Best of Bourdain: our favorite seven Parts Unknown destinations

“The more I travel, the less I know,” Anthony Bourdain said. And for twelve seasons on CNN’s Parts Unknown, the chef, storyteller, and author traveled, ate, drank, observed, talked, listened, and ate some more. He weaved together gorgeous words with stunning images and offered up (imagined) aromas and flavors to give us a real taste for a place — and a hunger to see more. Sadly, when Anthony Bourdain left this Earth, the series had to come to an end. Others from Roy Choi to Gordon Ramsay have tried to follow in his global footsteps with mixed success.

The beautiful thing about television, though, is that it lives forever. And, unlike a lot of what’s on TV these days, Parts Unknown appeals to broad audience and is (mostly) safe family fare if you’ve got a crowd you need to gather around and entertain with something other than football or Disney+. So, we’ve put together our favorite seven of the 95 episodes and hope you’ll enjoy a day of foodie fun — or start planning your next trip using this as a guide.

Los Angeles Koreatown

Season 1. The Roy Choi episode. He might be less well known than Bourdain, but Roy Choi is the reason you’ve probably eaten a Korean BBQ taco in the last ten years — his gourmet food truck concept has been much loved and imitated. And he and artist David Choe are our tour guides for a specific neighborhood in LA: Koreatown. One that nearly burned to ground in the 1992 riots. They eat traditional Korean food and the aforementioned taco fare. They also hit Sizzler — which a lot of people judge a downfall of this episode, but don’t knock a meatball taco if you’ve never tried it.

Morocco/Tangier

Season 1. The William S. Burroughs episode. Anthony Bourdain and I are both fans of Burroughs’ writing. I tend to lean more toward the Beats, and that is where we diverge. However, ever since I saw this episode the first time, I have been working out how to get myself to Morocco. While I am not one to partake of hashish or anything else by hookah, for that matter, the sheer ex-pat hedonism of this episode gets me every time I watch it. And the idea of stopping for cake and tea at 4:00 every day just seems so civilized and wildly indulgent at the same time.

Hanoi

Season 8. The Obama episode. We saw the love the Bourdain had for Vietnam in season 4 — well before he sat down for noodles with then-President Obama. But this episode (part of arguably the finest season of the series) is always going to be best known for the scenes where the two slurp bung cha at a hole-in-the-wall, locals-only joint. Bourdain is in his element in this love letter to a city and country — one still tinged with shadows of war, poverty, and decay. But the beauty and respect with which all of this was shared with the viewer illustrates exactly why we love this show.

Houston

Season 8. The diverse America episode. Texas isn’t quite as white or as red as you think it is was the message behind this episode of Parts Unknown. The food includes everything from Viet-Bayou crawfish to East Texas barbecue to Congolese-Cajun stew. That’s a diverse menu! There’s also some Bollywood dancing and Purple Drank. One of the best parts of these unknown things is how much our host seems to be enjoying everything — nothing new for this adventurer, but this episode in particular seems to be one where he revels in just speaking with the people as much as eating the food.

Lyon

Season 3. The olde French episode. It’s glee.No, maybe giddiness. It’s definitely one of those emotions just radiating out of Bourdain in this episode. He’s elbow-deep in classical dishes made by world-famous French chefs — mostly men — who were, in fact, all influenced by a woman chef named Eugénie Brazier, known as "la mère Brazier” — the mother of it all. There are dishes made in bladders and sausages and wine galore. This is what Bourdain was born for and it’s delightful to watch.

Massachusetts

Season 4. The heroin episode. We travel back to parts that are very well known to Anthony Bourdain: Provincetown, Mass. It’s where his misspent youth was largely frittered away. It’s also, as he explains, where he bought his first bag of heroin. Sadly, this episode is also an eye-opener to how many people are struggling with addiction to opioids and heroin. This feels like the most personal episode of Parts Unknown yet, as we can easily see how life could have been very different had Bourdain not gotten straight when he did. They also eat Portuguese kale soup and cod with sausage and breadcrumbs.

Charleston

Season 6. The Waffle House episode. Also known as the Bill Murray episode. Now, let’s be clear from the start: the definitive way to order your hash browns at WH is scattered, smothered, chunked, and covered, but let’s set that aside for a moment. Our guide, chef Sean Brock, is super chill channeling the Southern charm this city is so famous for. They end up at the fishing hole, for god’s sake, sipping whiskey. There’s also a lot of Bill Murray in this episode and some of the best looking grub on the entire series. Belly up to the whole hog, Gentle Reader.

Honorable Mentions

Cuba, Iran, Detroit. And the rest. Really, there aren’t any that you can go wrong with here. And, for the record, the Atlanta episode from The Layover isn’t bad, either.