{"id":325987,"date":"2026-08-20T17:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325987\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T17:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:52:10","slug":"pals-reminisce-on-anthony-bourdain-and-rave-about-new-biopic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/325987\/","title":{"rendered":"Pals reminisce on Anthony Bourdain and rave about new biopic"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Anthony Bourdain\u2019s legend continues to grow\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0the latest jolt coming from the new A24 biopic Tony<\/a>, which focuses on the man-about-the-world\u2019s formative years \u2014 fans, both old and new, are hungry to learn more about who the real Tony was.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And his close friends and colleagues would know best.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody asks, \u2018Was he really that cool?\u2019 But in reality, he was way f\u2014ing cooler,\u201d Tracy Westmoreland, owner of fabled drinking den Siberia<\/a>, where the late chef, author, and globetrotting TV host would often be found recharging after sweaty shifts in NYC kitchens, told The Post.<\/p>\n

Westmoreland said more recently he\u2019s been bombarded by questions from patrons curious about the culinary great, who died by suicide in 2018, at age 61.<\/p>\n

Anthony Bourdain\u2019s close friends and colleagues raved about the chef\u2019s portrayal in the new \u201cTony\u201d film. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople come in and usually start very softly, asking random questions,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd then like five minutes later, it\u2019s obvious they\u2019re on a journey to learn more about him. I still get emotional talking about him, because I miss my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember his first time coming in; he was so tall wearing ripped jeans and cowboy boots; I used to break his balls,\u201d said Westmoreland, who figures he was one of the first people to tell Bourdain to write about his time as a chef during late-night, beer-soaked conversations in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, he was writing crime novels. So I said, \u2018Yo, Tony. Not for nothing. You\u2019re not a gangster, you\u2019re a fucking cook.\u2019 He goes, \u2018I\u2019m a chef.\u2019 I said, \u2018Blow me. Write about something you know. I\u2019m gonna bar you if you don\u2019t write about anything about food.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Bourdain and Tracy Westmoreland (R) hanging out at Siberia bar back in the day.<\/p>\n

Bourdain and Westmoreland would eventually travel together to St. Martin, with Bourdain attempting to convince Westmoreland to open up an outpost of the bar on the tropical island \u2014\u00a0a plan that fell through as Westmoreland wanted to stay close to his beloved Big Apple.<\/p>\n

But Bourdain definitely followed Westmoreland\u2019s advice \u2014\u00a0and began writing about food. After an essay of his was published in The New Yorker, it led to a contract that would result in his breakout book, Kitchen Confidential, in 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Bourdain\u2019s close friend caught wind of the Matt Johnson-directed film that focuses on one summer, pre-NYC, when the cantankerous and witty culinary icon was coming into his own both in the kitchen and as a blossoming writer, Westermoreland had low expectations for how his friend would be portrayed.<\/p>\n

A young Bourdain in the Hotel Wales kitchen circa 1988 in New York City. Courtesy of Nancy Bourdain<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, I thought the movie was gonna be a piece of shit,\u201d he confessed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut \u200aI gotta tell you, man, I thought it was good. \u200aI thought the guy (Sessa) nailed the way Tony was,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe caught the essence of him. But I also have to say, while the actress who played Tony\u2019s eventual wife was very pretty and very nice, Tony\u2019s actual wife Nancy was prettier and hotter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A review<\/a> for The Post called the film \u201csupremely likeable.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Tesar is a fellow chef who worked in the kitchen trenches with Bourdain and makes a memorable appearance in Kitchen Confidential under the moniker of Jimmy Sears.<\/p>\n

Tesar first became friends with Bourdain in the \u201880s \u2014\u00a0with the two eventually cooking together at the famed Midtown eatery The Supper Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bourdain, in the back, working in a kitchen alongside John Tesar (front).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I saw him, he walked in with that black leather jacket of his, tight blue jeans, cowboy boots and he was smoking a fucking Lucky Strike,\u201d Tesar recalled to The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Who the f\u2013k is this guy? He had a very large physical presence,\u201d he recalled of Bourdain, who stood at 6\u20194\u201d tall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tesar said he felt validated when Bourdain eventually wrote about him in Kitchen Confidential, where he called Tesar \u201ca brilliant cook.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was sleeping on floors around Manhattan, dodging creditors and ex-girlfriends, and in general going through a rough patch,\u201d Bourdain wrote of Tesar before he was recruited to cook alongside him at The Supper Club.<\/p>\n

Bourdain and Tesar in 2018.<\/p>\n

According to Tesar, the real Bourdain was \u201cvery charismatic, but also kind of naive in some way and sophisticated in others.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a result, he muses that Sessa \u201cdid a good job portraying the sensitive, vulnerable and sometimes full-of-shit aspects of Tony.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tesar revels in Tony, because it shows the man before the bright light of celebrity kicked in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a very complex individual before fame,\u201d Tesar said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Antonio Banderas (L) and Dominic Sessa as Bourdain in \u201cTony.\u201d Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you look at somebody who\u2019s famous, it\u2019s harder to know who they really are because then they\u2019re acting all the time. What I loved about the movie is that it shows you who he was before everybody and anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said modern culture is snuffing out even the idea of celebrity chefs like Bourdain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been killed by ego, frosted tips and game shows,\u201d he muses. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame he passed away, because he was really on a roll. Even if he was the most self-destructive, rude motherfucker in the world, he was a brilliant food writer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sessa stars as Bourdain in \u201cTony.\u201d Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

As a result, when he heard Bourdain committed suicide in France, he had an immediate reaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thought in my mind was, \u2018What the f\u2014k, you idiot. Why did you kill yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Ruhlman, another close friend of Bourdain\u2019s, characterized Bourdain as \u201ca Jersey wisecracker who turned it into an art.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A frequent travel companion and fellow food writer, Ruhlman said he isn\u2019t surprised he\u2019s still talking about his fallen buddy all of these years later.<\/p>\n

Close friends of Bourdain described him as \u201cforthright and outspoken.\u201d Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just so forthright and outspoken, and said what was on his mind with a humor and intelligence nobody could imitate or duplicate,\u201d he told The Post of what made Bourdain stand out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe crossed all kinds of religious and political divides, and was this kind of unifier, connecting us all and I think people really took to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first time Ruhlman met Bourdain was in 2001; at the time Bourdain was assigned to review his book The Soul of a Chef for the New York Times Book Review.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Food author and chef Michael Ruhlman was a close friend of Bourdain\u2019s. Tribune News Service via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great review and sold a lot of books, so I wanted to meet him and thank him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They eventually struck up a friendship and Bourdain would bring him along on his dining adventures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce he was assigned to review Masa, a very famous and controversial sushi bar, for Men\u2019s Health, but he got so drunk during the meal he couldn\u2019t remember anything,\u201d Ruhlman recalls. \u201cSo he had to go back, and brought me and (fellow chef and Bourdain\u2019s close friend) Eric Ripert.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The crew wound up getting hammered again after Ripert brought them to another bar afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up to an email from him; he had gotten so drunk he threw up in the Hudson River.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Ruhlman, Bourdain lived life on his own terms.<\/p>\n

The late chef\u2019s friends miss him dearly. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got along because we both rejoiced in fatty things and innards,\u201d he said. \u201cI always liked the quote when he said, \u2018People talk about treating your body like a temple, I treat my body like a fun house.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ruhlman marvels at Bourdain\u2019s legacy and immense slate of projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to Tony, A24 also released a companion book about the chef dubbed Happier, Stupider Times: Anthony Bourdain\u2019s Provincetown Years. Earlier this year, select Bourdain writings were repackaged in The Anthony Bourdain Reader.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also been the 2021 documentary Roadrunner, as well as Laurie Woolever\u2019s Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography, and the posthumously released World Travel: An Irreverent Guide.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow he\u2019s Saint Tony,\u201d said Ruhlman. \u201cStrangers are still wishing me sympathies, and to have that level \u200aof empathy for not the person, but his friends, showed me the sheer reach of his popularity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never been anybody like him before and likely never will be again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Anthony Bourdain\u2019s legend continues to grow\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0the latest jolt coming from the new A24 biopic Tony, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[33242,68,232,9,24,56,63,65,64,821,122685],"class_list":["post-325987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-anthony-bourdain","tag-exclusive","tag-lifestyle","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-restaurants","tag-siberia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}