Anthony Bourdain - Parts Unknown - Houston episode!

Are you flirting with me @LonghornFan ?

 

Have you ever taken them to the Galleria? You know it has an indoor ice skating rink!

 

I think they gathered up the grimiest fools in Houston for that documentary -- it's really old now though.

 

If you like food/museums/shopping...i think houston is good.

but there's no golden gate bridge...or lombard street to take guests/visitors to.

 

i love this city to death, but i'd be lying if i said that houston wasn't boring...

we don't have significant landmarks to tout about. we have food and drink, and gatherings, but this wouldn't be on the top of the list to show off to tourists

 

and thanks to our great weather we can't really tout many outdoor activities either.

 

Maybe if you're just lazy and fat (not talking about you).

I ride twice a week into downtown and hit up brewries, free comedy shows, steak nights and that's on thursdays. There are things to do if you are finding things to do.

 

I must be lazy and fat then. I hardly spent any time outdoors in Houston. And when I did, it was strictly for exercise where the whole point was to sweat my balls off and reach exhaustion.

After I moved to DC I discovered the magic that is 60-80 degree temperatures, moderate humidity (plus wind!), and pedestrian friendly infrastructure and city planning/zoning.

Everyone in DC always b****es and moans about how hot it is in the Summer (and yeah, it can even get worse than Houston in spurts), but I realized that the reason people here think the heat is so bad (when in reality it is only like 3-4 months... as opposed to 7-8 months like Houston) is because people here are accustomed to spending their time outdoors. They don't plan their activities around the weather, unlike Houstonians (who build roads everywhere and roofs over everything) because they don't *have* to. The weather here is an inconvenience at times, but not life altering like it is in Houston. At least that's how I explain it to these Yankees.

Houston is a wonderful place to raise a family, but it sucks ballz for singles and the younger crowd.

 

I'm heading to D.C. In January for fun. I can't wait to use their public transit and bike lanes...I hope it doesn't spoil me. Gonna do U street and all dive bars mostly. Maybe I'll see you there ;-)

I live near Hobby mind you. I really have to make an effort to find fun here but that's kind of excitement of finding new places, people and trails. I want to love my city since I don't see a way out anytime soon.

 

There is plenty to do...it's more a question of, what is there to do that you can't do elsewhere? the food, shopping, etc.. is stuff you can find in most major cities...we have a lot of stuff you can do after work or for an hour here and there, quick forms of entertainment, i guess you can say....it's a nice place to settle down, but not attractive enough for tourists to plan a vacation to.

 

Houston has lots of tourist spots.

 

They moved it

 

I found this episode rather boring... More boring than most his shows. Did enjoy his message about the city.

 

Whoever decided to move it really screwed up.

 

i've seen every episode of no reservations and parts unknown. houston would be in the bottom 5 places i'd be interested in visiting based on the show.

seemed like he picked the type of places that you could find in the crevasses of any major city in the country. was he restricted to a mile long stretch of Hillcroft?

 

the pedestrian traffic in dc/arlington is jarring. it's as if "look both ways before you cross" was either wiped out of the vernacular there 30 years ago, or they are taught to intentionally look no ways before crossing. as long as they have those thick striped lines to walk across, the morons treat them and their pedestrian laws as if they are a forcefield from getting your life ended by oncoming traffic. it's absolutely incredible. slowly sauntering across the road staring at a cellphone is the norm. they have all the rights and they will damn sure take advantage of them, 1.5 ton pieces of metal on wheels rolling towards them at 35 mph be damned. it's as if they aren't aware that not all drivers are equally as careful and quick enough to slam on their breaks when they walk across the road into oncoming traffic. it's just mind-blowing.

 

I finally watched the episode. In a sense, I can understand why some people liked it and others didn't. I've watched pretty much every episode of Bourdain's No Reservations and Parts Unknown shows. I said in this thread before the episode aired that I'm not that huge a fan of the American shows simply because most of what I see in every city is something I can find in damn near every other city in the US. I like his shows because he tries to focus on the culture of the place he visits as much, if not more, than just the food. When he goes to international places, I'm interested in the places he eats at more than when he's in the US. I don't care about "the 1,000,000th dive or bar joint on that street corner" he visits where he eats bbq, burgers, or some other greasy food and drinks beer. Probably because I've "been there done that". It's nothing new. Going to a village in Asia or South America and watching them cook or prepare food authentically? That, I'm interested in.

Reasons I liked the episode :

1) Gave people outside of Texas a view of Houston as something other than cowboys and rednecks.
2) Loved the focus on immigrants because there are. so. many. of them in Houston and from all around the world. Houston has one of the largest concentrations of Vietnamese, Indians, etc in the nation. Their stories reminded me of growing up there. Loved them telling their stories of how they came over from overseas and worked their tails off to do well. Also how thankful they are to be in the US and how they've been treated well since they got to Houston.
3) For a city without that much of an identity other than "it's humid" outside of Houston/Texas, it gave it some type of identity.

Reasons I didn't like the episode :

1) Come on... a grocery store throwdown? That's it? You did my people wrong, Anthony. Hell, my people did my people wrong. That whole scene was horrible. Even the foreigner they got to dance with them was.... Asian. Lord. I felt like I was watching a scene off the Simpsons or something.
2) Bun B would've made a great rep for the city. He's into food, loves the city, and take you from the hoods to the white collar areas. I wish they had used him.
3) Houston apparently has no white people. Good Lord, you'd think this episode was just about INS. But I guess I get it... there's only an hour to get it all in and they have to give the episode an identity to differentiate it from everywhere else in the US.
4) I really don't think Bourdain likes doing US episodes as much as he does overseas episodes, but that's just a guess/hunch. In a sense, I can understand why -- it's probably a sense of "been there, done that" for him.

All-in-all, I liked the episode. I doubt it'd make me want to visit Houston after watching it, but then, I feel that way about most of his US episodes. I'm guessing it may change some opinions, though.

 

Bourdain is not a journalist, he's a chef. That's why I'm turning in. Nashville episode A. Houston episode D.

I wonder how many people voted Trump after that episode.

 

First episode I've ever watched of this show or any show with this Bourdain guy. Was very boring, after-school-special like. I will continue not watching his shows.

 

Well then you're missing out. His shows are typically amazing. Kinda weird that you'd single him out for this one episode when scores of people in this thread are talking about how much they loves his shows. But you do you hombre.