Anthony Bourdain, the chef, author, and TV host, has died at age 61. Bourdain was found Friday morning in his hotel room in France, where he was filming his CNN show Parts Unknown. CNN has confirmed the cause of death. He was known for his way with words, using his quick wit and personal experiences to bring what he called the “dark underbelly” of cooking to the light. As he rose through the ranks, Bourdain leveraged his considerable influence to shine light on a variety of cuisines, people, and places. His impact on cooks, writers, and diners cannot be understated. (Read more about his life here.) He also loved San Francisco and its special brand of grit. And San Francisco loved him back. We tracked his every move, as Eater SF readers gleefully awaited news of his dining adventures throughout the Bay Area, from San Jose to Oakland to North Beach. He saw and respected the “hippie cheeses” and “crunchy food,” but he also tapped into the “strong, powerful, deep undercurrent of liquor and meat and dirty nasty behavior.” “San Francisco is an outrageously dirty town,” he said on the SF episode of No Reservations (Season 5, episode 15). “It’s grimy. You guys have actual street hookers in this center of town. It’s a two-fisted, heavy-drinking, three-martini, big-steaks, heavy-smoking, old-school 20s mentality town.” He always made his first stop Swan Oyster Depot, which he called “both a local landmark and a personal one,” for crab fat and uni. “True love cannot be denied,” he said. He dined at House of Prime Rib, drank martinis at Aub Zam Zam, Tiki-ed at the Tonga Room, and scarfed the hangtown fry at Tadich Grill. He paid his respects at Sinbad’s, the now-closed divey landmark that clung to its position by the Ferry Building long past its prime. ”Sinbad’s. Lost in time, yet its time running out,” he said. “Living out its last stand on San Francisco’s Pier 2, just south of the hoards of neck beards and man-bun vapers buying artisanal drip coffee a few hundred yards away. A last drink — or two — before the grinding wheels of the apocalypse churn through, leaving what in their wake?” He rightfully loved Oakland, too, dining through the taco trucks of International Boulevard, eating fried chicken at Miss Ollie’s and lamb kofta at Juhu Beach Club. When Mr. Bing’s, one of the city’s dirtiest and most-beloved dive bars, changed hands, Eater SF reached out to Bourdain for comment: “Just another day in the death spiral ... Another good and noble thing, in this case, a fine drinking establishment, ground under the slow, inevitable, pitiless forward motion of the Terrible Wheel. “It will consume us all in the end,” he said. If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. For international resources, here is a good place to begin.<doc-sep>Restaurants & Bars As DC Mourns Anthony Bourdain, See Where He Ate Here The celebrity chef and TV host visited the DC area on the show "No Reservations." Here's what he loved to eat in the city. Reply WASHINGTON, DC — Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef and the star of CNN's "Parts Unknown," has died from an apparent suicide in France, the network confirmed this morning. The 61-year-old personality visited countless countries, states, and cities, trying the best food those areas have to offer. And DC was no exception. Bourdain visited the city in 2009 for season 5 of No Reservations, which aired on the Travel Channel. The show's intro stated: "Tony is in the nation's capital to explore the city's many contrasts — Democrat vs. Republican, rich vs. poor, visible vs. invisible, black vs. white." He stopped at landmark eateries like Ben's Chili Bowl, where he enjoyed a half smoke, which is half pork and beef smoked sausage on a warm steamed bun topped with mustard, onions and Ben's spicy homemade chili sauce. "I get it, that's not a hot dog. That's another creature entirely. So good," Bourdain said. Bourdain then went by The Fish Wharf in Southwest DC, where he indulged in a fresh bag of crabs straight out of the Chesapeake. He also visited restaurants in Falls Church like Song Que, where he got pork banh mi, and the Ethiopian eatery Abay Market. DC chefs and food critics were saddened and shocked by the news. "My friend..I know you are on a Ferry going to somewhere amazing.....you still had so many places to show us, whispering to our souls the great possibilities beyond what we could see with our own eyes...you only saw beauty in all people. you will always travel with me," DC chef José Andrés of Jaleo and Minibar Tweeted. Bourdain visited Andrés' Minibar on No Reservations.<doc-sep>Following Anthony Bourdain's death, Sacramento restaurant raises money for suicide prevention Fundraiser will run every Friday, Saturday in June Share Shares Copy Link Copy Hide Transcript Show Transcript WEBVTT REPORTER HERE CHEF BILLY NGO DESCRIBED BOURDAIN IS THE WAY A LOT OF PEOPLE FELT ABOUT HIM HE MADE COOKING COO TONIGHT THEY ARE RAISING MONEY FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION. >> WE WERE TALKING ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH IN THIS INDUSTRY. REPORTER: A CONVERSATION IS HAPPENING INSIDE SACRAMENTO’S KRU THAT BAR MANAGER NICK AMANO-DOLAN WANTS OUT IN THE OPEN. >> IT’S REALLY EASY WITH THE LATE HOURS, THE DRINKING, THE FOOD AND WHAT NOT TO KIND OF GET CAUGHT IN THAT REPETITION OF WORKING AND THEN DRINKING AND THEN EATING AND HITTING THAT ON REPEAT. REPORTER: HE KNOWS IT ISN’T HEALTHY, AND FOLLOWING THE SUICIDE OF ANTHONY BOURDAIN IS PUSHING FOR MORE SELF-AWARENESS WITHIN THE INDUSTR >> WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE DONATING OUR TIPS TO THE NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLIN REPORTER: THE FUNDRAISER IS TAKING PLACE DURING THE RESTAURANT’S NGO RESERVATIONS EVENT. NAMED AFTER BOURDAIN’S PREVIOUS SHOW, THE LATE NIGHT FOOD AND DRINKS ARE MEANT TO SERVE OTHER INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS WIT SIMPLE FOOD INSPIRED BY BOURDAIN >> BROUGHT THAT WHOLE BAD BOY IMAGE, WHICH WAS COO >> YOU SORT OF HAVE THAT BAD BOY IMAGE, I DON’T. REPORTER: CHEF BILLY NGO SAYS LIKE MOST CHEFS, HE FOUND BOURDAIN INSPIRING. >> WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE EVENT THAT THEY’RE HAVING TONIGHT? >> IT’S AMAZING, YEAH WHEN I HEARD ABOUT IT I’M LIKE YEAH WE’RE ALL IN. REPORTER: THE ISSUE IS PERSONAL FOR FLOOR MANAGER SHANNA HUNT WHO LOST A CO-WORKER TO SUICIDE JUST LAST YEAR. >> IT’S ALWAYS THE ONE THAT YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE EXPECTED, HE WAS FUN AND GREGARIOUS AND VERY INCLUSIVE AND LOVED EVERYBOD REPORTER: AMANO-DOLAN HAS ALSO LOST FRIENDS AND CO-WORKERS. TONIGHT’S FUNDRAISER HOPING TO RAISE AWARENESS AND SAVE LIVES >> IT’S BEEN SOMETHING THAT’S REALLY, REALLY PREVALENT IN OUR INDUSTRY. MY IMMEDIATE REACTION WAS JU LIKE, WHAT CAN I DO TO HEL REPORTER: NO RESERVATIONS STARTS IN ABOUT A HALF HOUR HERE AT CREW AND GOES UNTIL TWO IN THE MORNING. IT’S HAPPENING EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY ALL MONTH AGAIN, ALL TIPS ARE BE GET LOCAL BREAKING NEWS ALERTS The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. 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FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2016 file photo, Anthony Bourdain arrives at night two of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Kelly McCown remembers cooking in kitchens some 30 years ago, when working the line was where “the miscreants ended up.” Today, he’s executive chef at one of the most prestigious restaurants in Sacramento, The Kitchen. And he says there’s been a transformation in his profession — a lot of it attributable to Anthony Bourdain. “I watched a paradigm shift in the industry,” McCown said. Bourdain humanized his job, he says. “He kind of pulled back the cover a little bit and showed kind of the breath of humanity that was in the industry itself.” An Internationally famous TV host of No Reservations and Parts Unknown, Bourdain was a celebrity chef and author who local cooks cite as an inspiration. Bourdain slurped noodles with President Obama in Vietnam and globe-trotted the planet. But he also explored the darker shades of life, both in and outside the kitchen, and reconciled “the fact that we’re all basically the same, yet for some reason we can’t resolve our differences,” McCown said. Bourdain was found dead in his northern France hotel room on Friday at age 61. McCown says his passing, and the death of former Kitchen chef de cuisine Noah Zonca at age 41 last month, has him realizing “more and more that there’s a real human side, a humanity, to this business.” Brad Cecchi shared this view. The executive chef and co-owner of Canon restaurant in East Sacramento says Bourdain was a big reason he kept working in the industry for nearly two decades. “To read [Bourdain’s book] Kitchen Confidential as a young cook, and then see somebody who can brand himself and do all this stuff” was inspiring, Cecchi said. “I feel like somebody I knew passed away.” Cecchi, who earned a Michelin star while running Solbar in Calistoga, says he also witnessed Bourdain’s impact on chefs’ careers. He recalled how, when he got into kitchens in the late ’90s, cooking was a “dead end job,” but that Bourdain offered hope for “a life to be made” from a passion for food. “He made being one of those pirate line cooks feel OK,” Cecchi said. Chef Jason Azevedo, who is currently opening Alaro Brewing in Midtown, offered hope. “His influence was that it was OK not to be the guy on TV hawking products. That you’re a craftsman, be proud of that, take pride in every plate. To me that was the bigger message,” Azevedo said. Azevedo says he’d been cooking for a few years when he snagged a copy of Kitchen Confidential. The stories resonated. “I was like ‘I’m not sure if this is a how-to manual, or who’s following me in my day,’ but it was almost like, as cooks, this was your life. It was laid out there that every restaurant, every city, was going through same things,” he said. “Anybody that says that they somehow weren’t impacted by that book is a liar.” Follow us for more stories like this