me,” he says, sitting in the garden area outside his Upper East Side high-rise.

“We were looking to develop something in between seasons of ‘No Reservations’ that we could do fast,” he says. “We were also looking to work with these new cameras and lenses that we got. It was really a breakthrough. Panavision loaned us some lenses, which is something they don’t do. They allowed us to shoot at night and to shoot an entire show without any lighting whatsoever.”

The new equipment made it possible to film the entire first season in just six weeks. It’s quite an itinerary: “The Layover” visits LA, Miami, Amsterdam, San Francisco, Montreal and, of course, New York.

In the New York episode, which airs Dec. 4, Bourdain takes us for a classic cocktail at Bemelmans Bar in the Carlyle hotel but also out to Queens, where restaurateur M. Wells creates innovative foie gras dishes in a casual diner environment (the restaurant closed last summer but plans to reopen).

“Given the opportunity to eat at a place like El Bulli, I will,” he says. “But, generally, my interest is in what’s the most loved street food of a Roman or where do the Singaporeans like to go late at night when they’re drunk?”

The former he discovered was a Porcetta sandwich served in brown paper at tiny hole-in-the-walls with just a counter and street seating. The latter is explored in the show’s premiere episode.

“Singapore’s like a foodie theme park,” Bourdain declares in the opening voice-over.

After eating his way through a variety of street food and local specialties (“Three or four meals a day especially in the roaring heat of Singapore, takes its toll,” he says), Bourdain ends up at a late-night Italian/Japanese fusion spot, Kilo, along the Kallang River which serves dishes like prawn and chili pizza.

“We love things that are old and bringing them back to life but not modernizing them,” the co-owner explains on camera.

“Singapore is the perfect layover because it’s small. It’s a tiny city-state that’s as food crazy as any nation on Earth,” Bourdain says. “If you’re going to be stuck anywhere for a layover, Singapore would probably be my No. 1 choice.”

Just in the airport alone, you can get a massage, see a movie, and stroll through six lush gardens. “I almost look forward to that airport,” Bourdain says of the aviation wonderland.

By contrast, Bourdain says travelers must take care in Rome.

“You would think there’s nothing but good food in Rome,” says Bourdain, who married an Italian, Ottavia Busia, in 2007. “In fact, it’s probably more likely if you’re there on a layover that you’re going to have a bad meal. There are a lot of bad restaurants in Rome for tourists.” Don’t make the common mistake of ordering dishes like cotoletta Milanese (breaded veal cutlet).

“They call it Milanese for a reason: it’s from f--king Milan,” Bourdain quips. Instead, he recommends cacio e pepe, which he insists is “as Roman as it gets,” adding that Italians instinctually seek out seasonal ingredients. “They don’t need a t-shirt bragging that they’re locavores.”

Some of Bourdain’s other travel tips are surprisingly mundane: He urges people to be prepared for security (no belts, please!), and suggests packing with dual-purposes in mind.

“I’ll wear something like this,” he says of the down jacket he’s wearing, “that I can squish into a ball for a pillow.”

It’ll come in handy on the long flight to Tokyo and the Ishikawa province, where he’ll soon shoot a chef-driven episode of “No Reservations” (the eighth season will air beginning in March). The gleam in his eyes as he discusses it suggests he’s not planning on slowing down anytime soon.

“When it stops becoming fun, I’ll stop doing it,” he says."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/up_in_the_air_sqHT6oLW2fQFfm9ARuJtEM#ixzz1eIJK1Mo4

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Anthony Bourdain has a new series, what to do while visiting international cities for layovers between flights of about 24 hours. In this case it was 30 hours.

He started by taking a $23 taxi from Changi Airport to the Grand Hyatt Hotel despite telling recommending that others take the much cheaper bus or Metropolitan Raid Transit line. He was met at the Hyatt by K.S. Vito, a local food expert who wrote a guide to Singapore's food. The first destination was the Tiong Bahru Market to sample from its Hawker Stalls. Singapore's 109 Hawker Stall centers were set up by the government to control food quality and they are noted worldwide. There are a number of foods he recommended to eat at Tiong Bahru; I wrote them down but as frequently happens cannot read my own notes. One that I can read is soybean milk and curd and another is Chicken Rice (using the stock from cooking the chicken to cook the rice).

Tony recommended the Thieves Market, the Botanical Gardens and the view from the bar at the top of the Marina bay Hotel.

He next went to Little India to eat these foods:
Fish Head Curry
Naan Brad
Biryanis
Cucumber Raita
Papadam

His last stop in Little India was a Curry House. He then went to get Chicken Rice

He mentioned the Night Safari at the zoo but did not personally do it this trip.

I believe there is a section of Singapore known as Nasi Lemak which he recommends. It is 5 minutes from Changi airport. At the airport, he had time for a swim in an airport hotel and a foot massage with those tiny piranha-like fish.

As a travel guide this was decent. Next time I get to Singapore (I've only been there once in my life) I will try to put his tips to use. I will continue to watch this show. Next week Tony goes to New York City, a very familiar place for him just as its Manhattan is for me.

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