Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Bourdain Finishes ‘No Reservations’ in Kosher Style

He’s traveled all over the world and eaten some seriously strange foods (a porcupine dish in Vietnam immediately comes to mind), but for the last episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations”, the chef and TV host plans to face a Jewish favorite — the pastrami sandwich.

Bourdain made headlines last week when he announced that his hit Travel Channel series would be ending, and that he’d move over to CNN to host a weekend show. While we’re excited to see what Bourdain will do at CNN, we’re particularly intrigued to hear that he wrapped up “No Reservations” at Jay & Lloyd’s Deli, a kosher spot in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

We spoke to Jay Stern, owner of the nearly 20-year-old neighborhood deli who confirmed that, yes, in fact, Bourdain dined there for his final episode.

“He had brisket, chopped liver, pastrami, corned beef — samplings of a lot of different things. It was great,” Stern said. “He’s a hell of a nice guy, very personable, and it was a pleasure to have him here.”

This won’t be the first time “No Reservations” goes Jewish. In 2009, on an episode entitled “Disappearing Manhattan,” Bourdain ate at several Lower East Side Jewish institutions, including appetizing store Russ & Daughters, Katz’s Deli and Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse.

Much to many fans’ chagrin, Bourdain never visited Israel on his show (there’s even a Facebook page urging him to go there). He did, however, get nominated for an Emmy for an episode he shot in Beirut just as the Lebanese-Israeli war broke out.

So why did Bourdain decide to finish off his show in the far-less-exotic Big Appple? “My guess is that [the New York City-born] Bourdain wanted to go back to his roots for his final show,” opined Stern. “He wanted to try some of our ‘exotic’ foods.”

We’re thinking Stern may have to start taking reservations now.

Check out Bourdain’s last trek through the Jewish fare of New York below. As for his final episode, it will air later this year.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.