Anthony Bourdain

As many of you know, we (especially Adam) are HUGE fans of Anthony Bourdain. His honest and sarcastic approach to life, food, and travel is something that we understand, embrace, and admire. He has two shows on the Travel Channel (No Reservations and The Layover) that we readily watch and gain travel and food insights from...and honestly, he has guided many of our travel decisions over the years. So what is this all premising? He was coming to Baltimore to do his live show 'Guts and Glory' at the Hippodrome! So of course tickets were purchased and a wonderful evening was had.

The beautiful Hippodrome Theater

I simply must recommend that everyone try to attend this show, it was hysterically funny, and so much more than I expected it to be...and I had pretty high expectations! He addressed everything from the show, traveling, maturity, the media war with Paula Dean (almost DIED laughing), to his transition to CNN this coming year and appreciation for how life has played out.

We had really great seats for not being the front row and he stayed on our side of the stage most of the show, so it was really up-close and personal. Unfortunately, the way they did the lighting it was REALLY hard (i.e. impossible) to get a good picture of him, and I am sure that this was intentional.

The best picture I could get

At the end he did a 45 minute Q&A with the audience, which I have never seen a live show do before, and it was awesome...just candid and honest answers that really illuminated who he was. My favorite question came from a local student: "In all of your travels you try to capture the local tradition of cooking and eat a meal with a family, if the tables were turned and you were the one being visited to capture this local tradition, what would you prepare to serve?". It was the most thought provoking, stimulating, and well worded question of the entire night. I honestly was so caught up with the brilliance of the question that I have forgotten the answer, I just know that it was something from his childhood that his grandmother and mother would make.
I would recommend that you get tickets to his show and have a wonderful evening out if you have the opportunity, you will not be disappointed. Honestly, we are looking at trying to catch the show again!