Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

I need A French coach.

If you've been to France, chances are you haven't

been here.

France's second largest city, the oldest city in France.

It sits right by the Mediterranean.

The food is famously good.

Yet, it's a victim of bad reputation, bad history.

Marseille.

As it turns out, exactly the kind of place I like.

But this is a buddy picture, isn't it?

Eric Ripert is the chef of the three-star La Bernadin in - New York.

The Chevalier of France.

I think that means he's some kind of knight or something.

And my friend.

This causes him some problems.

He, I like to remind him, has a reputation to protect.

I do not.

- Welcome to Marseille. - Yeah.

You've never been here?

Never.

How is this even possible?

You grew up how far from here?

Like, 50 miles. 100 miles.

You grew up 100 miles from here?

What prevented you from coming to this clearly beautiful city?

Because it's clearly beautiful.

It's a fantastic city.

I mean, it's beautiful. I agree with you.

But it has the reputation of being a dangerous city.

You live in New York.

I should point out that every single Frenchmen,

when I said, you know, I'm shooting in France.

And they say, oh really, where? And I say, Marseille.

Their face drops immediately, like, oh.

Why's that? Because they think it's ugly?

Do you know what they say? They say this is not France.

With a "Z" like that?

This is not France.

Well, I'm looking forward to the week.

Yeah.

This is a low-impact show.

What is a low-impact show?

It means I'm not, you know, paddling upriver.

It means I get a flush toilet, eating well constantly.

You like luxury.

I do, look, I do.

I like a fluffy hotel towel.

I like a bidet.

Look, I like warm jets of water squirting up my ass.

I mean, who doesn't?

I could retire here.

I could retire here, too.

You see, that's sort of the measure of a place - for me is like,

If you start thinking thoughts like that.

Like, that must be nice. I could live here.

Just me and my watercolors, you know?

Puttering.

When you retire, are you going to putter?

What's putter?

Dicking around.

Basically, you wake up and maybe you paint a little.

I could paint.

You know, well, OK. Do you how to make a sweater.

Who do you think I am like? Who am I?

I would like to go fishing.

You know, I've never catch anything in my life.

Do you actually fish? Do you know how to fish?

Do you ever fish?

I don't know how to fish.

I'll show you how.

All you need is a car battery and a couple of cables.

Trust me, you get all the fish you want.

Well, that's...

- They come right up. - We have to be gentle.

There's other ways. How do you say dynamite - in French?

- Dynamite. - Dynamite.

See, I do speak French.

You can tell. You know it's coming, right?

You can sense it.

Oh, no. Another fishing scene.

This is our vessel here on the right.

Eric is one of only a handful of old-style fishermen

who work the sea the old-fashioned way.

Do you see yourself fishing?

- No. - It's stressful to me.

Right. I always think I'm going to catch, like,

my testicles or my ear with the hook.

You know, I have a fear of fish hooks.

You guys catching dente?

Yes. He said it's the best fish of the Mediterranean.

I have no idea what he's talking about.

Well, hopefully, we'll see.

Well, hopefully, we'll taste it.

Well, he's supposed to deliver it to Le Petit Nice.

Yeah, that's right.

Eric works exclusively for this man,

Gerald Passedat.

The extremely demanding chef/owner of Le Petit Nice.

Marseille's only three Michelin-star restaurant.

I'm ready for my fisherman, actually.

It won't be long.

It depends on what the Mediterranean Sea will

offer to us.

So it's a long line, Tony.

How long is the line?

Well, he say he has about, today 300 hooks.

So he basically lays it out at night?

- Yeah. - Comes back and pick it up.

In Marseille is only five guys,

five fishermen will rock it like him.

You know he has 300 hooks.

See he's right in time.

This must be the 12th fishing scene.

No, I must have done 20 fishing scenes in my life.

And I think I had one good day out of all of them.

Other than that, it's been one humiliating goat rodeo

after another.

Ordinarily, our typical fishing scene actually would be,

it would be rougher than this.

So we'd be pitching back and forth.

And I'd be hanging on to the contents

of my stomach,

only by realizing that they feel even sicker

because they have to look through the view finder.

So they're like...

so it's basically you're playing this sort of race against time - kind of a game.

It's like who's going to puke first.

- -Yeah. -But it's always the camera - dudes though.

- Is it? - No. Generally, it's our

producer.

He said bad days, I had some bad days but this one...

- This is the worst. - This is the worst.

Well, there it is.

Another extraordinarily successful fishing scene - in the can.

Time to reap the rewards awaiting us back on dry land.

You'll tell me if there's any oiled up amazons behind me.

- Behind you? - They're frolicking naked.

Yes. Right now they're kind of like mature Amazons.

It will happen.

Here's the chef.

- Anthony Bourdain. - Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you. An honor, sir.

Would you mind to have the bouillabaisse?

Is it a good idea? Or...

No, no, no. It's a very good idea.

There's reinvented, deconstructed

and then usually there's the thing, itself.

Passedat's take on bouillabaisse,

without a doubt Marseille's most famous dish

is spread out over four courses.

First, shellfish carpaccio of raw mussels and clams.

This is super, huh?

They slice the muscles raw.

That's crazy. Wow.

I decided to make this bouillabaisse, like a version

when I was a child.

On those rocks, when I was with my knife, opening the mussels,

eating the mussels.

In my cuisine, there's no cream, no butter.

It's not traditional at all.

It's just based on the fish.

This is my way of thinking, my cuisine here. For myself.

Slipper lobster, weaver, angler, and red gurnard

lightly seared then a touch in the oven.

Oh, whoa.

This is just incredibly beautiful.

It's so delicate and at the same time

flavorful and powerful.

This is insanely good.

A broth so intense it requires over ten kilos of rock crabs

and various bony tasty little fishes,

to make just one kilo of brown, gloriously brown,

magical liquid.

Dorade and dentelle, steamed over seaweed water,

saffron potatoes, and then finally comes that magical

brown broth.

- Oh. - Wow.

Ahh.

That's a good one, huh?

Oh, man.

This is unbelievable.

The entire fish you're eating. Yeah.

And just when my brain threatens to short circuit - with pleasure.

Descending as if from heaven itself.

Oh, cheese.

Oh, god, the cheese.

I got to tell you, I don't care how about naked breasts

are on that beach right now, because that's much more - exciting.

All right. Look at it. It's beautiful.

- Food taste good? - Yes.

Oh, look at that. Oh, man.

Oh, I love the cheese.

Cheese like this. That is just incredible.

Oh, yes.

That is exceptional.

Life is good.

Life is good.

Marseille was once the hub.

The rough and tumble principle Port for France's colony - such as

Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria.