For Anthony Bourdain, food was just the entry point for a much wider cultural discussion

I ate Anthony Bourdain's food before I ever met him.

For a time, in the late 1990s, my husband and I happened to live around the corner from Les Halles, the small brasserie where Bourdain served as chef starting in 1998.

Les Halles wasn't the best French restaurant in Manhattan. But it was a great neighborhood restaurant. Stuffed with locals ordering red wine and steak frites. For a time, it was our go-to for special occasions: small celebrations, a place to take out-of-town guests and, for several years running, the place we ate our Christmas Eve dinners because we were too damn lazy to cook.

It was cramped. And in summer, a little sweaty. But the mussels were