The BEST episodes of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
Every episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown!
Bourdain traveled across the globe to uncover little-known areas of the world and celebrate diverse cultures by exploring food and dining rituals. Known for his curiosity, candor, and acerbic wit, Bourdain took viewers off the beaten path of tourist destinations – including some war-torn parts of the world – and met with a variety of local citizens to offer a window into their lifestyles, and occasionally communed with an internationally lauded chef on his journey. We can all hope to find ourselves to enjoy a life as amazing as Anthony Bourdain did. Rest in peace.
#1 - Miami
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/3/2015
“Curiosity pays unexpected dividends,” observes Iggy Pop, legendary rock musician, Miami resident and one of Bourdain’s local guides in this multi-faceted, seductive city. The host visits favorite haunt Club Deuce bar, the B&M market in “Little Haiti” for cow foot soup, Islas Canarias with chef Michelle Bernstein for a different take on the Cuban sandwich, and explores “The Miami Sound” with Questlove and Willie Clark (founder, Deep City Records).
Watch Now:Amazon
#2 - Shanghai
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/2014
In the season premiere of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, the host explores Shanghai by savoring classic, home-style cuisine at restaurants that include Chun and Fuchun Xiaolong, and converses with locals who give their take on their country’s booming economy and expanding global influence.
Watch Now:Amazon
#3 - Antarctica
Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/4/2017
Bourdain travels to the bottom of the world to experience the serene beauty and mystery of the driest, coldest, windiest place on earth. Taken under the wings of such hearty residents as scientists, contractors and the U.S. military, Bourdain’s adventures include a helicopter view of the largest active volcano in the southern hemisphere, a snowmobile drive over 8 ft. thick sea ice, a visit with a colony of Adele penguins, and a trip the South Pole.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#4 - Montana
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/15/2016
Bourdain traverses big sky country and embraces Montana’s distinctive history and culture with a visit to Crow reservation to watch horse relay racing and feast on buffalo steak, pheasant hunting with podcast host Joe Rogan, dinner at Butte institution Lydia’s supper club (est 1946), and by going underground in the Orphan Boy Mine with state senator Jim Keane. A conversation with his friend, famed writer Jim Harrison, who passed away in March 2016, encapsulates the Montana experience.
Watch Now:Amazon
#5 - London
Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/23/2016
Visiting London, post Brexit vote, Bourdain finds comfort in classic British cuisine including roast bone marrow at chef Fergus Henderson’s famed restaurant St. John, Scotch eggs at Princess Victoria Pub with Nigella Lawson, and pig’s trotter a la Pierre Koffman with chef Marco Pierre White at the Rudloe Arms, plus a meeting with revered artist Ralph Steadman at his studio.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#6 - Charleston, S.C.
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/15/2015
For the season finale, Bourdain travels with “one of America’s most important chefs,” Sean Brock, to sample Charleston’s varied food offerings including traditional Gullah cuisine, and oyster pie and shrimp and grits at Brock’s restaurant Husk with actor and a Charleston resident, Bill Murray.
Watch Now:Amazon
#8 - Los Angeles
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/21/2013
Tony takes Los Angeles--but with a twist. No Hollywood sign, no Beverly Hills. Instead, he zeroes in on a three square-mile area of the city known as Koreatown, where he finds a tight-knit community still marked by the 1992 Rodney King riots.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#9 - Jerusalem
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/2013
In the season premiere of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, the host and crew make their first trip to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. While the political situation is often tense between the people living in these areas, Bourdain concentrates on their rich history, food and culture, and spends time with local chefs, home cooks, writers and amateur foodies.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#10 - New Mexico
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/29/2013
Parts Unknown takes a close look at the mash-up of cultures that comprise this uniquely American state by sampling its food – a combination of Spanish, Mediterranean, Mexican, Pueblo and even chuck-wagon influences. New Mexico is also a land of drugs, guns, monster vehicles, and possibly extraterrestrials. It may also be the perfect place to investigate the underside of the Western cowboy ideal.
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#11 - Copenhagen
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/6/2013
This episode explores the food and natural beauty of Copenhagen, the economic and cultural center of Denmark. Home to famed chef Rene Redzepi and his brainchild Noma – regarded by critics as one of the world’s best restaurants – Parts Unknown delves into the city’s cuisine and the new Nordic creativity that infuses Redzepi’s work at Noma.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#12 - Cuba
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/2015
In the season six premiere, Bourdain explores Cuba – just as the half-century U.S. embargo softens and economic and social progress loom – from its bustling capital city Havana, to the slower paced, music mecca Santiago. Sampled food includes pig’s head soup with plantains and pumpkin, flan in a beer can, and dogfish ceviche with pickled vegetables. The tour culminates with a dialogue-free tracking shot capturing the hopeful anxiety of its people, seemingly waiting for something to start.
Watch Now:Amazon
#13 - Seattle
Season 10 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/19/2017
Bourdain immerses himself in the “boom or bust” city of Seattle. Two industries are reshaping the city and its culture – tech and the newly legalized cannabis industry. Bourdain gets the skinny on the “tech bro” invasion of Capitol Hill, throws back a dozen succulent oysters at the Taylor Shellfish Company and enjoys fish & chips at the Pacific Inn Pub with band members of The Gods Themselves. Along the way, he also hangs out with legendary Seattle rocker, Mark Lanegan and mad food scientist, Nathan Myhrvold.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#14 - Morocco (Tangier)
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/12/2013
Tony explores the "Interzone", where artists like Burroughs, Bowles, and the Rolling Stones sought escape from Western moral prohibitions and the possibilities of great empty spaces. Does that "anything goes" attitude still exist?
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#15 - Quebec
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/5/2013
Bourdain travels to remote areas within the province of Quebec where he samples local delicacies, explores ice fishing and beaver hunting and spends time with two of funniest and most brilliant chef/restauranteurs in Canada, Joe Beef's Dave McMillan and Fred Morin.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#17 - Peru
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/2/2013
Tony and his friend, world-renowned chef Eric Ripert, explore the far reaches of indigenous Andes in search of a rare variety of wild cocoa that is said to be the "best" in the world. They move from hip, modern Lima back in time into pre-Colombian Peru.
#18 - Colombia
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/28/2013
The public face of Colombia has changed immensely over the past ten years and is still changing for the better. Tony will explore several regions of the country from the mountains down to the Caribbean coast to the coca leaf growing inlands formerly controlled by drug cartels.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#19 - Spain
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/22/2013
Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown explores Andalucía during Semana Santa (Holy Week, leading up to Easter), a time filled with great pageantry and excitement. Featured in this episode is Bourdain’s longtime Director of Photography Zach Zamboni, who lives part-time in Granada and shows the host sights off the beaten path.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#20 - Tokyo
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/3/2013
Japan is a paradox. The low birthrate, the dedication, the conformity, and the life of a salary man are well known. There is also a competitive and rigid culture that gives way to some unique subcultures. Bourdain has traveled to Tokyo countless times, but on this trip he is in search of the city’s dark, extreme, and bizarrely fetishistic underside.
Watch Now:AmazoniTunes
#21 - Punjab, India
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/13/2014
In the season premiere of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, the host dives into the ever-changing state of Punjab with a trip to Amritsar, sampling cuisine at the dhabas (roadside restaurants), a gurpurb festival (Sikh celebration), and a free community vegetarian restaurant, while meeting with local residents who give their perspectives on life in this sometimes contentious region of India, bordering Pakistan.
Watch Now:Amazon
#22 - Russia
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/11/2014
On the eve of the Olympic games in Sochi, Bourdain takes his first trip in nearly 10 years to Russia, accompanied by his longtime traveling partner Zamir Gotta. Looking through the lens of a now Putin-controlled Russia, Bourdain confers with prominent locals, visits Moscow’s historic Metropol Hotel, takes the Grand Express train to St. Petersburg, and explores the drinking and dining scene.
Watch Now:Amazon
#23 - Mississippi Delta
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/18/2014
We are in Mississippi -- not high cotton season, or tailgate college football season, or vegetable harvest, or blues festivals. It's winter. It's stark and yet we are here to unlock the many ghosts, stereotypes and tropes that prevail when we normally hear about Mississippi.
Watch Now:Amazon
#24 - Thailand
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/1/2014
Bourdain and his crew head to the Chiang Mai province of Northern Thailand along with celebrated chef and Thai food specialist Andy Ricker (Pok Pok restaurants) to explore the country’s distinctive eating and drinking scene that varies by region and season.
Watch Now:Amazon
#25 - Bahia, Brazil
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/8/2014
Parts Unknown tours Bahia, known as the “African heart of Brazil” and internationally recognized for its Afro-Brazilian music, art, design and food. A look at the dance/martial art of Capoeira, the region’s legendary food vendors, Salvadoran fishing neighborhoods, and a BBQ on the beach are featured.
Watch Now:AmazonWant to see the rest of the rankings?
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