No Reservations Season 6 Episode 5: Hudson Valley, NY
Tony visits near his own home in Hudson Valley, New York. His guide Rick owns a local inn. Tony and Rick sail on Rick’s sailboat as Tony tells the viewers the history of the Hudson river, apparently a super highway during the industrial revolution to the local mills, docks and river ports. As they sail Tony sees a floating hot dog stand, “Dick’s Dogs”. Tony calls it “the greatest vessel on the river”. They buy hot dogs and dig in. Rick lives in Indian Point, a town that seems to have stopped in time years ago. Living is old fashioned here, the growth of the town stopped when a nuclear power plant was built near the town. At Indian Point Rick takes Tony to catch blue crab for their crab boil meal. Apparently all you do is lower a crab pot from the dock, pull it up and it is always stuffed with blue crabs. The blue crabs are boiled in a pot and readied for the meal. As Tony exclaims “this is delicious” eating their fill of blue crabs, a geiger counter sound plays in the background calculating radiation.
Next Tony visits Quaker Creek Store where they create their own artisanal sausages. A local gives Tony a bottle of homemade Polish Vodka for his meal. Chef Bobby, one of the owners of the store, dines with Tony as they enjoy traditional Polish dishes such as sausages and potato and onion perogies. Tony pulls out the Polish vodka and tries it, saying after drinking the homemade vodka he hopes he doesn’t “wake up naked in a dumpster without my kidneys”.
This two hour Man v. Food special comes from Miami live celebrating the superbowl. Adam Richman throws a massive tailgate party in Miami in the parking lot of Alexander Hotel in South Beach, the site of Shula’s Steakhouse. Adam visits with his fans, eating tailgate food and taking on the monstrous Shula’s 48 oz. steak challenge live on TV at the end of the show. Fans are dressed in Man v. Food t-shirts and a few fans are dressed in pizza, hot dog and steak costumes. The show features two sports announcers who treat the show as a football game, while cheerleaders in full garb are cheering for Adam. Television viewers were able to vote on the best “Fan v. Food” challenge photos online of Man v. Food fans, shown with a mega food challenge of their own.
Tony Bourdain visits Prague in this episode. As he looks through market stalls at various cooked foods he proclaims “In Prague, pork is king. Welcome to Porkopolis”.
Survival expert Bear Grylls is host of Man vs. Wild on the Discovery channel. Man vs. Wild is a “how-to” survival guide to survive in various wilderness scenarios. Grylls and his support team drop into remote areas throughout the world to show real-world techniques you would use to survive until rescued. Grylls is given minimal supplies to start each trek. Areas are often so remote Grylls and his crew must parachute into the location. Grylls is very skilled and capable when traversing through wilderness areas. Fans of the show are often interested in some of the gross items he must use for survival such as various bugs and animals Grylls must eat or sources of water or hydration he must use during his survival trips.
Tony visits Brittany, France in this episode. Tony exclaims the shades of blue in the water there are far more beautiful than the descriptions he’s heard of or the water shown in famous paintings of the region. Tony meets up with famous chef Olivier Roellinger. Tony can barely keep up with chef Olivier, who dives into the local farmers market. Chef Olivier decided as a young man to become a chef after a near death experience, ever since the chef has been obsessed with food. Tony and the chef go to his hotel/restaurant Les Maisons de Bricourt and visit the chef’s bakery that provides the restaurant with fresh breads. Here they sample pork products with the bread including sausage and pate. The chef raises his own pigs in the back of the hotel that provide the pork products. Tony smiles at the pork products and says “best pork porn ever”.
In this episode Tony Bourdain travels to Istanbul. Tony tells the viewers “Turkey has always been a mystery to me” and has no preconceptions of the country as he arrives in Istanbul. He finds the streets clean, sophisticated food available and young and hip people milling through the streets. Tony admits since Istanbul is Muslim and a dry country with no ready alcohol, he overdid it on the plane coming over. 
The new season of Anthony Bourdain No Reservations begins with Tony wearing a bullet-proof vest, surrounded by Panama state police using machetes to break open kilos of cocaine. As Tony watches the destruction he quips “somewhere an aging supermodel is crying.”
Want to know more about the coolest chef on TV? Tony Bourdain hosts “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel. No Reservations is a unique view on travel and food written by a chef/author, a culinary travel view from a self-professed twisted guy. Bourdain is the first to admit he’s jaded but finds humanity in little village haunts in far away places, off the beaten path dives and restaurants the locals visit serving the true food of the region. Bourdain feels especially lucky when he gets invited to a local’s house for dinner to experience home cooking in the country he is visiting.
