Celebrity chef visits South Boston for an episode of his television show

By Avery Mangahas

News Correspondent

Celebrity Chef Anthony Bourdain has graced Boston with his presence.  Bourdain traveled to South Boston last week to film an episode of No Reservations, hitting several local favorites and sticking to small, locally-owned bars.

“He goes to places that are a little off the beaten track,” said Kelly Pumphret, owner of Murphy’s Law Bar and Grill on Summer Street in South Boston, where Bourdain visited on his trip. “He was just doing the city of Boston and the culture.”

Bourdain began his tour of Southie at the Galley Diner on P Street. The diner is owned and operated by Paul Skudris and Colleen Campbell and has been serving up all–American food since the 1960s.

“We’re good for the hash, the ham on the bone, turkey dinners, meatloaf, all that stuff,” Skudris said.
Bourdain said the entrees he ordered were very good; he ordered the corned beef hash and tweeted “Superb. Feel like the Hindenberg.”

After training at the Culinary Institute of America, he then served as the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York. In 2000 Bourdain published “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly,” a tell-all memoir about his experiences in the professional food world.

From there, he went on to star in the Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, a documentary-style travel and food show that premiered in 2005. No Reservations cemented Bourdain’s status as a bonafide celebrity; the show’s Facebook page has nearly 1 million Likes.

Bourdain’s stops in South Boston included the L Street Tavern on East 8th Street, located in the heart of City Point. The tavern has been open since the 1930s and has been owned by Susan Woods for almost 14 years. After being featured in the movie “Good Will Hunting,” its been a local hot spot ever since.

According to Susan Woods, she and her husband had just taken over the bar when “four days later, in comes Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.”

Bourdain “spent a couple hours with the patrons and had some Guinness and spoke with some of our regulars,” Woods said. “We had one of our customers make him a cabernet Guinness beef stew that he ate and loved.”

Bourdain, Woods said, was awesome.

“He stayed around a lot longer than I’d thought,” Woods said. “He came in and sat at the bar and hung out with the regulars and toasted everybody.”

Murphy’s Law on Summer Street, owned by Kelly and Scott Pumphret for about 10 years, also got the Bourdain treatment. The bar was featured in Ben Affleck’s film “Gone Baby Gone.”

Bourdain tasted Southie classics at Murphy’s. He ordered Jameson Irish Whiskey and Smithwick’s, an Irish red ale.

At press time, there is no information on when the South Boston episode will air.