This is an excerpt from Pedro Medina León’s book TOUR: A Journey Through Miami’s Culture where each chapter highlights an underknown aspect of Miami’s unique history.
Anthony Bourdain’s “business card” was that of a chef. But he was also a writer, traveler, and urban chronicler of the outsider and the marginal. In his book Kitchen Confidential, he reveals since his early days in Cape Cod kitchens the behind-the-scenes of dishwashers, busboys, cooks, sex, and drugs involved in every gourmet dish. Later, in his TV shows No Reservations and Parts Unknown, he uncovered the cultural and gastronomic richness of many cities ignored or only appreciated by those who live in them.
Parts Unknown was a global journey that spanned twelve seasons, during which Bourdain visited unimaginable places in Myanmar, Colombia, Punjab, Tanzania, Iran, Paraguay, Korea, and many others. And despite Miami’s extensive international cuisine, with few original local dishes, it earned its spot in 2015. Bourdain was spotted at The Miami Book Fair, the South Beach Food & Wine Festival, and mentioned in more than one interview that he frequently visited Miami, not just for formal events but because he liked it. This is what sparked his interest in connecting Parts Unknown with that Miami not reflected in the sugar-coated postcards of Ocean Drive. Those who truly know Miami, like Anthony Bourdain did, feel the need to show its non-touristy side.
Anthony Bourdain’s Miami itinerary starts with his premise:
Another day, another country. Miami is not only South Beach and begins with chef Michelle Bernstein at the Cuban restaurant Islas Canarias’ ventanita (window counter). Later, they continue at Pepito’s Plaza in Doral, chatting about the Doralzuela phenomenon while eating a Venezuelan burger so huge it was hard for him to eat.
In South Beach, he made sure to stop at Mac’s Club Deuce, one of his favorite places in the world, and other destinations included Vizcaya, Coral Gables, and the neighborhoods of Little Haiti and Liberty City. There, in addition to tasting cow foot soup, he highlighted Miami’s long-neglected African American communities, pioneers crucial to the city’s birth and development. In the 1960s, these communities, through Willie Clarke’s Deep City Records studios, made Miami one of the most important international references for Soul music.
The final curtain of Parts Unknown closes with a refined lunch between Bourdain and his childhood hero, Iggy Pop. The legendary singer praises the virtues of Miami’s climate and beaches and remembering on the places in Europe and the U.S. where he lived before moving here, seeking to distance himself from drugs and alcohol. The after-dinner scene is a polaroid that will remain etched in Miami’s memory: a walk along the ocean by these two beatniks of our time, framed by a newspaper-colored sky that foretold the water would flood the streets, as the production and direction credits roll, accompanied by The Passenger as the soundtrack.
