Bad Boy Bourdain

Gary Oldman.

That would be quite a stretch. Oh wait, no, I was thinking of Gary Coleman.

On mandatory retirement for chefs: "It's a young person's game. Young pigeons and old chefs -- you just don't see them"

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More About

• Anthony Bourdain
• Thomas Keller
• Fergus Henderson
• Food and Cooking
• Culinary Arts

That would be a stretch.

What's next?

I'll be moving to a little fishing village in Vietnam for a year to write a book. I've got a collection due out next year called The Nasty Bits, a new series for the Travel Channel, writing a column for Best Life magazine, and some other newspaper and magazine writing.

It sounds like writing comes easy to you.

Yes. I write like I talk, and I talk a lot.

Your favorite nonfood writers?

Graham Greene is one, and I'm a huge Nabokov fan. I think The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins is the finest crime novel ever written. I also read a lot of history and biographies.

What does your mother think of your success?

She's confused by it. I mean she's proud of me, but confused because I've never followed her advice and I've basically done every wrong thing a human being can possibly do, screwed up in every possible way, and it seems to be paying off.