Celebrity chef and CNN host Anthony Bourdain, who hosts Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, asserts he will never partake of food restaurateur Alessandro Borgognone’s new sushi restaurant at Trump’s Washington D.C. hotel, stating he has “utter and complete contempt” for Borgognone.
Bourdain slammed Borgognone as well as chef David Burke, who took over Jose Andres’ planned restaurant at the hotel after Andres pulled out in protest of Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants. He told Eater:
I will never eat in his restaurant. I have utter contempt for him, utter and complete contempt. Just like David Burke — I mean, I never had the highest opinion of him in the first place, but I guess he’s the last person in this life I should look to for principles. Burke went in and took over [the space Jose Andres had originally occupied], and promptly tried to poach his staff, I hear. This was after Jose reached out and said “Everyone welcome him to Washington, don’t hold it against him, just because I decided to pull out.” So Burke’s a steaming loaf of shit, as far as I’m concerned, and feel free to quote me.
When asked why the chefs would work at Trump’s hotel, Bourdain added they were thinking, “I’m gonna get in good with the President and make me some money!”
In late September, TheWrap asked Bourdain if he would dine with Trump and got an incendiary response:
Absolutely f—ing not. I’ve been a New Yorker most of my life, [and] for better or worse Mr. Trump is a New Yorker. We know him well here. We’ve watched how he does business and we’ve watched him say things and then we’ve seen whether or not he did those things, we have seen how he treats the people he does business with. I would give the same answer that I would have given 10 years ago, when he was just as loathsome.