printEddie Huang is the new Anthony BourdainHis knives are sharp, but his tongue is sharper. Meet the bad-boy foodie of the L.E.S.
Photo: Julie Glassberg/The New York Times
"We're both about not sugarcoating," Huang says of Bourdain.
Eddie Huang, the outspoken chef behind Taiwanese bun shop Baohaus on the Lower East Side, may have a law degree, but that doesn't stop him from breaking the rules. Huang's second restaurant, Xiao Ye, closed in November following a Four Loko raid, and like fellow kitchen rebel Bourdain, who's frank about his past drug use, Huang isn't shy when disclosing his herb preferences. "When we first opened Baohaus, some friends and I rolled in after a party at 1 a.m.," Huang says. "We were like, 'Yo, customers! If you're down, we're going to smoke weed in here.'" The customers were, indeed, down. "We locked the door and hot-boxed it. Baohaus is all glass, so the whole thing just smoked up. That endeared us to the neighborhood. They were like, 'These motherf--kers don't give a s--t!'" Next up: a TV pilot in the vein of Bourdain's No Reservations and a book about Baohaus, tentatively titled 137 Rivington. "I have a feeling he's a dick in person, but that's cool," Huang says of Bourdain. "A lot of people think I'm a dick in person, too."
Age: 29, Hometown: D.C. and Orlando, Signature dish: Pork buns
Education: B.A. from Rollins College; J.D. from Cardozo School of LawLove life: Single and ready to mingle
Nastiest thing He's ever eaten: "Pork-pizza thing at Kittichai. Disgusting."
Most hated restaurant critic: Time Out's Jay Cheshes
Most despised chef: "I hate anything Todd English. His publicist is really good friends with me, but I still hate all his restaurants."
Age: 54, Hometown: Leonia, N.J, Signature dish: Boeuf bourguignon
Education: Vassar College dropout; Culinary Institute of America
Love life: Married to Ottavia Busia since 2007
Nastiest thing he's ever eaten: Chicken McNugget
Most hated restaurant critic: GQ's Alan Richman Chez Panisse's Alice Waters. Bourdain once famously referred to the Cali chef as "Pol Pot in a muumuu."
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