A Day in the Life of Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain, also known as Tony in the Taylor household, is one of our travel heroes. I think I’ve mentioned him on the blog before. If you don’t know who he is, you need to watch one of his shows and you will be hooked. His show is called No Reservations, and he travels the world seeing places, learning about different cultures, and eating crazy food. Before you judge him on his horrendous smoking and drinking habits, try to appreciate the fact that he is a French-trained chef and speaks fluent French. He is an amazingly creative writer, and you can get a taste of his talents in the narrations of his show which he writes himself. He has also authored a few books, but I haven’t gotten around to reading any of them yet (thanks to grad school).
Tony came to Chile a few years ago, and on Friday my friend Lindsay and I watched the No Reservations Chile episode. On Saturday, we walked Tony’s Santiago footsteps. It was three Americans, two Chileans, two Puerto Ricans, and a whole day of seeing the “real” Santiago.

Our day started at Fuente Alemana (German Fountain), a sandwich shop near downtown. It reminded me of an old-time soda shop. This was Tony’s first stop in Santiago, and the place is known for their lomitos, or pork sandwiches. We all ordered our sandwiches “completo” with all the fixings: avocado, mayo, diced tomatoes, and probably plenty more that I am not aware of.

Left to right: Lindsay, Ethel, Lina, me, Eric, Trinidad

Me with my lomito...I conquered almost half of this enormous sandwich

Our second stop of the day was a deviation from Tony’s agenda, and it was also the most disgusting “restaurant” I have ever been to. It was called La Piojera. It smelled terrible, was filled with smoke, and let’s just say the clientele was not too classy. We went for the purpose of trying a Terremoto (earthquake), which is a famous Chilean drink consisting of pineapple ice cream and sweet wine. You need to try one if you come to Chile, but you don’t necessarily need to finish it. I’d rather have a coke (or better yet, sweet tea). We bought a Polaroid picture of our group at the restaurant (if you can even call it a restaurant), and here is a picture of that picture:

The famous terremoto...the white on top is the ice cream

Next, we went to El Hoyo, or “the hole” in Spanish. The restaurant got its name because it is basically a hole-in-the-wall dining establishment. This was Tony’s favorite restaurant in Santiago, and in my Frommer’s Chile book it is listed as Anthony Bourdain’s favorite. It is no surprise that Tony liked the place so much since they serve intestines, sausage, cow hoof soup, and plenty of other delightful delicacies (gross). Our group stuck with French fries, but at least now we can say we went to Tony’s favorite Santiago restaurant, right?Our group in front of the restaurant

We finished our day at a restaurant in Patio Bellavista. It was a nice day, and all-in-all, I think Tony would be proud.

Ciao!