The Hilariously Bizarre Dessert Éric Ripert Made Anthony Bourdain
One of the many gifts that director Morgan Neville gave us by making "Roadrunner" was that of friendship. The Academy Award-winning director offered up startlingly personal insights into Anthony Bourdain and acclaimed French chef Éric Ripert's brotherhood. Ripert, it turns out, met Bourdain after reading his book, "Kitchen Confidential," and inviting him to lunch. In the documentary, Ripert recounts that he was taken aback that Bourdain (soon to become a world-renowned kitchen rebel with a cause) had good — nay "amazing" — table manners.
To say that Bourdain and Ripert liked each other would be an injustice. The pair grew to know each other so well that Ripert both witnessed and recognized when Bourdain fell in love with his second wife, Ottavia Busia. Busia toasted the "Parts Unknown" star at a restaurant and — as Ripert tells it — Bourdain teared up.
"We used to play pranks on each other and we used to have a lot of fun, but he never criticized my food, which was nice," Ripert once told CBS News. Case in point? A dessert that the French chef once prepared for Bourdain and which had both Bourdain and Ripert cracking up.
The desert Éric Ripert made for Anthony Bourdain would be hard to swallow
Anthony Bourdain wasn't really into sweets. "I'm not good at pastries," he once told Publisher's Weekly. "I can't bake. If I had to lose one course for the rest of my life it would be dessert." Instead of dessert, Bourdain professed to prefer a good wine and cheese plate. (Bourdain used to vacation in France as a kid, so you can blame this after-meal habit on that if you need to).
Éric Ripert no doubt knew his friend well enough to understand that neither his dulce de leche ice cream sandwiches, nor his crepes, nor his chocolate mousse (via Avec Eric) was going to impress his friend. Instead "Roadrunner" reveals that Ripert prepared a "special custard" for Bourdain. What was in it? If you believe the documentary, "marlboro cigarettes crunched up into a cream" served up over foie gras mousse. Yum? Bourdain, it seems, took at least one bite.
Then again, as Bourdain famously wrote in his cookbook, "Appetites," "F*** desserts" (via Epicurious).