A taste of Henri THE CN&R’S LEAD FOOD WRITER WILL TALK ABOUT CHICO’S CULINARY SCENE, BUT HE WON’T COME OUT FOR AN INTERVIEW
e idw’s r r vie lue
u Re s c d BoNews &ometimreious fooiews i r i c o , s te r e v l y
n C h ot i c m y s e n t e e k Henri is thteimes et xalwayhsis freqCuN&R’s iwsit
He some s, bu ead the and v om/ uthor les iter. R pes in ction view.c ride/a his w r r e c i w s e w s r e b o u r a l l of and Cho ww.ne enri- ve of w c o/ h r c h i chi the a fo r m n s . u col
A
MONG THE MANY THINGS YOU NEW STUDENTS
will come to love about Chico is the great food. We have excellent restaurants, taco trucks, farmers’ markets and neighborhood produce stores and butcher shops. by We also have Henri. Steve Metzger A bona fide expert, Henri Bourride has been smetzger@ csuchico.edu writing food columns and restaurant reviews for the Chico News & Review since 2003, and I am his biggest fan. He’s quite a mystery, though, not a single rumor of an Henri sighting ever having been substantiated. In fact, what little we know about him is through his columns: He moved to the states from France as a young boy when his father took a job teaching film at a small college somewhere in the Mid12 GOIN’ CHICO 2012 • Chico News & Review
The Red Tavern’s cozy bar. PHOTO BY KYLE EMERY
west. Clashing with the provincial attitudes, he relocated to what he calls the “Big Pomme” shortly after turning 18, then spent many years dining and cooking in cities around the world—and dating flight attendants from several international airlines. He returned to New York’s East Village in the late 1980s. After a painful parting of ways with someone he refers to only as “L,” Henri arrived in Chico in 2003 with his French poodle, Miss Marilyn, and his collection of movies, including his favorite, Some Like it Hot, the title of which he used for his book of selected food columns. In 2006, Henri’s sister, Colette—rebounding from divorce number five—arrived in Chico with her
Bichon Frise, Mr. Theo. The four of them now live together somewhere close enough to downtown that they walk to the farmers’ markets. An expert on all things culinary, as well as a brilliant prose stylist—despite his odd habit of randomly referring to himself in the third person—Henri also seems a bit, well, slow in other areas. Once, writing about his days living in New York, he described how excited he was to go to a Yankees make-up game but was then disappointed to learn what “make-up” means in baseball. Additionally, he has a proclivity for getting lost, so Colette, who often accompanies him to
Tacos El Paisa, parked at the corner of Walnut and Second streets. CN&R FILE PHOTO
restaurants he reviews, usually drives Pierre, his little Peugeot. Once, concerned about his health and pointing out that he was built like a foodpyramid, Colette bought Henri a treadmill— which he promptly returned when he found that its cup holder did not suitably hold a wine glass. To placate her, he joined a health club but, doing so over the phone, neglected to determine the club’s location. Naturally, I was thrilled at the opportuni-