Winners of Our 'No Reservations' Viewing Party Contest Revealed

It's a day later than promised (we been busy with stuff, what can we say?), but behold the five winners in our No Reservations viewing party contest: Blair Bodie, Marcie Chin, Charlie Chou, Dabney Gough, and Justin Lanz.

To refresh: In advance of the broadcast next Monday of the S.F. episode of No Reservations on Travel Channel, we asked you all to write why you're a rabid Anthony Bourdain follower. Like geekily quoting Kitchen Confidential in the office, going out of your way to eat obscure pig parts while struggling not to grimace, maybe even saving up for a Tony tramp stamp. Whatever.

The 33 entries we received were all Tony-licious, believe us. The self-described "balls-out chick" who recalled losing it when she met him. The writer who yearned to throw back uni and gin and tonics with the man himself. Or the scribe (we're guessing English major) who called him "the reluctant anti-hero of adventure cuisine." All nice. Thanks to everyone who took the time and effort.

We'll be publishing the winning essays over the next few days, a kind of foreplay building to Monday's delicious release. First up: A story of deliverance from tempeh and fiber by Dabney Gough. Warning: Grab a tissue now -- we guarantee it'll make you all misty.

Thank you, Anthony Bourdain, for releasing me from nine years of vegetarianism. When you described slurping oysters on a boat in Brittany, and tasting the essence of the sea they came from, I realized how much I was missing out on. So I went to Zuni and slurped some oysters myself. I never looked back. Life is infinitely better.