Culinary Secrets of a Frequent Visitor: The Story of Anthony Bourdain and St. Maarten / St. Martin
Not a one time, but frequent visitor
As one of his culinary disciples Agustina Deis states on eatlikebourdain.com, the reason Anthony Bourdain did only one episode of his food travelshows on Culinary Capital of the Caribbean St. Maarten / St. Martin and not more, was because he wanted to keep the island for himself. At the point he recorded the St. Maarten / St. Martin chapter of the series “A Cook’s Tour: Food Tastes Better with Sand Between Your Toes” in 2002, he had been visiting the island for two decades.
Bourdain had been visiting the island frequently during his long marriage to Nancy Putkoski, as well as after their divorce in 2005. When asked for his favorite holiday destination in an April 2016 interview with the British paper “the Independent”, he answered: “I love St Martin in the Caribbean. I like the fact that I can spend the entire time barefoot. No meal requires dressing up or even shaving – it’s great.”
A Not So Secret Insider
In fact, Bourdain had already written a book about St. Maarten / St. Martin, even preceding his bestseller Kitchen Confidential. His first book unrelated to food, crime novel “Gone Bamboo” (1997) was not without reason set on St. Maarten / St. Martin as he knew the island well. It is often said that the main character Henry Denard reflects character traits of the famed chef himself.
In interviews, he testified how his visits as a single made him explore additional nooks and crannies of the island. The working hard in New York made him “play hard” on St. Maarten / St. Martin, leading him to know the island inside out. That means he must have been very familiar with many St. Maarten restaurants, from the glitzy cosmopolitan to the modest Caribbean roadside grill. It can be praised that with many top restaurants on island that for a “Cook’s Tour”, Bourdain chose to portray the true island flavors in local settings.
A Dilemma : Privacy versus Praise
So when the success of Kitchen Confidential set in (in which St. Maarten / St. Martin also shortly passes by), Bourdain must have been faced with an interesting dilemma whilst filming for a “Cook’s Tour”: spilling the beans on his favorite hideouts with the risk of seeing many visit those places and losing anonymity in places that made him happy, versus hiding the passion for the insider spots he knew.
He chose for a true portrayal of his favorites, with the possibility of meeting his fan crowds in his favorite restaurants next time he would visit. Ital Shack, Hilma’s Windsor Castle, Johnny B’s Under the Tree, Poulet d’Orleans, and Gus’s Beach Bar. The latter two are closed, and especially the demise of Gus’s beach bar in Baie Rouge in 2019 would have hit Bourdain hard. It is of this beachside shack he says “If I can’t forget my problems here, I’m calling it quits”. The final scene, in which he states going barefoot adds to the enjoyment of good food, gave the name to the episode.
It is commonly known Bourdain unfortunately passed away in 2018. For those following Bourdains culinary trails, Chef Ras Bushman of Ital Shack will happily recite the stories surrounding the visit of the great Bourdain. In addition to Bourdains selection in 2002, Bushmans restaurant was chosen by USA Today readers as top 4 restaurants of the Caribbean to visit in 2025 – but his hospitality is prone to be the same as it was before Bourdain visited.
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