Anthony Bourdain filmed his CNN food show, Parts Unknown, at Burns Bar-B-Q in Acres Homes in 2016.
Dave Rossman, Freelance / For the Chronicle
Editor’s Note: This story includes brief mentions of death by suicide. If you or a loved one is in need of mental health support, call 832-416-1177 or text HOME to 741741.
It’s been 10 years since the Houston episode of Anthony Bourdain‘s beloved travel show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown aired. Ten years since Bourdain journeyed to Texas, our city on the Bayou, pulling back the curtain made up of red-state and cowboy stereotypes and coastal elitism that informed its perception, revealing to the world a diverse city that is a reflection of the American dream.
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Parts Unknown sought to uncover the cuisines and cultures of places all around the world. From Vietnam to the Congo, Montreal to Peru, Bourdain explored cultures and places with a distinct, unapologetic curiosity. He was unafraid to ask tough questions or hear tough answers, displaying the rawness and cynicism that made him a beloved cultural. What made the show great and the Houston episode special was Bourdain’s ability to see a place for what it is, preconceived notions left at the door.
Looking at the episode list even now, seeing Houston sandwiched between London and Japan is kind of jarring, even for a Houstonian. But at the time, it probably was especially jarring for people outside of Houston’s sphere of influence to genuinely believe that Bourdain didn’t just like Houston, he loved it, and spoke highly of the people and culture he experienced while visiting.
Bourdain visits the English as a Second Language class at Robert E. Lee High School (now renamed Margaret Long Wisdom High School) and eats Viet-Cajun crawfish with the school’s principal, a former Vietnamese refugee. He meets with Vietnamese fishermen and Congolese farmers. He attends an Indian Cricket game, learns about slab culture from Slim Thug, and attends a quinceañera.
It’s still a surprise how heavily Houston’s moment in the spotlight centers on culture as opposed to food. Of course, Bourdain eats some incredible local cuisine, but from the get-go, Bourdain is consciously letting the viewer know Houston is an entirely different world than they have been led to believe. A place that people needed to realize was beyond whatever stereotype or notion they had.
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The episode aired on Oct. 30, 2016, a month before Donald Trump was elected to his first presidential term, something clearly on Bourdain’s mind. It’s an illuminating counter-narrative to the political climate of the time, one denoted by Trump’s “Make America Great Again” catchphrase, a symbol of division to many, including Bourdain, who lets us know his stance throughout the episode.
From the beginning, Houston is presented as a “reflection of America.” It’s an unexpected melting pot obfuscated by giant highways ripe with cultural treasures for those willing to experience it. The way the country viewed Houston, according to Bourdain, was stuck in the past, with the city propositioning the world with the ideal future of what America could and should be.
The episode goes across Houston and its suburbs, revealing so much of the diversity that makes the city special. The countless immigrant stories the city continues to tell and the idea that Houston is welcoming to outsiders was an astonishing revelation to Bourdain. Houston was a “refuge” for those seeking a “better life,” as Bourdain puts it in the episode.
Bourdain’s visit presents a dream of a city that we are continuing to realize to this day. A place where it’s possible to dream; it’s possible to have a better life.
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“In some places in America, apparently, you’re still welcome.”
Ahead of the release of Bourdain’s biopic Tony, out Aug. 21, we reflect on Bourdain’s visit to Houston.
— Jamil David, Culture Reporter
Anthony Bourdain filmed an episode of his CNN show Parts Unknown in Houston. It aired on Oct. 30, 2016.
David S. Holloway, photographer / CNN
Teaching the world about Houston
A few hours after Anthony Bourdain’s death became public in June 2018, my wife and I walked over to our local bar in the New York area for our usual Friday beers. A regular, about my age, sat nearby. He teared up a few times. I asked if he was OK. “Sorry, my boss just died.”
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We spent the next hour talking to one of Bourdain’s former employees. I had been mourning all day, but he had photos with Tony. He spoke about Tony’s generosity, his quirks, his temper, his hospitality.
Later that night, I queued up Bourdain’s trip to Houston in season eight of Parts Unknown. We already were scheduled to move there in less than a month, so why not get to know our new home a little more?
Well, I realized I didn’t know much at all. Like many of my friends and family members, Houston and Texas always meant cowboys and country music, twang and deep whiteness to me. Or in Bourdain’s words, I was “yankee trash.”
But Bourdain attended a Vietnamese crawfish boil, ate barbecue with Slim Thug and dined outside with West African immigrants. Bourdain showed me I was dead wrong about Houston, and I’d better be ready to learn more.
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I once wished I was like that bar regular, that I could’ve known Tony, could’ve soaked up even five minutes of his thirst for connection. Instead, at least I can dig through the archives he left us, learn more about the world, re-learn more about my now home of eight years, and continue to be humbled.
— Timothy Malcolm, Deputy Managing Editor for Texas Lifestyle
Anthony Bourdain attends a tandoori cookout with the Houston Indian Cricket Club at Sardar Patel Stadium in Richmond during the Parts Unknown episode focused on Houston.
David S. Holloway/photographer
Seeing our reality
I didn’t grow up with Anthony Bourdain the way many people did. I grew up in my dad’s kitchen at the University of North Texas, where he served as the executive chef of its catering division for years. My dad’s kitchen was where I learned about the world, it felt like. His staff was from all over, and they loved to feed my sister and me when we came to work with our dad. That kitchen was where I learned about hospitality, the world outside of North Texas, and about food.
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I also grew up visiting Houston. And even as an adult, it’s hard to reckon the stereotypes of our state with the reality. Yes, there are cowboys and rodeos and country music, and that’s the stuff that usually makes it on screen. But this is also a diverse, beautiful, welcoming place, with a warmth that comes through in Bourdain’s episode on Houston. Bourdain, self-described “yankee trash” with formed ideas about my home state, came with curiosity, humility, and a willingness to listen.
In 2020, my now-husband and I moved to Houston from Austin, and we got into a lot of Parts Unknown while stuck at home during the pandemic. That Houston episode reintroduced the city to me as an adult, even if I couldn’t leave my apartment and explore. Watching Bourdain explore the city and its fusion of cultures reminded me of being in my dad’s kitchen, my pocket of Texas growing up that had multiple languages, music blasting from a stereo above the prep station, and countless lunches and snacks snuck to us when dad wasn’t watching. It feels good to see that reflected on screen, even years later. It makes sense to see our reality.
— Abigail Rosenthal, Culture Editor
Anthony Bourdain, host of the popular CNN food show, Parts Unknown, filmed a segment at Burns Original BBQ in Acres Homes with rapper Slim Thug, Red Bone and David Stunts.
Dave Rossman/Freelance
But ultimately, Bourdain is a guest
I’ll confess: I’ve never watched Anthony Bourdain’s television programs. I once saw him on an episode of Top Chef. I figured he was a character foil to Tom Colicchio (Bourdain had hair. Colicchio didn’t). Bourdain’s wanderlust didn’t appeal to someone who longs for home and hearth. Especially somebody who has regularly experienced hour-plus commutes to and from Houston for 30-something odd years.
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At a glance, the Parts Unknown episode of Houston is a visual parade of familiar landmarks, streets and fixtures. The show reflects an image of the region that is optimistic and maybe a little pristine. The Vietnamese diaspora, the artifacts that define Houston’s hip-hop culture in Acres Homes, the influx of South Asians in Fort Bend; it’s all here.
The episode tickles the part of the brain that rewards the stimuli of shared familiarity and experience, even if you’ve never thought to sample the tender pork ribs from Burns BBQ in Acres Homes or a bowl of pho at the Point in Palacios.
But the thoughts I have on the episode can’t escape the overhanging pall of June 8, 2018—the day Bourdain died by suicide in a French hotel room. If the program is an extension of the man, Parts Unknown shows an individual gripped by a hunger for life. We never see Bourdain actually live in these spaces. In every shot, he, like us, exists apart from what’s happening on screen. He may interrogate his subjects and eat with them, but he is ultimately a guest. He cannot stay.
Smart, funny and sometimes unhinged look at the week that was.
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I often think of Siddhartha, the title character of Hermann Hesse’s 1922 novel. There is a Bourdain-like aura around Hesse’s protagonist, who is seemingly forever on a quest for enlightenment. By the end, after a journey that spans asceticism and decadence, he finds fulfillment on the “river,” finally divested of his desires and learns to simply be.
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It’s a thought I have on the long roads that stretch across Houston, north and south, east and west. The ones that connect Houstonians from all corners to the points of intersection, be it the Heights, Midtown, Montrose and elsewhere. These went uncaptured in Parts Unknown. There was always the journey, but never the return. That’s my Houston. The rest, I think, is just tourism.
— John-Henry Perera, Food Editor