Celebrity Chefs Share Candid Kitchen Conversations in Philly

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Hell's Kitchen, move over. Master chefs Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert share an evening of provocative storytelling about what really goes on behind the kitchen doors on November 2, 2011 at 7:30pm in the Merriam Theater.

Internationally acclaimed chef, author, and host of Travel Channel's No Reservations Anthony Bourdain has been dubbed "the bad boy of cuisine" for his rock star looks and blunt observations about the world of restaurants, chefs, and cooking.

In this rare, uncensored, live appearance, Tony will be joined by Bravo's Top Chef favorite judge, world renown chef of Le Bernardin and James Beard award winner of New York's No. 1 restaurant, Eric Ripert. Both will share fascinating, hysterical and sometimes shocking stories about their culinary experiences. Both Bourdain and Ripert will take questions from the audience.

Tickets for Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert are available at $45-$55, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located on Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (open daily from 10am to 6pm, later on performance evenings).

Anthony Bourdain began running New York kitchens at restaurants such as Supper Club, One Fifth Avenue, and Sullivan's after attending Vassar College and graduating from the world-renown Culinary Institute of America. His extensive body of work has graced the pages of The Times, New York Times, Observer, the Face, and Scotland on Sunday. He is an ongoing contributor and authority for Food Arts magazine. Tony currently lives in Manhattan and works as executive chef of Brasserie Les Halles.

His fictional works include two crime novels, Gone Bamboo (1997) and Bone in the Throat (1995). The New Yorker published Tony's scathing expose of NYC restaurants Don't Eat Before Reading This (1997) to incredible review. The article's success both in the United States and overseas would serve as the catalyst and basis for Bourdain's hugely successful Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.

In 2002, the Food Network debuted what would become a twenty -two episode series featuring Bourdain circling the globe and feeding his adventure eating habit with the most extreme cuisine the world had to offer. The inspired bestselling book, A Cook's Tour in Search of the Perfect Meal, met with huge success in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Two years later in October 2004, Bourdain released Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking. With over one hundred recipes, Tony provides the secrets to some of his best recipes in typical bawdy fashion. In July 2005, he premiered a new, somewhat similar television series, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, on the Travel Channel. The show still running on the Travel Channel won an Emmy Award in 2009 for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming.

Eric Ripert has firmly established himself as one of New York's-and the world's-great chefs. In 1995, at the age of 29, Ripert earned a four-star rating from The New York Times. Ten years later and for the fourth consecutive time, Le Bernardin again earned The New York Times' highest rating of four stars, becoming the only restaurant to maintain this superior status for this length of time, without ever dropping a star.

Ripert has served as guest judge (and "fan favorite") on Bravo's Top Chef for four seasons. He has published Avec Eric: A Culinary Journey (2010), On the Line (2008), and A Return to Cooking (2002), a collaboration between Ripert, photographers Shimon and Tammar Rothstein, artist Valentino Cortazar, and writer Michael Ruhlman that was selected by Newsweek as one of its best books of the season.

In addition, Ripert has partnered with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to open restaurants at various destinations including Blue in Grand Cayman, Westend Bistro in Washington D.C., and 10 Arts Bistro in Philadelphia. He is also host of his own PBS TV series "Avec Eric," which won the 2011 Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Culinary Program" category. Avec Eric also won a Beard Award for "Television Program, On Location."

Ripert's culinary talents have received numerous recognitions through the years including: GQ named Le Bernardin the best restaurant in America (1997), and Le Bernardin one of "Seven Food Temples of the World" (2007); New York magazine declared Le Bernardin the No. 1 restaurant in the city, awarding it 5 stars in its inaugural restaurant rating issue-a position it holds today (2005); and Bon Appetit declared Ripert's Butter-Poached Lobster with Tarragon and Champagne its "Dish of the Year" (2005).

Le Bernardin continues to receive universal critical acclaim for its food and service. The Michelin Guide, which made its New York debut in 2005, honored Chef Ripert and Le Bernardin with its highest rating of 3 stars in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The Zagat Guide has recognized the restaurant as the "Best Food" in New York City for the last seven consecutive years.

Born in Antibes, France and bred in Andorra, a small country just over the Spanish border, Ripert attended the culinary school of Perpignan, moved to Paris and cooked at the legendary La Tour D'Argent before taking a position at the Michelin three-starred Jamin. In 1989, Ripert worked as sous-chef to Jean Louis at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., and then moved to New York in 1991, working briefly as David Bouley's sous-chef before Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze recruited him as chef for Le Barnardin.