Anthony Bourdain II

A couple other great episodes:

Hong Kong. What a great view into this world. Lost in Translation with actual conversations. The best noodles in the city are made in an apartment high in a building in the bad side of town. He is the only master left in the city from the ancient Chinese art of noodles. This is one of the most magical moments ever captured.

Pacific Northwest. Interesting look at Oregon young cooking culture.

Romeo y Julieta

It was a while back when the Romeo and Juliet made at La Romana in the Dominican Republic were something to hope for. Over time, the brand lost its kick  and the mastership of its Churchill's wrapping. Over its lifetime, the brand was known for producing over 1,000 personalized cigar bands. High quality Romeo and Juliet habanos brand to order.

But something happened. They became popular. The pressure to be in the stands carried back in the supply chain all the way to its seed, and something was lost. It is not a coincidence that the original family was also loosing its grip on the product over 4 decades in exile.
 
The resemblance to its origins was brought back on the "Centenario" issue (one hundred year celebration), and it did allured to the glorious past.

But that was it. The world changes. The Romeo and Juliet Churchill's don't contain the same leaves of past decades. They are not what they were...until I crossed paths with the habanos from the original soil. The same soil that in its desperation becomes eternal.

The Cuban Romeo and Juliet hasn't changed. It fires up like a turbo engine banishing its band becoming what it was before it was named. Its history ends and begins on its smoke. There is no time before perfection, and there is no telling of its future.

I walked by the original Romeo and Juliet factories on a daily basis. A long time ago, the building was meant to stand outside the city walls, outside the protection of the gates to be closer to its soil. But the city grew in her own selfishness making the tabacco factories an arcaic symbol of past times. The fragance emanating from the leaves cut and squeezed by the tabacco rollers slowly covered the neighborhood easily leading blind men back to their home after a night of drinking.

The Romeo and Juliet from the original soil remains. The glorious Churchill under a Shakespearean name still grows outside the gates.