Anthony Bourdain on Toronto

[One Nut Kruk]

freshcutgrass stated a fact. Since you took that to assume that he was being critical of Anthony, you must agree with him. For the record, I agree with freshcutgrass; Bourdain wears cowboy boots and thinks NJ is cool. Enough said...

Your logic doesn't make any sense. Just because I defended Anthony, that doesn't mean I like his fashion sense, or his thoughts on New Jersey. Wearing cowboys boots may be a fact (I haven't seen him wear them, so I don't know), but believing that New Jersey is cool, is an opinion. There's no way to prove that New Jersey is cool.

I agree that cowboy boots aren't cool (though that isn't objective). I've never been to New Jersey, so I have no comment re it.

Why are your opinions (yourself and freshcutgrass) greater than Anthony Bourdain's? You probably have fashion tendencies that he thinks are uncool. Perhaps you like a city that he thinks sucks? Who's the arbiter of good taste?

 

[MisterF]

Your logic doesn't make any sense. Just because I defended Anthony, that doesn't mean I like his fashion sense, or his thoughts on New Jersey. Wearing cowboys boots may be a fact (I haven't seen him wear them, so I don't know), but believing that New Jersey is cool, is an opinion. There's no way to prove that New Jersey is cool.

I agree that cowboy boots aren't cool (though that isn't objective). I've never been to New Jersey, so I have no comment re it.

Why are your opinions (yourself and freshcutgrass) greater than Anthony Bourdain's? You probably have fashion tendencies that he thinks are uncool. Perhaps you like a city that he thinks sucks? Who's the arbiter of good taste?

Opinion: New Jersey is cool.
Fact: Anthony Bourdain thinks New Jersey is cool.

Anyway, I don't see why there's any need to argue about this. I like Anthony Bourdain's shows, and even if I don't always agree with him I almost always find him entertaining. People who care about his fashion sense probably aren't his target demographic. And when he says that the people in charge of marketing Canada to the world have their heads up their asses, I couldn't agree more.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

He's wrong about the architecture, Toronto puts up lots of condos but downtown has its great buildings. Personally I like the Scotia Tower but RBP is nice.

Edit: This was posted in July on youtube. Why are we even talking about this?

 

[DtTO]

Your logic doesn't make any sense. Just because I defended Anthony, that doesn't mean I like his fashion sense, or his thoughts on New Jersey. Wearing cowboys boots may be a fact (I haven't seen him wear them, so I don't know), but believing that New Jersey is cool, is an opinion. There's no way to prove that New Jersey is cool.

You misunderstood what I was saying. freshcutgrass simply stated the facts that Anthony Bourdain wears cowboy boots, and thinks NJ is cool. Those are just facts; he didn't even so much as imply his opinion of Anthony, and yet you automatically went on the defensive. That, to me, says that you agree with him that wearing cowboy boots, and thinking that NJ is cool are negative attributes.

Why are your opinions (yourself and freshcutgrass) greater than Anthony Bourdain's? You probably have fashion tendencies that he thinks are uncool. Perhaps you like a city that he thinks sucks? Who's the arbiter of good taste?

I wouldn't even be surprised if he had formed "his opinion" of Toronto from things he'd heard long before he had even stepped foot in the city. If he actually thinks Toronto is ugly, maybe he's never been to NYC area, anywhere outside of Manhattan? South and West Chicago? Any city in Texas? most of LA? etc. To say that a city is "ugly" based on a 5 minute highway ride (or what his friends told him) just makes him sound unsophisticated and ignorant.

 

[One Nut Kruk]

I interpreted freshcutgrass' comments as a condescending jab; as in, 'whomever wears cowboy boots and thinks New Jersey is cool, shouldn't be taken seriously.' Correct me if I'm wrong, freshcutgrass. But, why bother stating that he wears cowboy boots and thinks New Jersey is cool? Of what relevance is that information? It's a non sequitur. It would make more sense to describe him as a chef, with a reality show about food. For argument's sake, who would describe Wendel Clark, to somebody that isn't familiar him, as a guy who wears flannel shirts and thinks Haliburton is awesome?

"To say that a city is "ugly" based on a 5 minute highway ride (or what his friends told him) just makes him sound unsophisticated and ignorant." True. But even beyond the towers of our skyline (CBD excluded), most of Toronto is ugly. Even the local guide he had admitted that Toronto's charms are hidden and have to be discovered. Most beautiful cities have excellent architecture in most areas, that is impossible to miss. Most of the great structures we have are covered in decades of grime, and are in disrepair -- so their character can often be overlooked. In terms of high rise architecture -- Toronto doesn't have a very large stock of notable buildings. Much of our beauty comes from lowrise neighbourhoods, like Queen West.

 

[DtTO]

^ I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Anthony does not think Chicago is ugly (since Chicago is so hyped, I'm sure his friends only told him the positives). Yet based on the main roads into the downtown (i.e. Lakeshore / I90/94), Chicago is much "uglier" than CityPlace and Southcore. If you really think City Place and Southcore are architecturally poor, I don't think you've been to Chicago and seen many of their new developments, especially in South Loop.

This isn't exactly related to the topic, but I'll bring it up since you keep downplaying Toronto's highrises. Toronto is actually a livable city, unlike Chicago, where their "nice" historic apartments on the gold coast and in Streeterville lack bare necessities like A/C and adequate elevator service.

 

[sixrings]

I watched the video and was frustrated that basically the entire show was highlighting food.. I felt like it was a Man Vs Food episode or Diners and Dive episode. What about our art, our shopping, our sports, our canadian culture? I just think the dude approving of the city based on food is pretty weak.

 

[AndreaPalladio]

He's a chef, that's what he does. The only episode of his current CNN show I've seen is the Montreal & Quebec one, but that had such amazing food I practically got gout just from watching it.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Never watched his shows but I have his books, he is an excellent writer. And his Les Halles cookbook has never let me down, as opposed to, say, Robert Keller's which requires a level of expertise and OCD in measures far beyond my reach.

 

[JasonParis]

I watched the video and was frustrated that basically the entire show was highlighting food.. I felt like it was a Man Vs Food episode or Diners and Dive episode. What about our art, our shopping, our sports, our canadian culture? I just think the dude approving of the city based on food is pretty weak.

Food is his thing. It's primarily a food show.

He's a chef, that's what he does. The only episode of his current CNN show I've seen is the Montreal & Quebec one, but that had such amazing food I practically got gout just from watching it.

The Montreal one was not his current show. That was The Layover which was a short-lived show between No Reservations and his current Parts Unknown. Both TL and NR were on Travel. PU is the new one on CNN. He did do a more general Quebec show on PU, so perhaps you meant that.

 

[LordWanker]

Here's the link to the full episode:
[video=youtube;H5Mu74o9Xs4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5Mu74o9Xs4&feature=c4-overview&list=UU0dBCP32kMoBD9TSgoAjc8g[/video]

 

[One Nut Kruk]

^ I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Anthony does not think Chicago is ugly (since Chicago is so hyped, I'm sure his friends only told him the positives). Yet based on the main roads into the downtown (i.e. Lakeshore / I90/94), Chicago is much "uglier" than CityPlace and Southcore. If you really think City Place and Southcore are architecturally poor, I don't think you've been to Chicago and seen many of their new developments, especially in South Loop.

This isn't exactly related to the topic, but I'll bring it up since you keep downplaying Toronto's highrises. Toronto is actually a livable city, unlike Chicago, where their "nice" historic apartments on the gold coast and in Streeterville lack bare necessities like A/C and adequate elevator service.

No, I haven't been to Chicago, so I can't comment. I'm sure it has it's fair share of ugliness as well. That doesn't mean Toronto isn't ugly.

What does Toronto's livability have to do with its aesthetic?

 

[AndreaPalladio]

Food is his thing. It's primarily a food show.


The Montreal one was not his current show. That was The Layover which was a short-lived show between No Reservations and his current Parts Unknown. Both TL and NR were on Travel. PU is the new one on CNN. He did do a more general Quebec show on PU, so perhaps you meant that.

Yes, he went to Montreal and Quebec on his current CNN show, Parts Unknown. The meal they ate in the ice fishing shack was amazing. Then there was charcuterie at a hockey game. Then they trapped and ate a beaver. Then the sugar shack.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Toronto is not ugly. But the condo's are all the same. Which makes it boring. Southcore is not even done yet so I have no idea how we can judge it.



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^ I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Anthony does not think Chicago is ugly (since Chicago is so hyped, I'm sure his friends only told him the positives). Yet based on the main roads into the downtown (i.e. Lakeshore / I90/94), Chicago is much "uglier" than CityPlace and Southcore. If you really think City Place and Southcore are architecturally poor, I don't think you've been to Chicago and seen many of their new developments, especially in South Loop.

This isn't exactly related to the topic, but I'll bring it up since you keep downplaying Toronto's highrises. Toronto is actually a livable city, unlike Chicago, where their "nice" historic apartments on the gold coast and in Streeterville lack bare necessities like A/C and adequate elevator service.

Okay. I want to take a wack at this.

Bourdain is not an architectural scholar. Chicago is not hyped, right now it's getting its butt kicked right now for all the crime. If Chicago is ugly then why do so many people vist Michigan Ave and take in the sights? Clearly it's not that bad. I don't like some of the new condo's in the loop/printer's row area, I'll agree with that. A lot of the recent condos are just not that great looking. Toronto has a lot of stuff going for it clearly, I think out of all the great lakes cities it has the biggest chance to go up in world status as opposed to down. Maybe Bourdain should come back next time.

 

[One Nut Kruk]

Southcore is not even done yet so I have no idea how we can judge it.

It is largely complete. We can't judge what is extant?