Bosnian & Bourdain

Soo. . .  Hooray for first blog post!
Yesterday was an interesting evening for Sarah and me.  After discovering that Anthony Bourdain, host of No Reservations on the Travel Channel, was performing at the Convention Center we had to go.  Friday night arrived to see his show leaving me with ONE main question- What was he actually going to do?  Cook? Talk? Well the answer comes later. . .

We began the evening at an interesting restaurant called Cafe Europa which Sarah had read a review about in City Paper.  It is near the CAFB and yes kind of sketch.  We enter and a very friendly woman greets us as we sit where ever we want.  This was my first experience with Bosnian cuisine, and it was a successful experience thanks to Cafe Europa.  Feeling medium adventurous yesterday, I was craving Chicken Shish Kebab while Sarah dared to try the Sarma (cabbage leaves stuffed with group beef).  Everything was delicious and what I especially loved was the lepinja bread.

Chicken Shish Kebab (front) & Sarma (back)

I have now discovered my extreme interest in different cultures' breads. Apparently, Bosians have Lepinja which was doughy, pita like and had a slightly charred bottom.  Indians have naan, French have baguette, Italians have ciabatta.  What is American's famous bread? To my horror Sarah suggested sliced white bread.  Great, guess I will have to think about that one.

Now to Bourdain. The answer is- the show was basically a foodie comedy stand up hour. Anthony came out to a bare stage and talked for about an hour and half followed by the dumbest audience questions possible.  Clearly no screening involved. (One guy self promoted his rosemary/lavender infused vodka. Why do I want to drink the flavor of French milled soap?)  Bourdain talked about his distaste for all the Food Network stars (Sandra Lee, Rachel, and Guy) which I agreed. He actually loved Barefoot Contessa (hooray!).  Next, he moved to Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef, and even his own network. 

Anthony Bourdain in Poor Lighting

He ended his part of the show with travel advice and talk of his daughter.  The best part was his discussion of McDonald's and American childhood diabetes. Studies have shown that if you placed healthy foods in the McDonald's wrapping kids like the food more. This then lead to one audience question dissing the Lee Brothers who Bourdain ate with on his South Carolina episode- "Would you like the Lee Brothers more if they were wrapped in McDonald's Happy Meal paper?" Ouch! I like the Lee Brothers just fine.
I close with to my dismay when I arrived home, I looked at Cafe Europa's take home menu.  Guy Fieri is on the cover from visiting the restaurant on his show.  This caused a slight chuckle.