What was he like as a traveler? He was not familiar with Asia, a place where I was traveling to regularly, and I was happy to show him around. He was enjoying it. It was just unreal to be there, the two of us, and it was just a wonderful time, and he was happy.
He was curious. He was going all over the place, and he wanted to do everything, see everything, taste everything. It was just wonderful. And he was always very meticulous and very professional doing it.
So, he was enjoying all these things, but things were not as free spirited like they used to be at the beginning. You know, we could discuss at length of what would be happening in his mind at the time, but obviously things were evolving. There was an incredible team around him, the producers, the cameramen, I mean, everyone was so … I cannot believe how good that team was.
They were so caring, and they took care of him at all times. And so that carried him over the decades. Oh, yes. So many, of course, but I will focus on the on the happiest moments. Tony was someone who was incredibly well read and had an immense library of movies in his mind. Everything was coming to life for him. This was probably, of all our trips and discoveries, this was probably the moment where I saw him happiest and I saw the kid that he had in him.
We all have our inner child or soul within us. And this is when I saw it in him, and so it was such a privilege to enjoy that with him at the time. Was there ever a point over the course of the years when you realized that Anthony Bourdain was going to be this huge star?
Did you ever expect him to be as big of a star as he was? There were no thoughts about what could be and how all this could evolve. I personally do not get really caught up in these kinds of calculations or evaluations; the reality is that whatever happens to us in terms of social recognition, we are still the same.
Tony and I rarely discussed it, and he was always very kind and very authentic to respect the fame. He would always accept to take a picture or sign a book in a very humble way, in a realistic way, and without any affectation, and that was very refreshing. I was happy and impressed that he remained the same and that he was being himself. Did your relationship with him change at all over the years especially after he left the restaurant? Our relationship did not really change.
The reality is that in the restaurant, early on, I was never really involved with all the logistics and personnel. My role was more to create new restaurants, think about new locations, negotiate the leases, do the openings and do the marketing and so I was never involved with things that he was dealing with and that my partner was working with. So, our relationship, thanks to the trip to Tokyo, was always a bit more outside of the demands of running the restaurant. And if anything, we were kind of close without being intimate.
It would happen, and it would be a good moment, a fun moment. And so, nothing changed much. Looking back on the legacy of Les Halles, what do you think made Les Halles so special to so many people? Well, in a way, Les Halles lasted for 25 years, and those were probably the 25 golden years of restaurant life in New York City.
In other words, before that, probably bars were more of the social scene and people would not be paying that much attention to food or how authentic a food could be, or what the concept could be. At Les Halles, the restaurant was borne out of my personal experiences of late nights spent in the brasseries of Paris. Places where all social classes came together, and where food and being together was the objective. I think that was quite unique, and it will remain unique because that was our focus, versus opening a business to find a theme or to impress people with the design of the restaurant or false creativity in food, and so on and so forth.
So, I think that personal, authentic experience based on emotional memories was really what made Les Halles so special. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain tells his story — from his origins as a New York chef, through his emergence as a beloved TV journalist to his death from suicide in at age Like, how the hell does somebody like Tony Bourdain kill himself?
My goal is to have people not just think of his death when they think of him. Roadrunner hits theaters on July Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!
By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. Brasserie Les Halles, a French restaurant on Park Avenue South with a this must be the place quality, was famed for a few things: aperitifs, steak frites , and, most fondly, Anthony Bourdain. And this summer, to coincide with release of the documentary Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain , Resy and Focus Features are reimagining the restaurant as a pop-up in its original location.
Steak frites like Tony used to make them.
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