Eric Ripert didn\u2019t meet and befriend Anthony Bourdain until Tony was well into his 40s, but, in a new film, he gets to have a moment with a teenage version of his late buddy. <\/p>\n
In the A24 biopic \u201cTony,\u201d out Aug. 7,<\/a> a wayward teenage Bourdain, played by Dominic Sessa,<\/a> 23, works as a dishwasher and line cook one summer in Provincetown in the 1970s, falling in love with the grimy, gritty restaurant world that would become his life and work. Antonio Banderas also stars as his boss and mentor, Emila Jones is his crush, and Leo Woodall and Stavros Halkias play misfit kitchen staffers.<\/p>\n In the closing scene, Ripert, the acclaimed 61-year-old Le Bernardin chef <\/a>and restaurateur, has a cameo, interviewing Bourdain about why he wants to be a chef and attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.<\/p>\n The movie \u201cdescribes a different Anthony Bourdain that I didn\u2019t know. I\u2019m basically accepting Tony to the Culinary Institute \u2014 it\u2019s a defining moment in his life and his career,\u201d Ripert told The Post. \u201cIt\u2019s the moment he starts taking cooking seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric Ripert pays tribute to his closest friend, the late Anthony Bourdain, in a scene in the A24 biopic \u201cTony,\u201d out Aug. 7. ericripert\/Instagram<\/p>\n In real life, Bourdain graduated from the CIA in 1978 and went on to work in numerous New York City kitchens, including the Rainbow Room and Coco Pazzo Teatro, for decades. In 1999, he was working as the executive chef at Les Halles in the Flatiron when the New Yorker published an essay of his \u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t Eat Before Reading This<\/a>\u201d \u2014 about the brutal realities and dirty secrets of restaurant kitchens. It caused a sensation and launched his career as a writer and TV host.<\/p>\n A year later, the essay was expanded into Bourdain\u2019s first book, \u201cKitchen Confidential,\u201d <\/a>a chronicle of sex, drugs, rock \u2019n\u2019 roll and oyster shucking.<\/p>\n Ripert first met Bourdain the same year the book came out. He invited him to launch at Le Bernardin to thank him for his positive portrayal in the book. <\/p>\n In the memoir, Bourdain noted he had a \u201cnever order fish on a Monday\u201d rule \u2014 claiming that restaurants sometimes unload their weekend stock and claim it\u2019s fresh \u2014 but said he\u2019d make an exception for the pristinely sourced fare at Ripert\u2019s three-Michelin-star seafood temple.<\/p>\n Dominic Sessa, 23, stars as a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain in the movie \u201cTony.\u201d Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n The film follows Bourdain (above in real life), who works as a dishwasher and line cook one summer in Provincetown in the 1970s, falling in love with the grimy, gritty restaurant world that would become his life and work. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n Bourdain\u2019s memoir \u201cKitchen Confidential,\u201d a chronicle of sex, drugs, rock \u2019n\u2019 roll and oyster shucking.<\/p>\n \u201cI know they are buying their fish directly from the source,\u201d Bourdain wrote, praising Ripert\u2019s genius and commitment to quality ingredients <\/p>\n The French chef wasn\u2019t expecting the accolades.<\/p>\n \u201cI was pleased by all the compliments and very surprised,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had so much fun at that lunch \u2026 He asked me when I\u2019d be free again. He wanted to invite me to a dive bar he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that week, the refined French chef found himself inside the 50th Street subway station at the Hell\u2019s Kitchen dive bar Siberia <\/a>with his new chain-smoking, leather jacket-wearing friend from New Jersey.<\/p>\n In \u201cKitchen Confidential,\u201d Bourdain noted he had a \u201cnever order fish on a Monday\u201d rule \u2014 claiming that restaurants sometimes unload their weekend stock and claim it\u2019s fresh \u2014 but said he\u2019d make an exception for the pristinely sourced fare at Ripert\u2019s three-Michelin-star seafood temple (above). Gabi Porter<\/p>\n Ripert has a cameo in \u201cTony,\u201d starring Dominic Sessa (left), in which he interviews Bourdain about why he wants to be a chef and attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Bob Gruen\/A24<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a culture shock. I didn\u2019t know that a kind of bar like that existed. It was my first dive bar experience,\u201d said the straight-laced Antibes native known for his calm demeanor.<\/p>\n They went on to become the closest of friends.<\/p>\n In 2013, Ripert appeared with Bourdain on his travel show \u201cParts Unknown,\u201d as his culinary sidekick.<\/p>\n Together, they visited Peru, touring through the remote Andes Mountains on a quest for the rarest variety of wild cocoa \u2014 considered the finest chocolate in the world.<\/p>\n In 2013, Ripert appeared with Bourdain on his travel show \u201cParts Unknown,\u201d as his culinary sidekick. CNN<\/p>\n \u201cWe cooked for each other many times. He [Bourdain] was an excellent cook and a great technician. He always downplayed that side of him,\u201d Ripert said. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was with him, I always felt like nothing wrong could happen to us. He would always be so cool and so protective and so natural \u2014 making you feel comfortable and safe next to him,\u201d Ripert recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me that was very important \u2014 especially when we were traveling to Peru in the middle of the jungle where it was a little bit dangerous,\u201d he said, adding that Bourdain talked him out of carrying a machete with him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s laughing and he says, \u2018Look, don\u2019t embarrass us \u2014 put it back in your room, you don\u2019t need a machete. Nothing is going to happen.\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018Dude this is nothing.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n For another episode, the pair visited China, where Bourdain made him try a Sichuan hotpot for the first time.<\/p>\n Ripert recalled Bourdain introduced him to his first dive bar, Siberia, in the early 2000s, shortly after they met. WireImage<\/p>\n \u201cHe was trying to take me out of my comfort zone and surprise me and embarrass me sometimes, but it was well understood that I was Tony\u2019s sidekick and I was going to play along,\u201d Ripert said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe interaction on camera and off camera was very different. When we were off camera, Tony was not trying to take me out of my comfort zone \u2014 we had a real friendship with a lot of respect.\u201d<\/p>\n Ripert says he\u2019ll always admire how human Bourdain was.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were always traveling with him \u2014 the food was an excuse to discover the countries he was visiting,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ripert traveled with Bourdain to a remote jungle in Peru in \u201cParts Unkown\u201d where they examined cacao pods. CNN<\/p>\n \u201cWe all loved that because he was not lecturing you, he was inspiring you.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2018, Ripert was shooting \u201cParts Unknown\u201d with Bourdain in Alsace, France, when he found his comrade unresponsive in his hotel room. He\u2019d taken his own life at age 61.<\/p>\n \u201cAnthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being, so inspiring and generous,\u201d Ripert said in a statement he shared on social media at the time.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOne of the great storytellers who connected with so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n Being a part of the upcoming movie helped Ripert to stay connected with the late great, and see a different side of him.<\/p>\n \u201cAnthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being, so inspiring and generous,\u201d Ripert said in a statement he shared on social media in 2018, following the chef\u2019s death. <\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was a nice way to remember Tony,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Anthony Bourdain that I met and knew was very different than the Anthony Bourdain when he was 19.\u201d<\/p>\n