• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Ruhlman
  • About Michael
  • My Books
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • From Scratch

Bourdain: No More Dippity Do

Published: Sep 8, 2008 · Modified: Sep 8, 2008 by Michael Ruhlman · 70 Comments

Bourdain
I got your flock of haircuts right here, pal.

(Sent by my friend Peter who said he got it off the Dwight Englewood high school yearbook site.)

And Cynthia sent another good link to more pix, the sad decent of fine young man going over to the dark side of the seventies coiffure.

And in other food blog news: Carol Blymire, who gave us French Laundry at Home, has announced her next project.  It may well make the recipes in The French Laundry Cookbook feel like 30 minute meals.

Bourdain Update: The Globe-Slacker Responds:

Oh, Ruhlman...Ruhlman...Ruhlman.

Here I was, all blissed out, half-swacked on negronis and looking out over the canals of Venice, the golden hues of late afternoon playing on the water, my little girl nibbling happily on a biscotto by my knee. I was--to say the least--in a charitable mood, a happy, all-is-well-with-the-world kind of a mood. Draining the last bit of gin/vermouth/campari mix from my glass, I stepped into my palatial lodgings  to check my e-mail. Some very disturbing and unsolicited inquiries from former fans of Tiny Tim, German trannies, and--judging from the spelling--stoned out hippie freaks. Apparently, still stinging from my perfectly reasonable and accurate observations regarding your supernaturally lustrous hair,you felt compelled to dig deep into my past, going so far as to burglarize my old high school.

Vengeance will be mine, Ruhlman. I have employed a most excellent and reputable firm of Venetian detectives who assure me that the photos of you--at the Kajagoogoo concert, 1986, will soon be in my hands.They tell me as well that that infommercial you made with Suzanne Sommers? Copies STILL exist.

My hopes for political office have been ruined, Ruhlman. And for this, you will pay a truly terrible price.

Previous Post: « Caprese Salad, a cliché?
Next Post: In Defense of Water »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Frances

    September 08, 2008 at 8:58 am

    This explains a lot.

    Reply
  2. Aaron S.

    September 08, 2008 at 8:58 am

    I have never felt so fortunate to have missed out on the 70s...

    Reply
  3. Tags

    September 08, 2008 at 10:09 am

    How far he'd come from that fateful day in June of 1956 when Gogi Grant's "The Wayward Wind" topped the pop charts.

    Reply
  4. Amy

    September 08, 2008 at 10:45 am

    Bourdain with a head full of hair. Nice!

    Just saw her page...I'm looking forward to her upcoming adventures with Alinea.

    Reply
  5. meg

    September 08, 2008 at 10:54 am

    Goddammit Tony, you hippy dippy freak.

    Reply
  6. KS

    September 08, 2008 at 11:12 am

    hahahahahah. Oh I still love him but ya know, if I was around back then, would Tony have been the coolest dude on the block, or the most tragic?

    Reply
  7. Alison Evans-Fragale

    September 08, 2008 at 11:14 am

    Dwight-Englewood School (DES) produced some of the most eloquent, altruistic, and talented individuals I know!

    BTW, is that John Foy with Tony?

    Mr. Duffy was the best English teacher--EVER!

    Alison
    DES Class of '80

    Reply
  8. Andrew

    September 08, 2008 at 11:37 am

    How is she going to pull of the Alinea recipes? This I have to see. It took me the better part of a day just to figure out how I could mimic the anti-griddle.

    Reply
  9. lux

    September 08, 2008 at 11:57 am

    OMG. That hair! Bring on the mind bleach!

    Reply
  10. Marty

    September 08, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    God, don't eff with Ruhlman. The man has a memory like an elephant...lucky Nugent didn't see this pic before he and Tony met.

    Reply
  11. O'Rourke

    September 08, 2008 at 12:23 pm

    Is it just me, or does Anthony look like he could have been a stage double for Joey Ramone back then?

    Reply
  12. Elise

    September 08, 2008 at 12:35 pm

    OMG that's hilarious. Touché Bourdain, touché.

    Reply
  13. David Butler

    September 08, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    why the long face?

    heh... nice

    Reply
  14. amber

    September 08, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    that hair! so great! 😀

    cannot wait for carol's new project. i'm glad she's not leaving the blogosphere now that TFL is almost complete.

    Reply
  15. Phil

    September 08, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    Didn't Tony show this picture in his New Jersey episode of No Reservations?

    Either way, the 70's were unkind to people in regards to hair styles and fashion. If it weren't for drugs and rock & roll, the entire decade would have sucked.

    Reply
  16. Maddux

    September 08, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Hey it's Luke Skywalker & Chewbacca! No wait. Who cares about the hair... Please tell me that's a 1971 Dodge Charger HEMI in the background?! - Please say yes!

    Reply
  17. Skawt

    September 08, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    Hey, Ruhlman, you got any MULLET pictures of Tony to round out the album?

    Reply
  18. Heather

    September 08, 2008 at 4:47 pm

    Tony looks not unlike a latter-day Shinki Chen in those pics, or at least Yoko Ono.

    Reply
  19. Kate in the NW

    September 08, 2008 at 5:07 pm

    OMG, Bourdain's got no license whatsoever to rag on Pacific Northwesterners for seeming like creepy serial killers (statistics aside...). Sasquatch lives! (Sorry, AB - you know we love you...but MY GOD - THAT HAIR - what were you THINKING?! Even for 1970, that's bad...).

    My heart skipped a beat when I read your next topic, too (not in terror this time, but in anticipation...) Could it be...will it be...it HAS to be...[click through to the linked page] YES! ALINEA! This will be fun...

    Reply
  20. Robert

    September 08, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    I was going to say that you were way wrong to post such a photo of your friend. Then I decided I should check what prompted such a nuclear attack.

    He had it coming.

    Reply
  21. do

    September 08, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    As I do not have an Alinea cookbook yet (birhday's coming...), I can't comment on how hard the recipes are, but in a previous post you commented that the average home chef/cook might struggle to actually do the recipes. Any chance there's a few that Carol simply won't be able to do?

    Reply
  22. NYCook

    September 08, 2008 at 6:49 pm

    That is one of the most Bad Ass haircuts I have seen in a long time

    Reply
  23. MessyONE

    September 08, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    Skinny man + long fuzzy hair = cotton candy on a stick.

    Oh dear. Those are the photos that evil parents threaten to show everyone at graduations and weddings.

    Then again, during the Feral Years, I sported a pink and white striped brush cut, so I can't really talk...

    Reply
  24. Karina

    September 08, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    Um. He looks *exactly* like my art school boyfriend.

    Reply
  25. SwillMonkey

    September 08, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    Damn, you could land a 747...or should I say a 707 on those lapels.

    Reply
  26. KMAD

    September 08, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    Killer locks, Chef!!

    "Oh say can you see - my eyes if you can, then my hair's too short!" ~HAIR~

    (Nice payback, Ruhlman!)

    Reply
  27. Darcie

    September 08, 2008 at 11:09 pm

    Perhaps this is where Gilda Radner got the inspiration for Rosanne Rosannadanna?

    Payback's a bitch.

    Reply
  28. Jeff

    September 09, 2008 at 1:24 am

    Kind of looks like someone from the Munsters.

    Reply
  29. june-baby

    September 09, 2008 at 2:21 am

    How does that one line go in that song, I'am way to sexy for my hair.... no wait, is it I'am way to sexy for my shirt.

    Loved your payback Ruhlman, but you know Tony will get you back some how.

    Reply
  30. bourdain

    September 09, 2008 at 4:42 am

    Oh, Ruhlman...Ruhlman...Ruhlman.
    Here I was, all blissed out, half-swacked on negronis and looking out over the canals of Venice, the golden hues of late afternoon playing on the water, my little girl nibbling happily on a biscotto by my knee. I was--to say the least--in a charitable mood, a happy, all-is-well-with-the-world kind of a mood. Draining the last bit of gin/vermouth/campari mix from my glass, I stepped into my palatial lodgings to check my e-mail. Some very disturbing and unsolicited inquiries from former fans of Tiny Tim, German trannies, and--judging from the spelling--stoned out hippie freaks. Apparently, still stinging from my perfectly reasonable and accurate observations regarding your supernaturally lustrous hair,you felt compelled to dig deep into my past, going so far as to burglarize my old high school.
    Vengeance will be mine, Ruhlman. I have employed a most excellent and reputable firm of Venetian detectives who assure me that the photos of you--at the Kajagoogoo concert, 1986, will soon be in my hands.They tell me as well that that infommercial you made with Suzanne Sommers? Copies STILL exist.
    My hopes for political office have been ruined, Ruhlman. And for this, you will pay a truly terrible price.

    Reply
  31. Cameron S.

    September 09, 2008 at 5:29 am

    Tony looks like he is about to join the Ramones.

    Reply
  32. wehotom

    September 09, 2008 at 8:18 am

    Flawless.

    Reply
  33. june-baby

    September 09, 2008 at 8:51 am

    OMG, Ruhlman went to a Kajagoogoo concert in 1986.

    Ruhlman look out for those Venetian detectives bawhahaha, I told you so that Bourdain would get back at you.

    Reply
  34. rockandroller

    September 09, 2008 at 10:08 am

    Wonderful! And by that I mean the use of the single "biscotto." The hair? Frampton Comes Alive.

    Reply
  35. mark

    September 09, 2008 at 10:29 am

    ha, i wonder how many dwight-englewood alum food dorks are gonna come out of the woodwork for this gem of a post. ->'95 here.

    alison, duffy was still kickin around when i was there, but i think his english teaching days were over.

    Reply
  36. Andrea Winchester

    September 09, 2008 at 10:45 am

    Howard Stern and Tony Bourdain: Separated at birth?

    Reply
  37. Robyn

    September 09, 2008 at 11:21 am

    hehehe! Yep Tony is my age for sure! I have an exact picture of my husband in the early 70s! I hope, by all that is sacred and holy, that Tony did not go into a kitchen, (other than to eat!) with that hair. Oh heck, what am I saying? It was the 70s. hehehehehe

    Reply
  38. Ricky

    September 09, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    It looks like Bourdain is about to take a hit in the first picture.

    Reply
  39. Shelley

    September 09, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    I can't stop laughing. Do we have a new Breck Boy, or what?

    Reply
  40. Sean

    September 09, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    Laugh all you want, people, but if he was working as a cook with that hair, just think of all the intestinal blockage brought on my stray strands in salads and soups.
    Not funny
    (Yeah, it is)

    Reply
  41. Whopow75

    September 09, 2008 at 7:02 pm

    Mr. B.,
    To use the culinary vernacular, revenge is a dish best served cold. And bravo on nursing a Negroni in Venice - very appropo. I HOPE this whole exchange doesn't descend to the juvenile stage - like about when these photos were taken. Oy.

    Reply
  42. Michelle

    September 09, 2008 at 7:59 pm

    At first I thought it was that guy from the movie "Mask". Then my son walked into the room and said, "Hey, there's a guy from The Flaming Lips "Fearless Freaks" DVD. Oh, no, it's just Bourdain." You should put a disclaimer before this photo that states: Would you let this guy cook your dinner?

    Reply
  43. FoodPuta

    September 09, 2008 at 9:29 pm

    Now I remember Bourdain! He was the guy that stunk of Petuli oil, and sold four finger bags of Mexican dirt weed in the parking lot.
    We all figured he would end up as a fry cook at the local greasy-spoon.

    Good work Ruhlman!!

    Reply
  44. Annie

    September 09, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    Does anyone think Tony ever got laid while his hair was like that?

    By a human.

    Reply
  45. mike pardus

    September 09, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    I wasn't going to comment on this, but my 9 year old daughter - who's a BIG TB Fan - just saw the pix and asked - "Wait, is the short one Tony and the tall one his GIRL FRIEND?"...sorry, just too funny not to share...

    Reply
  46. Mags

    September 09, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    Kajagoogoo.

    Heh heh.

    Reply
  47. jodycakes

    September 10, 2008 at 1:00 am

    I love it when good friends joust in such a way...always keeps one another on their toes!
    And so the battle continues...Hee hee hee.
    And really, did you go to Kajagoogoo???
    We all love the 70's and 80's right? We all had bad hair too...:)

    Reply
  48. Vincent Mack

    September 10, 2008 at 2:50 am

    i really didnt want to comment but...

    really tony? really? you talked shit about someone's hair with these pics floating around? holy shit. hosanna in the highest shit, man.

    looks like two wombats fucking your ears dude.

    in the words of fret...YOWZA

    Reply
  49. Vincent Mack

    September 10, 2008 at 2:53 am

    and kajagoogoo is the too shy shy antichrist

    Reply
  50. Brian

    September 10, 2008 at 8:29 am

    Holy God!

    Lock the doors kids..

    Awesome find, but a somber reminder that we all have pics of ourselves out there like this...choose your battles wisely 😉

    Cheers!
    Brian

    Reply
  51. Tags

    September 10, 2008 at 10:56 am

    -
    With you two, tongue and cheek are inseparable.

    Really, Tony, just be glad he didn't show that picture of you and Sandra Lee spreading Crisco on white bread with an Abba poster on the wall.

    Reply
  52. Shelley

    September 10, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    Pardus, that would be one UGLY girlfriend!

    Reply
  53. Debrouillard in WI

    September 10, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    Holy crap!!! I never knew that Tony was in the cast of the Addam's Family!?!

    Reply
  54. 2 Sticks of Butter

    September 10, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    Oh, Tony....ROFL, that is some serious bad hair my friend. You look like a lesbian assistant professor from Vassar!

    Reply
  55. Frances

    September 10, 2008 at 7:48 pm

    The jacket though - that says "Hey, I'm not going to be spending my entire life at the local head shop. Just the high school years." Nice touch of coolness.

    Reply
  56. Cygnetos

    September 11, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    Gee...... He looks like my old friend Twitch.
    Late of this earth after lo these many years
    of too many cigerettes, poor haircut, bad diet and an interest in vodka and pharmaceuticals.
    Nah!......................
    He couldn't cook.
    Not him.

    Reply
  57. Wilmita

    September 11, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    Actually, Anthony Bourdain bears a striking resemblance to Charles Stuart or King Charles II of The United Kingdom.

    Or perhaps even more like King Charles II's cousin Louis XIV, "The Sun King", of France."

    Small wonder a branch of the Bourdain family fled to Uruguay in the early-to-mid nineteenth century and returned when The House of Hapsburg was finished in France, or whenever...

    Wilmita

    Reply
  58. luis

    September 11, 2008 at 11:48 pm

    The hair, the tat's, the earings... does anyone detect a pattern there? Man chasing a trend... trend running away from man...man running again...seeking the next trend...

    Reply
  59. Ted

    September 12, 2008 at 8:39 am

    Hey, he hasn't had to join THE HAIR CLUB FOR MEN!

    I could still have hair like that.. at least I'm not needing a combover. Bourdain should be glad he still has hair.

    Reply
  60. cybercita

    September 14, 2008 at 10:32 am

    your ongoing "feud" with bourdain never ceases to amuse me!

    Reply
  61. Chris

    September 14, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    Drugs? Rock and Roll? Foie Gras? Nope I don't see it..... I bet you that when he eventually got it all cut off he donated it to "Hairclub For Carnivores" LOL

    Reply
  62. mike pardus

    September 15, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    Anthony - when you can run for office, let me know how you did it...my past is the only thing keeping me out of politics - and it ain't the hair. My pix from '76 look embarrassingly similar....

    Reply
  63. Pastry Chef Suzy

    September 21, 2008 at 1:20 am

    Hey Bourdain - I have photos of Ruhlman backstage at the Frankie Goes to Hollywood "Relax!" tour 1986 - and you don't even wanna KNOW what he's doing to that dancin' dude with the baseball cap.

    BTW: Beware! You fanatic morbidly obese Bourdain groupie who's hubby runs a Vista hacker site: I'm not on Windows anymore, so you can kiss my you-know-what with your pernicious hard-drive killing hack-ware. I buy my 'puters at Wal-Mart, where the elite meet to buy their non-Windows based hack-proof hardware!

    Reply
  64. Bill Clearlake

    September 21, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    You look like a chick I spent a night of drunken debauchery with at a kegger party in the Duquesne University dorms back in '72.

    OMFG! I knew there was something weird about that chick!

    Don't feel bad. There are even worse pics of me from that era floating around.

    Reply
  65. Claudia (The Original)

    September 23, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Oh, dear God. I can hardly wait for the Ruhlman Mullet Fest that is to follow.

    Tony, I could always see those physical traits you inherited from your mother, but you definitely look like your father!

    Reply
  66. Claudia (The Original)

    September 23, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Oh, dear God. I can hardly wait for the Ruhlman Mullet Fest that is to follow.

    Tony, I could always see those physical traits you inherited from your mother, but you definitely look like your father!

    Reply
  67. Deborah Dowd

    September 23, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    So does Bourdain have a picture of Michael a la Flock of Seagulls?! Vengeance is a dish best served cold.... and publishing those pictures was really cold!

    Reply
  68. Deborah Dowd

    September 23, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    So does Bourdain have a picture of Michael a la Flock of Seagulls?! Vengeance is a dish best served cold.... and publishing those pictures was really cold!

    Reply
  69. GastroGirls

    October 03, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    May I add that Ruhlman does bear and uncanny resemblance to Uncle Joey, of Full House fame? With a better coiff of course.

    I heart you Michael and all the elements of cookery that you stand for. You make me want to go to cooking school and make stocks and consomme's for all my friends to indulge in.

    http://www.gastrogirls.com

    Reply
  70. dvd-rw

    September 26, 2009 at 8:14 am

    I am just love him because tony is looking a cool dude in that picture.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • 12/26 Newsletter (Hope You'll Subscribe!)
  • Newsletter Holiday Cookie Recipes
  • Ga-Ga's Eggnog
  • Friday Cocktail Hour: The Penicillin
  • French Onion Soup

Recent Comments

  • Maq on Friday Cocktail Hour: The Paloma (a variation)
  • Michael Ruhlman on Waiting For Donna
  • Catherine on Scottish Shortbread
  • Margret on Waiting For Donna
  • Michael Ruhlman on Aspic

Copyright © 2021 Ruhlman on the Foodie Pro Theme