No Reservations about the Ozarks - Anthony Bourdain asks where your head's at.

“Basically, you have to have your head pretty far up your own ass to not have good time in the Ozarks. Or hate beer”

So says No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain in his blog post “The Mummy’s Tomb… And Ozark Noir.” The traveling food writer for the Travel Channel recently visited the Ozarks to sample our food and came away impressed, even after a gigging accident nearly killed one of his idols, Winter’s Bone author Daniel Woodrell. Along the way, he hunted raccoon and duck and had a barbecue with local musicians Ha Ha Tonka.

Some more quotes from the blog relating to the visit:

“From the early settlers to Civil War proto-guerilla fighters to famous outlaws, authors, musicians, Missouri is indeed a cultural touchstone. Dumb-ass hillbilly jokes ? That’s NOT the Ozarks I saw.”

“Bullshit is not something to be found (or tolerated) in abundance in Springfield, West Plains, Joplin or environs.”

“Everybody seems to cook–at least enough to look after themselves if need be, and there’s a respect for nature that comes from actually being close to it.”

It’s nice to read about someone visiting the Ozarks and challenging their pre-conceived notions about everyone here being ignorant back-woods hillbillies.

Be sure to tune in Monday night at 8 PM local time to see the Ozarks episode aired. If you want a sneak peek at some of the things you may or may not see in the actual episode, check them out here.